So I was talking to my sister about the injury I got while chasing her dog. And I have to clarify, everyone thinks I'm a total feeb for getting this injury. And while yes, I am highly uncoordinated, and no, if I were more careful it wouldn't have happened. But it wasn't just standing up, it was a standing up while pivoting and trying to keep track of a wily, speedy canine all at the same time. Just so's you know. What kills me is I used to play the same game, running full tilt back and forth through the house after the dog we had when I was little and never hurt myself. But now that I'm all old and tired and barely jog, now's when I injure myself.

Anyway, I was teasing her about it the other day, being all, "Your dog is going to be responsible for the medical bills! He planned it!" and she was immediately all, "Hey, it's not his fault, Mom said!" And that just irritated the crap out of me. Because no, it's not that bad of an injury. And no, I don't blame the dog or my sister for me being a complete ass. But it kills me that my mom is all putting words in my mouth about something she didn't even notice when it happened, and of course defending the dog like anyone was out to get the dog in the first place. Her first indication anything was wrong is me going, "Um, I hit my head pretty hard. Will I be alright?" and she's like, "Oh whatever, you'll be fine." Until 15 minutes later when I show her the massive swelling (it came back down after ice) and she's all, "You're not nauseous, are you? Dizzy?" So I guess she didn't believe me how bad it was when I first told her.

Today I went to the Normal libary. Carey E. Burdette, which I don't know if I've said before, is the public library for the tiny town of Carlock (500 people, I think it said on the sign...), so they don't exactly have a huge selection. But the library card I get at Carey E. Burdette is good in Normal or Bloomington. For some reason involving library district boundaries, we have to pay if we try and get a card at Normal or Bloomington, but if we drive all the way out to Carlock, it's free.

We're just in a weird situation in general. This is probably horribly explicit stalking information, but basically I have a Bloomington address, a Danvers (another small town around here) phone number (which really sucks because calling ANYWHERE costs us long distance, and there's only one ISP for Danvers and it's really crappy), I went to Carlock grade school, and I went to Normal high school.

So I go into the Normal libary, and pick up a ton of books and then... can't get them checked out. I'm not in the system--which is probably my fault, the last time I renewed my card was probably around '98*, so even though I renewed at Carey E. Burdette, the bar code I was using wasn't really in Normal's system anymore.

They have me fill out some "non-resident" card to get a new bar code for my card, but when they notice I live in Bloomington, not Carlock, they are like, "wha?" so I give them the whole spiel I gave you earlier that you are now going to use to stalk me. And so the lady finally gives up and calls Bloomington library and asks them what to do, and they apparently have had several people with my situation, and were just like, "do what you were going to do before you found out she was from Bloomington."

Throughout this whole thing, I felt so guilty, even though I hadn't done anything. They weren't acting suspicious or anything, and even apologized to me several times, but I kept feeling like they were going to turn on me and accuse me of trying to bilk the library out of free books, which is pretty much what a library is all about in the first place, come to think about it. On Tuesday I have the interview at Bloomington libary to become a volunteer, and I was just thinking, "Oh, I hope whoever interviews me isn't at the other end of that phone and all hates me now." Somehow I have Catholic guilt without ever having been Catholic.

Anyway, I got like 4 books, 3 of them I got from browsing the "new arrivals" section. I feel that I'm branching out more, I used to only read Sci Fi/Fantasy, but I only got random stuff this time. The lady wished me good luck, since the new arrivals, I can only have for a week, and that's a lot of reading. And for a second, in my head, I was like, "oh, should I put some back," but then I realized I read 5 books last week without really trying particularly. Which tells you how much time I have on my hands. I'm going to apply for another job tomorrow, though. *crossed fingers*

Anyway, last week I read: A Beautiful Mind, State of Fear, The Ship Who Sang, The Worthing Saga, and 1632. I'd also meant to read this biography of Buzz Aldrin I'd picked up, but it was not very good (I mean, it started AFTER he'd been on the moon!) and it had the normal "musty old book smell" but like... times 100. It was gross.

The books I picked up today were: Heir to the Glimmering World, the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, Colors Insulting to Nature, and The Second Life of Samuel Tyne. ...I've read the first two already.

The curious incident was awesome, actually. It's written from the perspective of an autistic kid, which is really cool. Sometimes I find books written from a perspective of people whose mental states are not like the average person somewhat harder to understand (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest, from the perspective of a schizophrenic is kind of messed up, for instance), but this is actually a really straightforward book--mostly because his brain is more straightforward than most people's. The title refers to the fact that he discovers a dead dog, and trys to solve the mystery Sherlock-Holmes style, only to uncover more and more mysteries. It is a good plot, and the characters are sweet and funny and tragic at times. I really enjoyed it.

Heir to the Glimmering World was horrible. The problem I find with non-genre fiction a lot of times is it's just sad and doesn't go anywhere, which is basically how I'd sum up this book. It started out good, I was intrigued by the characters and the situation, but it just kept... going. But nowhere in particular. I guess you could say the same about one of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, but he at least gives you the decency of breaking up the depression occaisionally with something funny. I think the author was bogged down in trying to describe human nature, but I was like, "Whatever, man."

Also, what is up with novels that say "a novel" on the cover nowadays? All four of the books I got say that. How stupid are you before you don't know what you're reading is a novel?

___
* I lost my wallet, containing my card, my first day at ISU. So instead of bothering to go all the way to carlock to get a new card, I got a Normal libary student card based on my dorm address in Normal and have been using it for the last 4 years or so. Weirdly enough, my wallet showed up 1 year after I lost it, intact except for the cash I had had on me. So I am actually still using the same library card I've had since 4th grade.

Man am I lonely.

I guess I'm in a loquacious mood tonight, this is like my 18th post. But what I wanted to mention is, having been in not one, but TWO libaries lately (boy am I ever edumacated), I was thinking of those READ posters. I like how trendy they are. Just as soon as anyone gets big, they have a READ poster. I think if I ever got a READ poster I'd be crazy with happiness, because it'd be a signal that I have really arrived.

Anyway, I'd like to know what they do with the old READ posters once they're done with them. They had an Orlando Bloom poster in the Carey E. Burdette Memorial Library, and I had to mourn the Michael J. Fox READ poster of my youth. Anyway--there have to be TONS of those things. Because the Normal Public Library and Milner Library (ISU's Library) just have them all over the place, not to mention my high school library, my jr high library, and my grade school library. And most of them are celebrities that are pretty famous right whenever I'm in there. So they must come out with 5 or 10 every year or couple of years. What do they do with all the old ones?

Anyway, if they just throw them away, I wish they would just give them to me. I'd love to be "that chick who collects READ posters." That could be my thing. If I became really famous for it, I could be on the quintessential READ poster, holding up an old READ poster in one hand, and the book of my choice in the other hand. But on an entirely serious note: I would love to collect old READ posters. I think it would be interesting to be like, "Man! Boyz II Men rated a READ poster, but not Weird Al? I can't believe Christina Aguilara's reading 'The Feminist Ethic' in her READ poster! I don't care what anyone says, Michael J. Fox looked HOT in that READ poster, and I'm going to make out with it every night from now on!"

I do think it's kind of funny that most of the READ posters I see over the years are from people I KNOW don't read (Eminem, Fred Durst, The Rock), and/or are movie or TV stars who basically are what are drawing kids away from reading in the first place.

Which, by the way, is something I'm sad about. I saw the trailer for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the other day and it pretty much strikes me that all the great kids books from when I was little are going to be movies and most kids aren't going to bother reading them anymore. And reading them just makes you love them SO MUCH. There's not a single movie I can remember watching as a kid that I still really love, but I have a ton of kids books that I still do. They just totally stick with me so much more, I can remember the awe I used to feel. But they're plumbing every book from when I was little, plus anything new that comes along that could possibly encourage reading and make it into a movie almost before you can turn around.

And I'm actually annoyed at all the book, comic book, TV, inspired movies. It's not that I hate them. But just... when there are SO many it just continues the homogeny. No one wants to make a movie to be a movie or a book to be a book anymore, which is sad because when something is crafted from start to finish to be what it is, it's usually a better product than adaptions, and so much more variety when everyone's trying to come up with original products for their medium.

Oh well.

it's best when it's not in context

Tina: sweet, make the druggie's day
Phoemeister: lol, I know
Phoemeister: that's clearly what I'm here for

Tina: need to go wash dishes so I can go to bed... tired
Phoemeister: awww, bye
Tina: wild pig sex! squuuuuuuuuuueal

Tina: Jeff had Walker turn himself into a woman to see what it was like to be female because Key was pregnant.... THEN he liked it and did't want to change back when she got upset
Tina: Jeff STILL doesn't see why Key got mad
Phoemeister: Jeff's a goober

So no black eye. Mostly, my eyelid is bright pink, and it looks like I was all, "this will be pretty!" and put eyeshadow on one eye but not the other.

And I remembered what I wanted to blog about before though it's not that important. It was that show, Hit Me Baby One More Time. Generally I'm anti-reality shows and doubly anti-anything-referencing-Britney-Spears, but I thought it sounded like the awesomest show EVER.

But it wasn't. No campyness whatsoever. Which... you'd think is pretty much the point. But it wasn't good either. It was just... eh. First off: the announcer made Ryan Seacrest look like...I dunno, someone you like a helluva lot better than Ryan Seacrest. He just had the blandest most annoyingly british personality ever. And I LIKE british things. But he grated on my last nerve. He reminded me of those clueless hosts on SNL sketches of European pop music shows. 10 to 1 that's a made up british accent.

Secondly: they show what each artist has done since then, and I know it's kind of mean, but I'm expecting them to be all sad that they're washed up, but they aren't, they all STILL have huge houses with huge pools and loving spouses and are still working in the industry they love. It just makes you depressed about your own life. I'm 23. I'm unemployed. No one loves me. I have nothing better to be doing than watching Hit Me Baby One More Time. And Loverboy has a mansion? The world is not fair! It just makes you want to rip that ludicrous middle aged man-ponytail right off the lead singer of Flock of Seagulls!

So anyway, most of the old songs (they have to each play their one hit and then a cover of a newer hit by someone else) I was never hugely fond of anyway. It was funny, the fake young, attractive crowd they had pretending to rock out only really seemed sincere when rocking out to the like, 2 bands whose hit was even big since they've been born.

Arrested Development won this section, which I actually agree with mostly on the basis of the "cover of a new song" portion. Where Flock of Seagulls actually took a song I like (On The Way Down--Ryan I can't spell his last name :P) and made it HORRIBLE, and Loverboy took a song I hate (Hero--Enrique I also can't spell his last name) and made it even worse, and Tiffany pretty much sung her song (Break Away -- Kelly Clarkson) exactly like the song is originally, Arrested took a decent song (How Far is Heaven -- Los Lonely Boys) and put an interesting spin on it that didn't totally suck. Really... I'd never heard of them before, which also probably helps them annoy me less.

I forgot to mention several things that I meant to but got distracted by the head injury:

1) I finished A Beautiful Mind. Actually... I have some qualms. I remember how in the movie reviews were all, "They didn't bring in the fact that he was bisexual!" But really, in the book he has a couple of brief gay affairs and it's no huge deal. Whereas some of the other stuff they left out or changed around in the movie is staggering. Like, in my opinion, a main theme of the movie is the power of love. His wife sticks with him despite his illness. And in the end of the movie he gives this speech about how he owed everything to her. It gives you this warm feeling inside, you're just so happy for them. But really: they divorced like, in the 60's. He hated her for a long time for having him committed. They kind of got back to the point where they're living together after awhile, but still never re-married, and you could hardly say that his love for her or her love for him is what sustained him over the crazy years. Also, he has two kids. The one he has with his wife they kind of gloss over in the movie other than having it around as a baby. The illegitimate kid he has they never bring up at all. By the end of the book, the legitimate kid is just as crazy as Nash used to be, and the illegitimate kid pretty much hates him because he's never been there for him or his mother. Also, before Nash got crazy he was a huge jerk. About the only things that are the same as the movie are the really broad facts: he was a genius, he gets crazy, he gets better out of nowhere, he gets a nobel prize for stuff he did back before he was crazy.

2) Finished the Michael Crichton book. It got better. But I'm getting kind of tired of him and his preachiness. Most of his books, as anyone who's ever even seen the movie adaptation of Jurrassic Park can agree, are basically, "you should be responsible with technology, otherwise it's going to kill you and everyone you ever loved!" But even the non sci fi books are basically, "society's ridiculous! no one knows what the hell they're doing!" which the technology bit is probably a subcategory of. And this book's how Global Warming is totally bunk and everyone who thinks it isn't is an idiot, and no enviornmentalists know what the hell they're doing. So it got irritating to read a 500 page book of journal references on how global warming is totally bunk and no environmentalists know what the hell they're doing. He doesn't even try to make it not transparent that he thinks all environmentalists are idiots and everyone should disbelieve everything in the media and spend 8 hours a day looking up stuff they read or hear or see to make sure it's true.

3) Damn. This point was going to be the whole reason I made this post, but I forgot it again when I got sidetracked writing what I thought of those books.

So I was running around after my sister's dog..... and hit my head on a chair. Yes.... this is right up there with the time I dropped a free weight on my bare foot. I almost hope I get a black eye. When people ask about it, I'll tell them what happened, but I'll act all scared so they think I'm really a battered woman who made up a horrible excuse. Because this is right up with "I ran into the door" on "not plausible excuses for black eyes battered women give." Which, incidently, I DID run into a door once. But it wasn't hard enough to gain me a black eye.

One friend I told this to expressed genuine concern for my wellbeing, another mocked me.

Phoemeister: well, I have an ice pack to my head because I'm dangerously uncoordinated and whacked my head on a chair when playing with my sister's dog who is staying her while she's trying to get her house sold :P
Sui: ack.. that's not good : (
Sui: are you okay?
Phoemeister: it's kind of swelling
Phoemeister: but I don't think I have a concussion or anything
Phoemeister: I'm not sleepy
Sui: well that's good
Sui: dont' die!
Phoemeister: I'll try not to for your sake :P
Sui: haha thanks

Tina: I hope you were on the floor when you did this or I will really wonder
Phoemeister: I was bent over and stood up
Tina: and managed to hit your head
Phoemeister: I didn't say I was smart :P
Phoemeister: and did, in fact, mention I was dangerously uncoordinated
Tina: no, really?
Phoemeister: jeez
Phoemeister: don't come crying to me if you ever get injured
Phoemeister: you're mean!
Tina: I'm hyped up on sunflower seeds
Phoemeister: MEAN seeds, even!

So.... um..... if you have a friend who eats a lot of sunflower seeds, you might want to cut them off if you notice them getting meaner :P

on the job hunt

Phoemeister: I had an interview for barnes and noble, but since roughly 8,000,000,000 other people applied, I'm doubtful
Sui: doh : Sui: how'd the interview go?
Suibrom: did you spaz out and kill everyone?
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: it went alright
Phoemeister: it was only a preliminary interview, they didn't ask me anything hard

Today I renewed my membership in the very exclusive Carey E. Burdette Memorial Libary. Yes, I spell Libary wrong on purpose because it gives me a sense of whimsey.

While I was there I got A Beautiful Mind, which, amazingly, is the basis for the movie A Beautiful Mind. It's proving quite interesting. The movie simplifies and invents a TON. And John Nash so far is a pretty big jerk. But I like it.

I also got an autobiography of Buzz Aldrin during the space-race years. Normally I only really read fiction, but the Carey E. Burdette Memorial Libary is rather limited in what it carries, so I had to be creative and broaden my browsing to include the non fiction section, which is how I ended up with two biographies.

Lastly, I got the new Michael Crichton book. Weirdly--I'm not so fond of it so far. It was the first book I started reading but it was really boring so I went to A Beautiful Mind. I have to say, this is the first M.C. book I've read where I've not been immediately hooked into the action. He seems to be trying to establish characters or something. Which, he shouldn't. We all know that his strength is fast-paced plotting, not characters. Oh well.... I'll try another whack at it, I'm sure. Maybe I'll like it then.

Phoemeister: I have a hit for "ashanti back then like a monkey"
Sui: haha
Phoemeister: yeah. That and "why didn't they mention corellians" and "I took too many varieties" But I found the ashanti one the funniest
Sui: all very nice
Phoemeister: indeed
Phoemeister: I don't think any of them I could draw very well though

addendum: I also got a hit for "smart ass monkey hats."

Today was pretty nice. Actually, yesterday was decent too, my mom bought me a ton of shirts that are kind of business-casual, so that I have stuff to wear to job interviews and then to the actual job I hopefully get since they're so impressed by my awesome new business-casual clothing. I have more than enough pants already. My sister somehow lost weight by having a baby, and I am her old size, and thereby earned myself many a pair of free pants.

Today, I started out by getting rid of a whole lot of clothes to make room for the new ones. I feel bad getting rid of perfectly good clothes, which is why I hadn't done this ages ago. But a ton of this stuff I got in Jr. High. And despite that--a ton of it is huuuge, because I was all about gigantic clothing back then. Worst of all, a good percentage of it has cute animals on it. So I finally parted with it and am hoping there's someone at goodwill that can use many large pink tee shirts with puppies on.

Then we went out to dinner with my sister & co. for no discernable reason other than for my parents to play with her baby, but I enjoyed it. I had that weird pain I've been having off and on since the pancreatitis, but it kind of went away. And then I had steak and cheese fries, which I love, and this frozen rasberry lemonade drink that is just awesome, I think I actually had had it one time before but forgot. When I got home, the pain started again so I took one of the pain pills they gave me back when I had the pancreatitis and layed down listening to this old Oasis CD I borrowed from my sister (according to Spin or Rolling Stone, they're coming back!) and kind of enjoyed being stoned on delicious steak, drugs (though steak is a happy drug in and of itself), and 90's music for the rest of the evening.

Another creepy bit that makes me think my mom equates babies with dogs (actual conversation):

Mom: wow, the 'phew sure likes people food!
Me: (sarcastic) Awwww... that's so cute! he thinks he's people!

and a new alternatune (on Oasis, surprise surprise)

What can I say about my interview at the library?

Well, first off: that it didn't happen. Something came up and she couldn't interview me and then she's unavailable for awhile so it's basically rescheduled to June 7.

There's nothing sadder than someone my age sitting at home in the middle of the afternoon watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Well... maybe if I were middle aged it would be even sadder.

Just give me time.

For awhile in college I was toying with the idea of becoming a librarian, but tossed it because I didn't want to get a master's degree. And then I decided on TV and the point was moot. But now since I don't think I'm going to get a non-tv video job, I've been re-thinking the librarian idea. I still don't know if I want to do it. Especially since it would especially suck to go through librarian school only to discover I hated it too.

So I was mentioning that to my friends yesterday. Which... I feel the need to say "I'm mulling over becoming a librarian" nowadays to people rather than "I do nothing, and have no idea what I will do." That's the worst thing about being unemployed and having no prospects, having to explain it to other people. I can really see myself turning into some sort of George Costanza who just constantly lies to people telling them I'm an architect or something else ridiculous just to not have to explain that I'm unemployed or, later on, employed in a crappy job.

And they said one library in town was actually taking volunteers, so if I wanted to I could try working there for awhile to see if I like it, at least. So... I went in and applied to be a volunteer today, am going to have an interview tomorrow. I just have to tell myself that I'm a college graduate and more than qualified to be an unpaid book-shelver.

On top of that, I visited Barnes & Noble to apply there to actually get PAID for doing something for once. My mom has been pushing working there ever since I've given up on TV. And I actually would like to work there, I think. And weirdly enough, when I came in, I saw a sign that they're hiring, and it was the first time I ever saw anything like that there in my life. And I shop there a lot.

Anyway, the whole Barnes & Noble affair was VERY depressing. The guy I got the application for was all, "they're having screening interviews from 5-7 tonight, first come first served, wear clothing suitable for an interview." So I dressed up. Got there at 4:40, and.... all the interview slots were already filled up, so I'm going to have to wait till next week when they're having them again, and... don't see what the point is, because if they have that many people interviewing already, why would they not have someone hired by then? And also--if there's that friggin' many people, why on earth would they hire me. I tried to tell myself the same "I have a B.A.!" speech I gave myself at the library, but have you ever seen the people that work at B&N? They're all old. They probably all have B.A.'s and thwarted dreams and dead souls just like I do, but probably interview far better and less crack addicty.

So it's back to the drawing board for paying work. The library thing could still go well, and I'm hoping it will.

Phoemeister: HOLY CRAP
Phoemeister: Ed Norton was totally in Kingdom of Heaven and I didn't notice
Sui: hmm.. haven't seen it yet
Sui: have to keep an eye out
Phoemeister: well he plays the King, and the King is a leper and wears a mask the whole time
Phoemeister: but I would've thought I'd recognize his voice, because I swear I was watching some documentary on PBS the other night, and I wasn't paying attention, and all of a sudden I was like, "Ed Norton is narrating this documentary!" and I was right
Sui: haha nice
Phoemeister: Yeah, the documentary was crazy cheesy
Phoemeister: part of it was about water, so occaisionally they would actually cut to Ed doing stupid things with water
Sui: like drinking it?
Phoemeister: well saying some sort of cheesy line, and then enthusiastically drinking it while sitting in a lawn chair in the middle of this deserted street in the middle of this deserted neighborhood

I had a long day.

I was going to go shopping with the high school friend who lives around here, and then at the last minute it turns out that my high school friend who lives around Morrocco came back a week ago and joined us.

Okay.... me and Morocco friend, we were really tight in high school. And I still like spending time alone with her. But spending time with both of them just sucks, because they both went to college together and have all these stupid memories they feel the need to reminisce over and make me feel like a fifth wheel. Also, Morocco is the type of person that everything's all about her, so I feel like I can't get a word in.

On top of this, Morocco dragged us to all these fancy-pants stores where the outfits were way expensive, and spent 8 hours at each trying on things and deliberating about them. So... I didn't even really want to look at the clothes because if I found something I really liked I wouldn't be able to buy it anyway. And then they act like I'm less sophisticated and cheap or something because I don't want to blow $100 dollars on a dress. And they treat me like a petulant child just because I don't want to sit through this. And being treated like a petulant child makes me start acting like one, as one does not really sound like a mature adult when yelling, "Stop treating me like a petulant child!" every time they giggle when you're like, "This is $78 bucks!"

Even more painful: the endless time spent on shoes. Shoes! Who the fuck gives a rat's ass about shoes? Okay, okay... plenty of people. But for me I might as well be looking at monkey wrenches or office supplies, or most accurately: little tiny torture devices for my feet. Because that's how I view shoes. I have messed up feet, and hence if it's not one of 3 types of shoes I couldn't give less of a damn. Looking at shoes for that long is like being forced to listen to Ben Stein's character from Ferris Bueller read the phone book 8,000,000,000,000 times. It makes me want to kill myself. There is nothing more horrible than that without involving actual physical torture. And I'm made to feel like a freak, less of a human being, because I'm a girl who doesn't just loooooove stupid friggin' shoes.

So anyway... I was pretty sad and angry at the end. I even bought a skirt at old navy, the ONE store we went to in our price range, to pretend I was girly, but I know I'll probably never wear it again.

And I admit Morocco annoys me because I want to BE her. She's everything a woman my age SHOULD be. She looks great, all the clothes we looked at looked great on her, guys throw themselves at her, she's going to have a great career, she has scads of friends... whereas I've been doing nothing I'll never amount to nothing, guys hate me, girls don't want to be my friends, and I am twice the size of her.

Speaking of George Lucas being a money grubbing whore....

Which Phoe from Elsewhere and I actually were....

Anyway, I'm warning you about the onset of a long boring rant about Pez dispensers.

I took a look at the new Ep III pez dispensers. Which, I'll back up for a second and let you know that in high school, I collected pez dispensers. But I wasn't really a good collector, if you're thinking of the people who buy them, let them appreciate in value, and then resell them. Or have rare ones, and display them. Basically, I bought a whole bunch of cheap, common ones that will never really be worth anything, and used them to eat a boatload of Pez. Which isn't even that good. But it came with the dispensers.

My favorite were the star wars pez dispensers. The originals were: c3po, darth vader, storm trooper, yoda, and chewie. I took a dorky pride in combining my passions for star wars and pez. I'd actually take darth vader to school and do impressions of him for my friends, who forgave me for this because I would share my pez. Yeah. This was in high school, not grade school. I'm a hopeless dork.

And then when Ep I came out, there was Luke, Boba Fett, Ewok, and Leia. Which... why there wasn't a Luke and Leia in the original set is beyond me, not to mention why there's STILL no Han. So that was pretty cool.

But I was really pissed when Ep II came out. I'd begun to realize that my pez dispenser collecting was kind of stupid, some of them I didn't even particularly like, and they were just laying around cluttering up stuff. But I was still ready and willing to get the new ones. Except the new ones sucked! They were R2D2, which would be pretty cool, and Jango Fett and Clone Trooper. What a load of crap! Jango Fett is Boba with different colors, Clone Trooper diverges only slightly from Storm Trooper.

So the ones for Ep III (I couldn't help but look) are Death Star (kind of cool), the Emperor (way cool), General Grevious(sp?) (eh) and new chewbacca. What the hell. For the love of all that is good and holy, why? No Han or Obi-Wan, but TWO chewie's? I'd eat candy out of Jabba the Hutt before new chewie!

On top of that, Pez is always putting out collector versions of the old ones, only C3PO is shiney, or Yoda's see through or whatever, and charge like twice as much for them. It just sucks. All the time I used to think of getting the Ep II ones just so I could say I had the complete set. And I think of doing that for III now, but am holding strong.

In Lucas's defense, though--this might just be the pez corporation. They're always doing stupid things like making a clear version of an existing dispenser, tacking the word "crystal" in front of the name, calling it a collector's edition, and charging twice as much. Another reason why I quit buying them. But if I'd said that at the outset, I couldn't have named this rant "Speaking of George Lucas being a money grubbing whore...."

Oh, and speaking of Phoe from Elsewhere, here are some pez dispensers I think she would enjoy :P

I forgot to mention that the same day I saw Revenge of the Sith I also saw a new Muppet movie, the Muppet Wizard of Oz.

Which... I love star wars, but I'd have to say I actually love the muppets more, as they've never really let me down like Lucas has. That said, this was actually not one of the better Muppet movies (it was straight to video, which gives you a hint). They messed with the plot some so that it took place in modern times instead of the depression, took out all the songs and replaced them with only a couple kind of halfhearted ones, made it so dorothy didn't want to get home so much as "become a famous singing star," etc. I didn't really find this an improvement, but I can see why they did it. No one wants to see a straight adaptation of the Wizard of Oz only with muppets. Changing the plots around is exactly how some of their past movies like A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island stayed fresh.

But the whole point was this syrupy moral bit that they didn't even stick with completely. The whole point was you should be happy to be you, and not try to be famous or phony. But in the end she becomes a superstar anyway, so it kind of undermines itself.

And Ashanti was a really bland Dorothy. Not that that kid from Muppet Treasure Island was especially entertaining, or anything. I guess sometimes the muppets need a straight man/woman, though, or else you've got an entire cast of schizophrenics as it were. And plus, the only female of the main muppets is Piggy, and she's really not a Dorothy type by a long shot.

Weirdly enough though--I liked it despite all this. Muppet humor is just so random and off the wall, that you can appreciate and love it even when the plot sucks. I absolutely love that Pepe the king prawn was Toto. I guessed that the munchkins would be the rats and that Fozzie would be the cowardly lion and I loved it when they actually were, and Gonzo as the Tin "thing" was very awesome. The best, absolute best part is when Pepe goes up and presses these metal things on Gonzo's chest and is like, "What do these do?" and Gonzo's like, "Nothing! They're my nipples!" That and other randomosities are what made it worth watching despite the crappy framework.

They've done a couple of these half-hearted made for TV/straight to video movies lately, which, while I enjoy, I can't help but hope they'll go all out and make another studio release in the not too distant future.

I wake up this morning and get: "The bad news is, we aren't going to Grandpa's. The good news is you're going to a movie!"

Apparently my mom's really sick, which kind of pisses me off. She probably isn't making it up, but part of me is just really angry. It's just one reason after another why we can't ever visit grandpa, and now we never will again considering he'll now live in florida and we never go anywhere out of state for any reason, and I'm obviously not at the point in my life where I can afford plane trips to florida to see him by myself. I'm also kind of tempted to be all, "Go anyway! Big fucking deal! People do things while they're sick all the time!" But when my mom gets sick it usually IS pretty bad. She had pneumonia at the beginning of this winter, and is always getting bronchitis and stuff, and pretty much shuts down. It's because she's got a shitty immune system and even shittier lungs, the latter I blame on smoking. She's always coughing all the time even when she's well.

I'm also kind of pissed because I knew about this trip for awhile, and held off applying to places because I didn't want to be called up for an interview while I wasn't here. Which apparently was stupid wishful thinking. And now I don't know whether to start applying or hold off yet again because supposedly we might be able to make the trip still work a month from now or some crap. I guess I WILL go ahead and apply, but I'll be really pissed if I actually have a job by then and the trip does come through and I can't go. I REALLY just wish the trip had worked out NOW and I didn't have to deal with this stuff, and I could actually see my last surviving grandparent for once!

To bribe me, my Dad took me to see Ep III. Which actually surpassed my expectations. But then again, that's not saying much, seeing as how my expectations were at rock bottom. But I do think it was better than the last two. Hayden Christiansen didn't irritate me quite as much as he did in the last movie, I always enjoy Ewan and Yoda, and a lot of things got blown up or light-sabered. I have to say, though, the big buildup about the Wookiee homeworld is lame, because about 2 minutes of the entire movie takes place there.

So the perm relaxed and I don't look near as bad as before. Though, actually, now it looks like not that much's been done to it, which I don't know if I like either. I mean, it looks way better. But it's kind of offputting to go through all that pain and pay through the nose for a perm and then have no net effect.

But I shouldn't whine. It looks a lot better.

And then tomorrow I'm going up to my Grandpa's house, he's selling it and we're visiting one last time, partly so my mom can get whatever crap of his he's promised her but she's never come to get (dishes, etc).

So I'll be gone a few days. Though it's not like anyone's gonna miss me :P

What my life has come down to:

Adrienne: How's you?
Phoemeister: pretty good
Phoemeister: a friend and I are sending each other songs, and seeing who has the gayest music :P
Adrienne: Hee, nice.

But with no job, what else am I gonna do? Yeah... those temp people have never called me to do anything. So I'm thinking of doing something else, only I don't want to apply before Friday, because on Friday we're going up to my grandpa's house, he's selling it. So if they called for an interview while I was up there, it would be stupid. So... yeah. That's my excuse du jour.

Also, don't know if I can win the gayest music contest. Because we decided that it has to be GOOD gay music. Which is hard to find, and I don't know how much of it I gots.

...and then I got into a "who's nerdier?" contest, that started with leet and ended up being:

Phoemeister: I wonder why leet is so fun. I love being a dork
Adrienne: Me too. I think it's because even though most people know about it, it's still a small amount of people that use it. And an even smaller number who aren't cheeto-guzzling uber-nerds.
Phoemeister: LOL true. I'm hoping I'm not one of the latter.
Phoemeister: But I do know what a corellian is
Phoemeister: and what a cardassian is
Adrienne: Me too. I also know Corellians hate hanging back when they could be in the thick of it, and Cardassians like fine wines.
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: that is so awesome

Got the perm today. I look a little more like Weird Al Yankovic than I had anticipated, but I suppose it could be worse.

Awesome.

Phoemeister: I had steak skewer-y things
Tina: and we know how happy steak makes you
Phoemeister: indeed!
Phoemeister: better than booze! and chocolate! and sex! I'm assuming.
Tina: sex? noooo... not even cheese is better than sex
Phoemeister: nothing is better than cheese
Phoemeister: nothing, you hear me?
Phoemeister: Maybe it's better than french cheese.
Phoemeister: but regular cheese is like sex, booze, chocolate, steak, and monkeys all in one.
Phoemeister: you just can't beat that
Tina: nope, sorry, can't agree and I've had it all... except the monkey thing
Phoemeister: psh. I can't believe anyone's opinion if they've never had a monkey.

EDIT:

Adrienne: *reads post* I agree. There really is nothing better than cheese.
Phoemeister: thank you! I knew I was right!
Adrienne: For sure. I don't know if I've experienced cheese that was sex, booze, chocolate, steak, and monkeys in the SAME bite, but over the course of the cheese, they are all experienced.
Phoemeister: indeed!
Phoemeister: You know your stuff
Adrienne: I know my cheese. *nods sagely*

2 new alternatunes! That kind of good news gets a post all by itself! (because I'm too lazy to go in and edit) Huzzah!

So my mom's still convinced that even though it was the drivers, it was all caused by some virus, not just by the fact that windows ME is the worst OS ever and has screwed me many times by now. And maybe I'd be less confident in my assertion of that counter arguement, if Ryan, the guy who even realized what was wrong and helped me fix it wasn't pretty adamant that it wasn't a virus.

Anyway, she's all, "don't ever d/l anything from your friends onto our computer!" which, I won't since she's gone and ordered me to, and it IS her computer. AND since I have mine fixed, it's not likely that I'll want to (at least until the next time windows screws me) anyway. But it just gnaws at me that she really thinks I'm going around d/ling anything, everything, from whatever source like a moron. If I do have a virus (and I admit, I did find some trojans when I scanned, though deleting them didn't do anything) it's because of friggin' websites that put crap onto your computer. Because none of my friends have any viruses. Hell, considering how often I get them, they should probably be boycotting files from me, not vice versa. To that argument, she says the virus is probably one that doesn't act immediately. Which makes me think she doesn't know that time goes forward only, not backward as well.

I really need to get a real job and get out of the house. My Dad's just been driving me nuts lately too. He can't sit still for one instant, he has to pick something and play with it. And of course it'll be noisy. And of course he comes into whatever room I am in to do it. And of course he never believes ANYONE when they tell him something he's doing is annoying. I'm not even kidding, it's not just me, he totally disregards mom too. Unless she just goes ape at him and starts screaming, and then instead of it getting through to him he argues that she's just too sensitive. Even if it's something widely believed by most people to be annoying, like chewing with his mouth wide open (which he does, and quite noisily).

So while I love the parents, it's hard to live with them. Especially since I have no social life and hence spend nearly 24/7 with them.

Phoemeister: oh, I finally saw Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy today
Tina: and?
Phoemeister: mmm.... I always forget that I don't like the whole Hitchiker's ouvre as much as I pretend to in order to impress other nerds. I'm really way more of a Dirk Gently fan.
Phoemeister: it's alright. About as good as the books.
Phoemeister: a little harder to follow
Phoemeister: and the plot definately has some differences
Phoemeister: but they aren't bad or good, really, just different
Tina: never finished the books myself
Phoemeister: they're okay. That's another problem, I kept forgetting what was in which book
Phoemeister: and I'd be like, "how come blah blah blah hasn't happened yet?" answer: it's not till a couple books in the future

Hurrah! I did finally get the mouse and the video card working. Alas, I have no idea how to fix the nipple, but if the mouse works, that's good enough, I guess :P

So what's wrong with my computer isn't viruses! It's crappy drivers and crappy windows. I should've known!

Still.... though I now know what it is.... no closer to fixing it as apparently the computer just says NO to the replacement drivers I'm trying to install.

In other news, I'm now a temp. I guess. Lack of hoops to jump through has me suspicious. THough I guess if you want to look for hoops, I did have to fill out an absolute buttload of paperwork, some of it stuff I already filled out yesterday.

The art criticism portion of the blog:

Sui: wow..
Sui: this like.. 8 year old painter kid
Sui: selling paintings for upwards of $11,000
Sui: and this stuff sucks : P
Sui: I think it's because he likes picasso
Sui: who also sucks

I applied to a temp agency. I guess they're taking me, I'm going to an orientation tomorrow. I'm thinking maybe they just take anyone who isn't obviously a felon and/or crack addict, and then decide if you're qualified later, when a job comes up. Because all I had to do was fill out the forms, and bam! I'm in. I also have to show them my social security card when I go to the orientation, because I didn't have it on me, and I'm sure they'll be wanting to steal my identity.

I also had a dream last night where I was still in my internship because I kept forgetting to not go over there. Only instead of the people I actually worked with, there was Gibbs and Ducky from the TV show NCIS. Gibbs was a real hard-ass, like on the show, and telling me to not show up anymore because I suck. Ducky was nicer, but I still hated him because even though he was nicer about it, he, too, wanted me to leave.

True story.

So the job hunt goes.... slowly. Really, there are not many non-news video production jobs. So I'm sort of dragging my heels because I know I'm going to have to get a "real" job, but don't want to. My mom gave me a week to just sit around and do nothing, so I did that. Then I've been thinking about temp agencies, because again, my mom suggested it (okay, okay, I know she runs my life) for something to do until I can get into something better. So today I called up a couple agencies, I'm going to actually visit them tomorrow.

It is kind of embarassing to go back on the career path, though. Yesterday, I went to the dentist, and my whole family has gone there since before I was born. And by a freak accident, my sister actually had an appointment earlier the same day. So my sister told the hygienist all about how my internship was over and I've basically been doing nothing the last week. So I have to explain that, and that I'm going to be looking for temp jobs. I felt like such a failure. And why? Because I looked bad in front of my dental hygienist. That's dumb. But I remember back when I started my internship, and how cool people (including said hygienist) thought it was that I was going to be a photographer at a real TV station. Even though I like to think of myself as someone who doesn't care how "cool" they are, it is kind of depressing. No one get's excited for a temp. Or probably whatever I'm going to end up being after a temp (god willing). And then the embarrassing icing to the cake is the sitting around unemployed for the last week or so.

Also... I'm going to cut my hair! Big news, since it's been like, 2 years since the last one. And maybe four years between that cut and the cut before. Mom's actually been decent about not nagging me about my hair, so I figure I might as well reward her for being good about it. Also, I was thinking about getting a perm (which the only other one I had was when I was 12). Perms get a lot of bad press, and for good reason. I think a good majority of short hair perms end up looking like 'fros and/or old lady hair. Or if the perm's too tight. But I was thinking of getting a few inches off my hair and then getting a kind of loose perm on my still fairly long hair. I was thinking of this because I always have my hair up in a pony tail because if I leave it down it gets tangly. But with a perm, maybe I could leave it down sometimes because it's not as easy to see when permed hair's tangly? We'll see, I guess.

I guess that's all I have to say fer now.

So today's 5/5/05. I just feel bad for the kids that are going to get saddled with 6/6/06 for a birth date next year.

Anyways, new alternatune.

So my computer went pfft!

I'm not really sure what to do about it right now, I ran the virus checker and deleted everything that showed up, but the computer still won't work if not in safe mode. And I'd really thought I wasn't the type to get viruses, but this'll be the second time if you count all the adware I had awhile ago, which is basically the same thing as a virus. Anyway, I'm unhappily relegated to the 'rents computer until such time as I figure what the hell's wrong or give up and totally do whatever it is that wipes everything, which I don't want to do for the sake of my illegal MP3's I'll never be able to d/l again, and I'm too lazy to back up the pictures on there I'll never find again, or the wacky IM convers I've saved..... bleh.

My mom's all convinced I got it from d/ling things from friends, but I don't think I've d/led anything from anyone likely to be malicious, and I don't think anyone accidently passed it on because no one else is all, "My computer went to hell too!" or has had an absence implying as such.

In other news, we went to Fiesta Ranchera tonight. We went there before once, and I hated it. The thing is, I'm the pickiest eater EVER. But that's not that bad when you can order 90 things off, like I do at most places. But somehow, all mexican places save Taco Bell ALWAYS screw me and leave tons of ingredients off the menu, so I do order off the guacamole and salsa or whatever, but there will be friggin' bits of chili peppers in the cheese! Why would you not warn someone about that? Honestly. I know some people love their food to be hot, but not EVERYONE wants their food to taste like BURNING.

So last time I went to Fiesta Ranchera I got quesodillas or something, and that happened to me, and I vowed never to eat there again, but my parents badgered me into going again. So this time I got "nachos with beans and cheese." How can you friggin' go wrong with nachos with beans and cheese. There's chips, there's beans, there's cheese. No huge mystery, right? I specifically ask the waiter if the cheese is hot, and he's like, "No." My mom (who embarassingly likes to order for me) gives him the riot act on how I will not eat anything but chips, beans, and cheese. And..... of course, there's chili pepper bits in the cheese and it is hot. Why? WHY? This is why I didn't want to go to stupid Fiesta Ranchera in the first place.

TAKE ME TO TACO BELL. You already KNOW what's going to happen when you take me to a fancier mexican place. And hell, what's the point of going somewhere else for mexican food with me anyway? To me, it probably won't be as GOOD as taco bell, even if they do get my order right, and it's certainly going to be more expensive and take longer.

And my dad of course made me feel two feet tall by afterwards finding some tiny corner of the menu not even near the nacho section that says the nachos have friggin' chile peppers in them. Yeah. You're a LOT of help scouting out the ingredients beforehand, when it would actually be useful, aren't you? If you find it afterwards, just keep your mouth shut. I had a reasonable expectation for it to not suck, no matter what you just found. And you knew I was picky from before, it didn't just change overnight, buddy.

Yesterday I went out to celebrate my internship being over with my high school friend. It was fun, we had dinner and watched the Interpreter. I'm a very spineless person when it comes to moviegoing. If someone wants to see something I'm not hugely interested in, I'll go anyway. I do that with my Dad, and I especially do it with this friend. So the interpreter was like my fifth choice after Hitchiker's, Miss Congeniality II, Fever Pitch, and Sahara--basically anything but Triple X: State of the Union. But... anyway, it was alright. And I probably would've ended up seeing it on video sometime anyways.

I was kind of depressed after I got home, though. I mentioned that I have no job prospects, basically, and she said she'd love to see me go to New York or LA and break into the entertainment business. Which it makes me sad, because I'd love to do that but I know I'll never have the courage. I could not move halfway across the country to somewhere I don't know where I know no one, trying to break into a notoriously difficult business to break into....

Also sad, she said her mom and her had been talking about it, and that her mom thought I'd do great there. Isn't it sad when someone else's mom you've met maybe five or six times, tops, has more confidence in you than your own mom? Even if I did muster up the courage to go, my mom would bring up every horrible thing that could possibly happen and crush my spirit. She is afraid of big cities. And doesn't want me to go very far from her. She about had a fit when I even applied for a job opening at Rockford! Hell, she didn't even want me to take the internship in Peoria at first. Then again, to play devil's advocate, my friend's mom really has nothing to lose by saying some random friend of her daughter's would do good in LA. If I did go and fall flat on my face, she wouldn't feel responsible. And she obviously doesn't know me well enough to know if I'd succeed or fail. So optimism from strangers probably isn't worth that much.

I know everyone would want this, but I wish I could see into the future. Not like, specifics. Just enough to know "If I do this thing, would I be happy in general? Or would I be more happy in the long run to do this other thing?" And then I could proceed with total confidence. It would be so much nicer than relying on the magic 8 ball like I do now.

So yesterday was my last day of work at the station.

I spent the first few minutes describing in detail the whole dent incident one last time to some pencil pusher on the top floor so they know exactly how to file the claim on this "significant amount of damage," a phrase the clearly disapproving lady used as many times as possible to put me into my place.

Then I went to two stories, both on Komen Race For The Cure-related things. For people who don't know, it's a race to earn money for breast cancer research, and it's big enough that it has a few tie-ins. The one thing was this golf tournement. It was actually crazy fun, because this dude drove me around at top speed on his golf cart. You don't think golf carts go that fast until you're in one, clinging with all your might to thousands of dollars of heavy video equiptment, but then you become born again to the magnificence of the humble golf cart. Or at least I did. Believe me, SO much better than trying to lug it around a huge-ass golf course.

The other thing was this Johnsonville Brat mobile thing in front of a Cub foods, where they were selling the brats (bratwursts if you're accidently reading this like bratty kids) to raise money that was going to go to the Komen fund. That was actually kind of annoying, there were several really hovery people around. Honestly, some people are drawn like bees to honey if you have a damn camera. Thankfully, they don't try to get on screen, but they do come over and ask me about a million questions while I'm trying to get my job done. Most of the time I don't mind it, but when I'm in a hurry, I just want to be like, "Do I come down to where you work and pester you with about a thousand irritating questions while you're trying to do your job?" except I DO do that. I'm the media.

Anyway, there was this one particularly persistant guy who kept coming back. I would like to think that I'm just that hot that he wanted to hit on me, but no one ever has, he wasn't being flirty, and he was not in my age range. I told him I was an intern and am in charge of nothing (didn't add that it was my last day there anyway), but he still wanted my name and a number for the station, so I finally gave it to him to make him go away, even though giving out personal info like that makes me a bit queasy.

Then after I came back and editted these, I spent four hours doing absolutely nothing, as I have done quite frequently there.

So anyway, I'm happy to be gone, but not hugely thrilled to be unemployed. My parents are overwhelmingly understanding in giving me a couple days breathing room before I start applying to places, but I have to start all that process up again soon. Particularly irritating as I don't even know what places I want to apply to. The real world is already being a pain.

Today my dad and I rented movies and watched them. Also, we all went to Olive Garden to celebrate the end of the internship. I had alcohol! But I had to get my mom to order it because I didn't have my ID on me. It was my seventh drink ever. I'm such a lightweight. I also had one of their special tuscan whatever meals that they're pushing right now. Quite good. I love garlic. I'm like, whatever the opposite of a vampire is, I love garlic so much.

Good times.

Tina: I'm also eatting my supper right now too
Phoemeister: whatcha havin'?
Tina: ham sandwichs
Phoemeister: mmm
Phoemeister: TINA!
Phoemeister: eat
Phoemeister: the
Phoemeister: ham!
Phoemeister: sorry, I couldn't resist that

Unfortunately, Tina's not seen the pinnacle of cinematic achievement that is Napoleon Dynamite, so she didn't get it.

Yesterday was the second to last day of work at the station for me.

So YAY at not having to work there anymore.

BOO at my impending unemployed slobness.

Since the places I already applied never called me back, I guess I'm going to have to start applying more places, which is just the hugest pain in the ass ever. I hate doing that, and even worse hate job interviews. I wish I could just fast forward to the job.

I also have to decide if I want to go into news at all anymore. And if I think not, I have to see if there's anything else in video prod I can get. And if I can't do that, I have to give in and start applying for other jobs.

The only thing really notable about yesterday was the lecture finally came about denting the van. The news director was fairly cool about it, he didn't yell at me or anything. He seems like a pretty calm guy, actually. I think he needs to be, to deal with that madhouse. Anyway, I took the lecture pretty well except for the part of it that was on how careless I am with station things, and I should try to treat them like my own things. I think part of this was a reference to that incident where I put DB's camera in his cubby, even though there wasn't enough space because of his ginormous bag.

Anyway, that kind of irritated me. Because the dent thing: totally something I can see doing to my own car. It was a moronic mistake, I'm a total idiot, and I feel bad, but it wasn't like I was driving at top speed in the van, or not looking for the hell of it because I just don't care. I am just a very bad driver, mostly because I have HORRIBLE observational skills. Which again, is probably a reason why I shouldn't go into news.

And the camera/ginormous bag thing: Yes, I probably wouldn't do that with my own things. But I wouldn't have done it with the station's things in the first place if DB didn't put the fear of god in me about moving his stuff.

Today, I slacked off.

Though it shows up as tomorrow, since this is two forty a.m.

also, new alternatune

LSEG: that's okay.. when I'm a pizzagna billionaire you can be my trophy wife with the award-winning handlebar moustache
Phoemeister: sweet!
Phoemeister: what kind of awards?
LSEG: hmm, good question
LSEG: just top of your category I guess
Phoemeister: WHAT??? I'm not best in SHOW?

Sui: well yeah.. I have plenty of advice to give in the field of auto-erotic pyromania

Phoemeister: anyway, it sounds like you have experience licking rusty metal asses
Phoemeister: maybe that's how you got strep in the first place
Sui: haha I didn't know you could get strep from rusty metal asses
Sui: those damn robot std's
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: indeed
Phoemeister: that's your defense to your girlfriend
Phoemeister: "I didn't KNOW you could get strep from rusty metal asses!"
Sui: haha yeah
Sui: the robot tricked me!

Phoemeister: yeah
Phoemeister: I think I've hit the weird TV news trifecta
Phoemeister: I'm cheating on some lady with Ross*
Phoemeister: I caught two jailbreakers**
Sarcasmyst: LOL
Phoemeister: and teenage boys mooned me in the newsvan
Sarcasmyst: eww!

___
* No "It was Rachel" PLEASE. This is a lot classier of a blog than that.

** a long time ago, at TV-10 these two people either cheating on their spouses or on the run from the law totally almost assaulted me because they didn't want to be on TV, though I had already assured them I wasn't getting them on camera.

Looooooooooong day at the TV station.

First off, we do this package that is to be aired at a later date about people buying houses in tiny hick towns because they can get all the amenities there nowadays, but still with all the "down home charm" which basically seems to consist of strangers talking to you when you are at a store.

The reporter I was with made me shoot like a thousand houses. I was getting pretty tired of this as time wore on. We got way more than you'd ever need for a package, something tells me he figures I probably screwed half of the shots up, and he made me shoot so many that he'll still get something out of sheer volume. Anyway, it got annoying because it was like, drive in the van for two blocks, haul everything out and set it up and shoot something, drive in the van for two blocks, do it again.... It took over FOUR HOURS. I just wanted to get the hell out of that town.

But then anchor lady calls us up and wants weather footage, which basically entailed doing the same thing only getting people from a driving range, cows laying around in a field, people flying kites, trees in the wind, grass in the wind, mud.

Then, anchor lady takes me aside. And though I've mentioned her before as one of the more unpleasant people, she didn't seem to be in "put down" mode today, but it was still a depressing conversation. Because 1) she said that she didn't think I took away as much from the experience as a lot of the interns the station has. That while I'm technically proficient with a camera, I don't seem to have the journalistic skills needed, like standing up for myself and interviewing people etc. 2) she also said to be in this business, you need to love it, because otherwise it beats you down. That people don't have time to ask for things nicely all the time. And everything's rush rush rush, and that it can get to you if you don't start out loving it.

And it got me thinking, do I love it? I DID love it, at TV-10. When I did 1 story a shift, two shifts a week. With people I liked. And I didn't have to drive anywhere. And there was no real pressure.

But it WAS a pain today. I was dying to get out of that stupid town we were doing the package on. And I have been hating it lately because of all the driving. Not only does it suck to not be able to find things, but I really am a poor driver, as the dent incident and the blood sucking money grubbing whores I bumped with the newsvan incident illustrate. And I had to drive all the way to bloomington normal and back for the story afterwards, which was a gigantic pain. I have a headache every day after work because of all the driving. Is this a career I really should be in?

But what should I be in if not this? I really liked it. I want to do something creative with my life. But you can't do any other video prod, it seems, without paying your dues in news first. So I guess it's lame horrible cubicle job for me, yay. I get to live out dilbert! Whee.

Then I actually did have fun on the last story, except for all the driving. ISU got this new fancy pants electronic organ for the center of performing arts. I interviewed the dude that installed it, and he was awesome. And I could find everything, because I know ISU. And then I got to listen to organ music!

And this is something that happened while I was interviewing the guy who installed the organ, as related later in an IM conver:

Phoemeister: oh, here's something goofy: someone called the company phone I had and was all, "who is this?" and I'm like, "Phoe," thinking it's someone from work who doesn't know me that well or something, though I have my name on the board by the phone when I check it out, anyway, they're like yammering on at me and finally I'm like, "I think you called the wrong number." and they're like, "No, you called ME awhile ago! You left a message for Ross!" and I'm like, "I don't know anyone named ross!" and they start to yell at me but I hang up on them
Phoemeister: So I think ross is cheating on this lady
Phoemeister: and now she thinks it was with me

SIX, I mean. I forgot to upload Funnel Cake Trailer earlier.

FIVE NEW COMICS PEOPLE! Production is at an all time high!

Though I do feel compelled to admit that "stewardess in pantyhose" and "monkey gots a hockey stick" I drew a long time ago but forgot to put up.

And I'm not saying production is at all time quality high... because it isn't.

But you gotta take what I give ya, so here, once again is the link to my comics, the new ones are the last five on the page.

Oh, and I wrote a new Alternatune a few days ago, while I'm blatantly self-promoting here.

Deeeepressing day.

First off: today was rainy and 20 or 30 degrees colder than it has been lately. And my one story, I actually had to stand around out in the middle of it. Eesh.

Second: I toootally mentioned I had colitis, because they were talking about some guest that was going to be on the show from the Colitis & Crohn's foundation. And this one guy asked "How bad." And I said really bad, but was going to explain that I meant that it's not that bad (scale from 1 to 10 I've been told I'm a 2) but that nothing I've ever taken has done that much good except for steroids, and they didn't even put me into remission.

Well, the guy has 2 kids, both with colitis. Or one with colitis, one with crohns. One's 9 and one's 13. Which in my opinion is REALLY the suck for those poor kids, I was pretty pissed at how young I was when I got it, and I was 18. For some reason, I guess I thought it was a later onset disease, my grandma started having her problems with crohns when my mom was in college. ANYhoo, he started quizzing me on what drugs I've taken and what I've had done, and it's obvious that mine's not NEAR as bad as the 13 year old's and somewhat better than the 9 year old's. So I look like this jerk for being like, "wah wah wah I poop a lot, it's REALLY bad" when his daughter's stomach "is just scars, she doesn't even have a bellybutton anymore." and his nine year old's been under the knife at least once.

It makes me wonder how good my specialist is, though. Because I always thought he was awesome (I mean, my general doctor was a moron who thought I had acid reflux disease, so obviously he looks like a genius compared to that), but I've heard from many people, and this guy with the messed up kids agrees, that diet helps, but my guy doesn't really seem to care what I eat. And I'd never heard of a couple of the drugs he mentioned that his kids have taken. On the other hand, my specialist has said before he doesn't want to put me on certain drugs he could put me on, because their side effects can really screw you up and if your colitis is only a 2 it's not worth it. Whereas obviously it WOULD be worth it to this poor bastard's kids.

Lastly, the biggest problem: I totally dented a newsvan. I was at a gas station, and I stupidly pulled in so that I didn't have any pumps on the side of the van where the little gas hatch is. So basically I'm doing some manuvering, and I smack RIGHT into one of those huge concrete things they kind of have on either end of a block of pumps. I totally didn't see it, because it's too short to see if you're as close to it as I was, but of course, it's certainly tall enough to fuck things up. So basically I'm screwed, there's a huge dent in the van because I'm a moron who doesn't pay attention. I wrote a note to the news director, (thankfully he wasn't there, I'd have no idea how to say it. Because I feel HUGELY sorry, and want to say sorry, but usually sorry annoys people, because sorry isn't exactly going to fix it. So basically in the note I left I just said that I did it, which van it was, how I did it).

Really, I'm wondering even more if I should give up this business because of the driving. I do stupid things all the time while I'm driving, but the thing about it is that 90% of the time, if it involves another driver, they're smart enough to save their own skin and get out of the way. I TOTALLY accidently cut someone off today. And have a million incidents like that all the time. And I hate driving, I end up with huge headaches at the end of the day, today I had a DOOZY because I spent the whole day, nearly, in a van. I really, really, wish there was a way to get into corporate video or a production company without paying your dues in news a year or two first. But as it is... I might just have to punk out and get a regular job, which kind of worries me.

The two places I applied for didn't ever reply. Finally, I sent each of them an e-mail that was kind of like, "heh, did my resume ever get there?" when I really meant, "HIRE ME, DAMMIT!" And I'll be darned if the one station didn't send me back an e-mail that they actually HADN'T gotten the resume. So... I think I'll probably send them another one. And then if they and the other station don't want me, give in and sell out. I guess I owe it to myself to try with the one station, to see if it's any better at a different place. *sigh*

Oh, other than that my day was pretty good. I had a story at the ballpark, a story at a regular park, and then one at the peoria library. 2 out of 3 stories being outside on a beautiful day is not too shabby. Hell, having three stories at all is pretty big for me.

Just when you think it's safe to breathe again...

Life SCREWS YOU!

I can't remember whether I posted it or not, but basically I had a fender bender a couple weeks ago, where I bumped into the back of a car while I was in one of the newsvans. It really wasn't a big deal, a cop came in like 2 seconds and didn't even bother with a report because there was no damage.

So I didn't tell the station. Or my parents. I was really freaking out about it, I really don't want to get in trouble with the station over anything, and I figured not telling them was the best option, especially since there was no damage.

Well, guess who called up my mom while I was at work today? Yeah, the people I ran into. I don't even know their name, we were supposed to exchange info, but I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, so I didnt' really catch their names or numbers, though I did give them my number.

So my mom's paranoid about everything and is convinced these people are making it up to like, steal my identity or bilk us out of thousands of dollars or something. So she was pretty mean to the lady and all, "Well, if it happened in the company car (which is about the only info the lady had) call up the company!" which is true, it would be the station's insurance on this. But I specifically gave them my home number so that I could head this off before it got to the station if anything ever happened, though I don't know what good that would do if they were really determined to make a claim.

So I'm deathly afraid they'll call up the station and make me look bad. Especially since my mom was so rude to them. But on the other hand, my mom said all this happened this afternoon, and I was there this afternoon, so if they remembered where I worked (which I don't know how they COULDN'T, our call letters are all OVER that van, not to mention several gigantic NBC peacocks) they probably would've called then, right? Except I would've thought they would've called us earlier in general if they had a claim.

Anyway, they're TOTAL BASTARDS if they try to get money out of us or the station. Because seriously, there was NO damage to either vehicle. And the cop even said so. And the bump I gave them isn't enough for even whiplash. And there's no way in hell they even will get money out of anyone, considering that there's no way they can pin any significant damage on that little bump. But what they CAN do is make a claim at the station to make me look like an incompetant driver and a liar for not telling the station. And then I'm blackballed for any photog job in the state. And they don't get any money anyways.

I wonder if it's over "emotional distress" or some shit. Because my mom said the lady called (it was a lady and a guy), and I remember the guy was pretty cool about it but the woman kept freaking out and yapping at him in whatever their native language is and wouldn't speak to me at all. Whereas the guy kept saying stuff like, "It's okay, no damage, just a little scare" and when he said the little scare bit he openly gestured to his freaking-out wife. And I was totally nice to them, I said I was sorry about a thousand times.

I'm really freaking out about this. I hope they either forgot the station's name or decide not to be bastards about the whole thing.

Work wasn't too bad today. I had to come in early, but my story was on some "peace tree" these aging hippies planted. I know I'm cynical, but I doubt the peace tree is going to really do all that much.

On the other hand, it was the most beautiful weather ever. And the peace tree was flowering really prettily. It was a really good assignment. It also involved a lot of driving (it was an hour's drive away from the station). Which, I'm not a fan of driving. Especially around peoria, where I can get lost and there's all this construction, and tons of other cars around to keep track of. But I spent most of it on the freeway, so it was oddly relaxing. But yet far more interesting than sitting around doing nothing, like my time probably would've been occupied with otherwise.

New Alternatune

Phoemeister: people are losers
Sui: I thought you knew that already
Phoemeister: yeah, but I hate getting re-confronted with it

(This was on the subject of a guy who felt the need to wave and say, "Hi mom!" to my camera.)

Gah. Stupid George Lucas. I hate the prequels. So much so in fact that my dad brought home the dvd of some cartoon that's supposed to bridge the gap between 2 & 3 and I actually wanted to avoid watching it, though I did anyway.

What have you done, George Lucas? I used to LOVE star wars, but you've turned me into someone who would AVOID it? You suck. I'm going to see 3 because I can't not see 3. But I'm sure it's going to suck. I had high hopes for 1, and it sucked. Everyone TOLD me 2 was going to be way better, but it sucked. And now everyone's telling me 3 is going to be better but it's going to be crap too.

The cartoon: eh. Anakin was SUCH a whiney bitch I want to hurt him. But he always is like that, so I can't really blame the cartoon people. He sucks at being a good guy and he sucks at being a bad guy. I know everyone else hates Jar-Jar. And it's not like I love Jar-Jar. But I would take Jar Jar a million times over stupid Anakin. He drives me nuts.

Other than that, it actually reminded me of this book I read once that drived me nuts. It had all these aliens and stuff that just really could kick a regular human's ass. So the author started putting in other stuff to make the human protagonists fancier and fancier to beat them. But then like, these humans trained from birth could kill all sorts of crazy crap, but they weren't enhanced at all other than training. It was just stupid. And that's how this was, things would just start mowing down the clone troopers like gangbusters, then ONE jedi would come along and kick it's ass, while busting up about a thousand droids at the same time. Lame.

Gah, even with dead guys I have no luck! I took the dead celebrity compatibility test and my top result was James Baldwin, who, according to the profile, was gay as they come.

I'm such a loser even dead people turn me down and say they're gay to protect my feelings only you know they secretly aren't gay. I bet Oscar Wilde TOTALLY put James Baldwin up to this!

So, I finnally got my new CD's in the mail, YAY. More about this in Alternatune

And here's yet another one of my wacky convers:

Phoemeister: I also think Billy Idol somehow freeze dried his hair
Phoemeister: so that it will look the same forever
Sui: haha that's the 80's for you
Sui: all that aquanet
Phoemeister: true
Phoemeister: maybe he used so much back then that even if he wanted to
Phoemeister: he couldn't get it to do other things now
Sui: haha
Sui: so he jsut stayed a punkrock star forever?
Phoemeister: yes
Phoemeister: he tried to become an accountant
Phoemeister: but the hair wouldn't let him
Sui: haha
Sui: must... deny.. the hair's... wishes
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: "...can't....hair...too...strong"
Sui: haha
Sui: must... resist... spikes...
Phoemeister: "...can't...hair...too...strong" :P
Phoemeister: "and too... bleached... blonde... AHHH, I CAN'T TAKE IT, I HAVE TO GO AND DANCE WITH MYSELF!"

NYC: i just want to get laser surgery and be done with contacts
Phoemeister: that would be sweet
NYC: it's a shame it costs money
Phoemeister: yeah
NYC: i figure i'll just wait until i'm rich beyond belief, then get it
Phoemeister: sweet
Phoemeister: when you're rich beyond belief will you hook me up too?
NYC: eh, we'll see what kind of mood i'm in
Phoemeister: well I'd think it'd be a good mood, seeing as how you'd be rich beyond belief
NYC: you make a valid point
Phoemeister: why thank you
Phoemeister: I like to think of myself as the type of person who can put together a well thought out arguement on why people should buy me eye surgery

Me trying to dissuade LSEG yet again, and pasting the results over to Tina:


Phoemeister: LSEG: *huggles*
Phoemeister: I have pink eye

Tina: spread the germs
Phoemeister: oh yess
Phoemeister: I want to rub my eye all over his naked body
Phoemeister: maybe that's how I got pink eye in the first place

Also, I'm thinking that would make a great catchphrase, "Well maybe that's how I got pink eye in the first place!" If you heard that out of context, you'd have to wonder how the person got pink eye.

And I DO have pink eye, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I had it last week or the week before or something, and it came back. It sucks, I just want it to go away so I can wear my contacts again. My mom is just saying to see if it goes away again. Which, seems to be her go-to solution for every medical problem, next to, "foist random medications at least a decade old on family members."

As for other news about my day, I don't feel like typing it out again, so here's another AIM snippet:

Tina: so how'd your day go?
Phoemeister: Eh... I editted a lot of stuff from the network feed the first half of work, which I like because it's easy, I don't have to drive anywhere and tend not to make so many mistakes since it's so simple. It gets old if you do it all the time, but I hadn't in awhile. So it was nice.
Phoemeister: The second half, I don't know if you've heard of this show, but it's about these guys who build custom motorcycles for people, and it's sort of funny or whatever because of the family dynamic etc. etc., anyway, they made one for a local company, and it was unveiled in this baseball field and I had to wait like, 2 hours for them to actually bring out the motorcycle, which was boring. Then when I was editting it, I accidently timed something wrong, and the interview I got earlier was no good. I don't know what's wrong with me, I used to almost never make mistakes at TV-10, but I make them left and right at the station, and then I feel like a complete idiot and feel like the people there think that.

A conversation with a photog from work:

Photog: (talking about a traffic accident) ...and they were kind of worried about letting us photograph it because the corpse was all mangled and crap.
Me: Gee, with YOUR sensitivity, I can't believe they would worry about how you would present it!

Actually, he's not that bad of a guy. In fact, the only person at WEEK I'm really friends with. But I found that conver amusing. And sad.

In general work was not that bad. Nothing particularly good, but nothing particularly bad. I shot a school dedication and a fundraiser for a no kill pet shelter. I just kind of miss feeling competant.

Also, new Alternatune

So today was pretty decent for a work day. First off, no DB. Maybe I assumed wrong when I thought I was going to have to get his gear every day. Though, now that I said that, I bet it goes back to the way it was and I DO have to get his gear every day because I jinxed it by saying that on here.

First off I helped with a liveshot, which actually didn't happen, because the station wasn't recieving the signal. Yet another pope thing. AND since the "real" photographer was so busy trying to get the signal to work, I actually got to shoot the ceremony. I didn't get to edit it, but my parents saw it and they say it's good. Though, that means nothing to me professionally, because they can't tell what's good or not in news. Which makes me think, since the audience for news has no idea what's good or not, I don't know why we go to all the bother of making these elaborate rules about what's good or not that make our work harder without really being appreciated by whoever it's targeted at. But hey, maybe they notice subconciously...

Then afterwards, I had a story at Bradley University, they have this thing called 24 hours of music, which they put on a 24 hour show of various different musical acts, and a certain percentage of the profits they make goes to some VH1 charity that helps save school music programs. It was a lot of fun. I think it's amazing when people, such as the organizers of the thing tonight, thank me and thank me and thank me to come to something like this, when I actually LOVE being there. I would SO rather be there than a boring old town council meeting or something. Or worse, back at the newsroom doing nothing at all. Anyway, I'm going to put more up about the show at Alternatune, if anyone's interested.

Only downside is I got lost. Peoria, for those who don't know, has the Illinois river running through it, so to get to the west side (which of course most things are in the west side) I have to go over a bridge. Which, I used to mostly get there using 74 via the Murray-Baker bridge. Which, of course, is closed. So the choices are the McLuggage Bridge (yeah, I'm sure I butchered the spelling on that), the something that starts with C bridge, whatever bridge the 474 bypass goes over, and the Bob Michel bridge.

The McLuggage bridge I've done surprisingly well on, I haven't gotten lost on any of the 2 or 3 missions I've been sent over it. And the C bridge, I've not even gone on enough to know what the actual name is, though I managed to find my way on that one. But the Bob Michel bridge is the DEVIL. This is the second time I've gotten horrendously lost because of a route going over it. Somehow I made it to the music thing, even though I was lost, by just tooling around town until I hit the road I knew I needed to be on by pure accident. It did NOT cross paths with the road it was supposed to, according to my directions. I took like 4 or 5 turns to get to it. And then I got worse lost on the way back, because I couldn't remember what I did. And also, I don't think you can get back on 74 from the place you get off of it to get to the Bob Michel bridge anyway.... Both times I've gotten terribly lost because of Bob Michel I end up accidently driving all the way to a 474 access point (which takes a lot of time, it's not exactly close) and getting back to the station that way. Anyway, that whole rant probably means nothing to you, but it means I dread driving anywhere on the stupid Bob Michel bridge. And looked like a nimrod again to the people at the station.

So anyway, since I shot two things and did a helluva lot of driving, my day was pretty busy, so I liked it.

Phoemeister: I'm whiney
Sui: hehe it's okay
Phoemeister: thanks
Sui: now don't be vain, and don't be whiney
Sui: or else, my brother, I might have to get midevil on your hiney
Phoemeister: lol... You have to love weird al
Phoemeister: Seriously, that's going to be my policy when I am God-Emperor

(my parents are discussing which Baby Einstein video to show the 'phew. Baby Einstein, for those who don't know, is a line of Disney DVD's for kids who can't talk yet)

Mom: I want to watch the new one, "Baby Mozart"
Dad: "Baby Gallileo" is pretty good...
Me: I want to watch "Baby Diehard."

Seriously though, I doubt the kid could tell the difference. And who doesn't love Diehard?

More complaining: DAMN YOU AMAZON. Or possibly Idlewild, for not releasing things in the US so they're imports so not only do I have to pay more for them, but they take forever in getting here. These CD's I ordered (including Idlewild) to cheer myself up because I hate the internship aren't going to arrive until April 27-May 6, which is NOT HELPFUL as it ends on April 30. What am I going to do for cheeryness in the face of black depression in the form of awful internship until then? Bastards, all of you!

Gah. I hate the station. They asked me if I wanted to come in and help with election coverage. I said yes. They even paid me. And still.... I came in and did nothing. It sucked SO much. I was there 7 and a half hours, and ALL I did was press one button four times. That is all I did all night.

It was so boring, I stood around a room with nothing to do. A crowded room which was loud as most crowded rooms are and gave me a horrible headache.

The only thing that kept me sane was repeating to myself that I was getting paid. But really, the forty or so bucks I'm assuming I'm making: not worth it.

And earlier today I was dubbing some of my old TV-10 work for resume tapes for photographer jobs. And every one of the stories... I just remember having a good time making. I was friends with the reporters, all the strangers were nice, I was proud of my work... I can't even imagine having one story go like that at the station I work at now, not to mention every day like at TV-10. I miss it so much. And I hate the fact that I decided to base my entire career on the experience and then it turns out that it SUCKS to work at a real TV station.

Oh, and the capper to the night: I thought I lost my wallet. Which... I am the most neurotic person on earth, I blow losing things way out of proportion. I think part of it is because I lose so many things and part of it is the way my mom acts like I murdered someone, but seriously, when I lose something I just go nuts. And I thought I lost my wallet... it turns out I'd never brought it. But I convinced the station people that I'm careless with my things, absentminded and then neurotic about it, which I'm sure just looks great. I have to say I am grateful to have not lost that wallet, on top of the night I had... I wish I weren't so absentminded, it's the bane of my existance. And I wish I weren't so neurotic. God, I can't wait till April 30th when this internship ends. If only there was a date I could look forward to that marked the end of me being absentminded and crazy.

So today started out good:

1) I'm coming into the station tomorrow (yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment) because they need extra people for the elections. I hate it there, but I want to look like I have initiative and do want to come in extra, so that these people like me, so when I try to get a job with non-jerks, they'll give me a good reccomendation. Anyway, the news director told me today I'm going to get PAID for coming in tomorrow, because it's not for my internship. And I have to say, getting paid for something you were going to do anyway for free ROCKS.

2) Then I ended up picking up some cell phones they had rented from somewhere for tomorrow because they want extras for election night. I liked this because it was a no-hurry sort of thing, so no pressure, and they gave me TONS of directions before I left, more than I even needed, really. Some of the people there actually are nice, I have to say. I didn't even ask for directions and two people just gave me, like I said, very detailed directions before I left. And then, the weather was beautiful, and since I couldn't use the interstate, I could drive around with my windows all the way down (doing it on the interstate is too loud). Windows down and music are the two things that take a painful chore like driving and actually make it relaxing and fun for me.

But... here's the bad bit: I'm on my way back, I'm on the home stretch, and I look down at my directions one more time to make sure I'm on the right track (I'm paranoid like that) and.... I don't brake like I should at this stop sign. And I bump into this Asian couple's car. No damage to my van, no damage to their car... but still, bad. I suck. I totally wasn't paying attention. This is the first thing that's happened at the station that I can't shift the blame to anyone else, I AM a crappy driver and it probably should've caught up with me before now. Anyway, they said there was no damage so I think it'll blow over without even the station knowing, but they DID make me wait around for the cops. I hate that. If there's no damage, I see no reason whatsoever to just linger around in other traffic's way. I suppose the upside is the cop didn't take very long to get there OR let us go. I have to say, when I had that REAL wreck a couple years ago, it took the cop over an hour to get to us. AND it was freezing cold out then. And then he took forever after that filling out the police report. Whereas this guy took both our licenses and insurance and wrote them down or something and then let us go on our way.

Oh and speaking of my whole "I just don't see why cops have to be brought into it" thing, that reminds me of the first time I ever had anything like that happen, in the parking lot of my high school. And the person I hit didn't care and left, but the parking lot attendant stopped me before I could leave and wanted to call the cops and I was freaking out because I didn't know people always called the cops for tiny accidents like that and was crying and hyperventilating and they wouldn't let me talk to my parents, which they said was because they thought it would freak them out if I was on the phone that upset with them, but it only made me more and more and more upset that they were calling cops and not even letting me talk to my parents until finally they did call my parents and they calmed me down and told the stupid principal that there was no friggin' reason to call the cops if the other car had left already! Anyway, that was greatly traumatizing and I had flashbacks of it today.

So work just was...bad today. I'm beginning to think I'm not going to get out of there without a complimentary reccomendation, I'm pissing off more and more people there.

Anchor lady sends me out to shoot a house fire. Gives me the address and then gets horribly upset when I ask about directions. Okay, I could see why me asking directions gets old, except for this tidbit: I-74, which is what I use EVERY time I go out on a story AND what Mapquest advises if you ask for directions from them, closed down yesterday. And it's not like I'm from peoria. So I thought I might get some help with the directions. Instead, I get reamed out. "You'll have to find things yourself one day, you know! You're never going to make it in this business, you loser!" Oh, and I do have a map of peoria, except I never bring it in because I don't have a desk or anywhere to put it so I know I'd lose it if I ever did. So I'm really up a creek on finding this on my own.

But I AM trying to, maybe seeing if mapquest could somehow navigate me somewhere without 74, and she just lays into me for not being fast enough! Okay... you want me to find directions on my own, but you somehow want me to do it instantly? Finally she does give me some directions, and is still angry that I take the time to write them down. Okay, dude, do you want me to spend 30 seconds writing them down, or 20 minutes driving around peoria with no idea where I am because I didn't write down the damn directions!?!?

To make matters worse, they were very, very, shitty directions. She tells me to turn left on Main... but neglects to tell me that Main is called "Western" at that one point. So I'm totally lost and too scared to call up the station to ask what went wrong. So I call my mom, who doesn't know Peoria anymore than I do, but has a map. She gets me to the right road. But, of course, it's one of those roads that doesn't go all the way through. Who invented those? Seriously. Making a road not connect all the way is the dumbest possible thing ever. I can see the reason behind one way roads, and sort of roads that are named one thing one place but have a different name after awhile. But roads that don't go all the way through are the DEVIL.

So I give up and call the station and I get the nice weekend anchor guy, and he tells me how to get there, and I do, and there's no fire. And it's not like I missed it, there is NO fire there. There's nothing black, there's not even a smell. I either have the wrong address or... there's no fire. THEN I have to call the station again to get back because I have no idea how to get back to where I started from after all that mess. And even with the instructions I still end up somewhere weird.

I went straight to something else (in Eureka. God bless Eureka for being small and not having I 74 blocked) and when I came back no one yelled at me, so I'm thinking nice anchor guy might've covered for me with anchor lady? It sucked, though. I was crying on the phone to my mom. You really don't want to call and ask for directions when before you left you were given this self righteous lecture on how you should not need directions. It's the worst feeling in the world. Well... not the absolute worst. I think the real low point of this internship was when I went up to a car accident and had to ask if anyone died. And second lowest was when DB chewed me out about stuffing his camera in his cubby with his ginormous bag. But this is definately in the top 3.

Nu (I'd totally do an umlaut only this keyboard doesn't do it even if you type out the codes, what kind of gyp is that?) post at Alternatune, if you're bored and care what I think about music videos.

So I saw Sin City today. Far more gore & T & A than I expected. Which... was quite a bit. So a bit creepy to be watching it with my dad. Also, I know I'm an incredible dork, but I have to wonder how the economy of Sin City works, because all the women do is hook, and all the men do is kill people. There were like 3 people in the entire movie who seemed to have a real job, other than the many cops that swarmed around pointlessly not stopping any crime. And I'm sure you're like, "Well, the economy is based on hooking!" but think, how do the men get the money to pay the hookers? Only one guy in the entire movie seems to actually get paid for all the people he kills. Otherwise, the movie's decent. Witty lines, awesome look, so many celebrities you couldn't swing a cat without hitting one, the whole 9 yards. I was also really excited at the trailer for Hitchiker's Guide To the Galaxy, though I only saw half of it because we came late.

In other news, I dubbed a bunch of resume tapes a couple days ago, and it turns out that I screwed up and am going to have to do it all over again, which irritates me no end.

Also, I have some observational humor for you! Has anyone seen the ads for the Mork & Mindy made for TV movie? I love them. Really.... The ad's going along being all, "Robin Williams is awesome blah blah blah" and then suddenly the voice drops ten octaves, "But there was a side no one knew about.." and Don't Fear the Reaper starts playing. That is just.... so incredibly cheesy that I HAVE to love it. Also, there's a clip where the guy playing Robin grabs his crotch and says, "I got your nanoo nanoo right here!" Tell me that doesn't say quality television!

Also, my parents and I went out to cracker barrel today (or as I like to call it, Honkey Barrel) and they were pushing this e-mail newsletter called "The Front Porch." Okay.... HILARIOUS when self-conciously Old Timey restaurants try to contact you by e-mail, doubly so when they give it an old timey name like the front porch, like you're just stopping by their front porch to find out what your neighbor's been up to with his cow bessie. Also hilarious because it represents another paradox: if you really like Cracker Barrel enough to be wanting e-mail updates about Cracker Barrel, you probably eat there often enough that you don't need e-mail updates because you already know what's going on with Cracker Barrel.

Ah-thank you, ah-thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal! And please, tip your waitresses.

Work was a drag today. No DB, thankfully, but I did absolutely nothing all day. And I think they think I'm lazy, the assignment giver lady was like, "Start asking producer guy if he has something for you to do every half hour." Which.... he never does have anything for me, so I'm assuming this is going to get fairly annoying for him. And I hate doing it, I hate talking to anyone there unless I have to, because I am nervous.

Gah, blogger is being crazy. For some reason it isn't liking my links though I've typed them out 80 times.

So, I'm just going to write the url out and you're going to have to do the arduous labor of copying and pasting to see the two new comics.

70's porn hermaphrodite
http://www.geocities.com/tribble80/hermaprodite2.jpg

What does the Japanese world Hanakah mean?
http://www.geocities.com/tribble80/hanaka.jpg

Two new comics of the disturbing search request variety: 70's Porn Hermaphrodite and What does the japanese word Hanakah mean?