Some say that no news is good news but in my case it just means I lead a rather boring, routine life.
Chris and I took my son to see Annie this weekend. I think it is possibly my favorite musical of all time but this is the first time I've seen it performed live. When I bought the tickets, I knew it would be more for me than my son but I think they both enjoyed it also. The little girls were so entertaining and did an amazing job.
Other than that there's just not much going on. I'll try to think of something more interesting soon.
Blech.
Two Things I Dig:
How I Met Your Mother:
Okay, if you're not watching this little show on CBS, you totally should be. Bob Saget is the narrator. Bob Saget! I always think of him as Danny Tanner from Full House but I loved him and still do. The basic premise of the show is that the narrator is telling his children how he met their mother. So, each week, it's a new story about something that happened to this guy 20 years earlier, eventually leading up to meeting his wife. And, all of the flashbacks take place in current day. So, the beginning of the show is in the 2020's and they're flashing back to 2005. Anyway, in the flashbacks, Doogie Houser plays the best friend and he's actually quite comical and makes me laugh out loud. It's a really good show. Watch it!
Sarah Jessica Parker.
Ever since she was Janey on Girls Just Want to Have Fun, I've pledged my loyalty to her. I was 12 years old when I first watched this movie. Every single time my mother would take me to the movie rental store, I would check it out. Every. Single. Time.
I saw The Family Stone last weekend and I have to say it was very good. I love Diane Keaton and the rest of the actors were okay but I think SJP and Diane Keaton made the movie.
And, my boyfriend gave me her new perfume, Lovely, for Christmas. And she's right. It smells very classic with a hint of musk and some lavender and when I wear it, I feel like I'm wearing a bit of my grandma. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but I do think the perfume is adequately named, it is Lovely.
I feel different today. I took down my Christmas tree today which is always a major pain in the ass to do. I knew that I needed to get it done but it wasn't on my list of high priorities. Anyway, I started just taking off small things and before I knew it I had the tree down and everything packed away.
I opened the windows this afternoon for awhile. With the slight breeze blowing in and the house back to it's non-festive way, I feel good. I find myself wanting it to stay lighter outside for longer. It is 5:40 pm here and the sun is already setting. I think it's un-natural and unfair for the sun to set before 7 pm. Just my opinion.
Hello World, It's me again!
Boy, this whole blogging thing didn't work out the way I wanted it too. I've had many things going on in my life that I really wanted to chronicle here but I just never made this important enough to update it.
But! I'm here now! And ready to party 2006 into existence. Not really.
The truth is that some parts of my life are great and some parts of my life aren't. I think that's probably how it is with everyone. We all have things we wish were a little different. We all think that life would be better or easier if only such and such happened.
The good parts are that I'm still involved with the man named Seth. Honestly, I don't know why I picked the name Seth for him because it just doesn't fit. You know how names seem to just magically pick people? Well, his name is Christopher and if that name doesn't fit him properly, nothing else will. He spent Christmas here with me and my son. For the first Christmas Eve in 9 years, I had a real living, breathing man in my bed. Merry Christmas, indeed!
We went to my parents' house and ate like the possessed. You know what I mean? You know how possessed people look all crazy with their glossed over eyes and their big slimey fangs and greedy hands...kind of like something out of Lord of the Rings. That's how we acted for two straight days. We gorged on everything from Beef Burgandy with rice to homemade rolls, to the most gloriously cheesy homemade macaroni and cheese you have ever laid your tongue on to homemade coconut cake (3 layers!) to peanut butter balls and Martha Stewart's chiffon cupcakes with creamy chocolate icing...it was just all too much.
We ate so much, in fact, that my son actually threw up in the back of Christopher's car on the way home from my parents. "Merry Christmas, Mom...Here's your gift...bleeccchhh" I don't think that I slept at all that night, so worried that my son would get sick again. You see, Christopher's snore is like that of the nightly foghorn from the ship carrying out the dead to the underworld. So, I have to wear earplugs in order to get any sleep. Therefore, I was worried that I wouldn't hear my son and he'd be crying for me and puking all over his flannel snowmen sheets and I would be completely oblivious to it. My point is, I realized that my son is never too old for me to stop worrying about him as if he is still 3 years old.
He's going to be 11 years old in three months. I can't believe that in August of 2006, he will be in JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL. I am only 31 years old. How did I end up with a kid in JUNIOR HIGH? I feel like I just left JUNIOR HIGH. It frightens me, truly. I can't think about it for very long or I get a panic attack. Girls are going to want to start calling him and he's going to start looking at his penis in a whole new light and I just don't think I'm ready for this next stage at all. God help me.
But you know, why do they send the kids to Junior High so quickly now? When I was in school, we didn't go to Junior High (or Middle School for some of you) until 8th grade! We were in Elementary through 7th. Even after I moved to Tennessee, we still were in Elementary through 6th. They've moved it back even further now and I really don't like that. It just seems that children are more innocent and easily controlled in Elementary school. They get this big ego boost on them and think that they are going off to the big, bad Junior High and they change. Kids become evil and it takes them a good three or four years to figure out they don't have to be evil. Maybe I'm just projecting my own horrible experience of Junior High on to him. Maybe it will be okay. There's one thing for certain, I have no other way around it so we'll have to get through it somehow.
Anyway, as I was saying before I went off on a tangent, there have been good things. Obviously I'm feeling fortunate for my son and Chris and my family. I'm also very fortunate that I've got a job now that allows me to work from home! So, I drop my son off at school and then go work and I'm able to pick him up from school each afternoon. I can't tell you how wonderful it has been to be able to be at home with him in the afternoons. I love that I'm giving him that now because I wasn't able to do that for years. So, yes, some very good things.
But there have been a few not so good things. My weight has sky rocketed to a size that only Nell Harper would understand. It's really gotten out of control. Something stupid has clicked in my mind that's given me the impression that I can eat whatever the hell I want to eat and god damn the person that tries to stand in my way. Well, you saw that list of foods earlier that we ate on Christmas. So just take that list and add a few more items on to it. It's been ridiculously stupid of me. I'm really taking a major risk with my life by just carelessly eating whatever I wanted. I've been consumed with consumption. I've been valiantly standing in the center of the National Obesity Crisis and raising my fist in a mighty salute to officially fuck off. And over the last month or so, I've gone on an all out gluttony fest by cooking treats and cookies and candies every day for 15 days straight leading up to Christmas. It's been fun and I've enjoyed it quite a bit but you know, I'm tired of hurting myself for the sake of stubbornness. I've been so insistant upon not caring about my weight and what people thought of me because I wanted to just be happy and free like my skinny counterparts who don't have to worry about consuming a 2 Cheeseburger Value Meal, Super-Sized with a Coca-Cola. I wanted to just know how it felt to be normal for once. And now I know. It feels fucking miserable and anyone who eats like I've been eating for the last year or so should probably consider a colonic.
So, I'm doing something about all of that this year. I haven't really decided exactly what I'm going to say or do, but this blog is going to be getting a makeover and some new toys and I'm going to just kind of blow this mother out. It won't be a weight-loss blog, but there will definitely be updates in a different kind of way. But here's the thing I've decided: I'm not telling anyone in my actual life that I'm changing my way of eating. I'm not going to discuss my choices with them or even let them know that I'm trying to lose weight. The reason for this is that I'm tired of feeling judged and policed by well meaning friends and family members. If I tell you that I am on a diet, and we go out for dinner and you see me order a cheeseburger and fries, I do not need nor want your eyes even slightly glancing my way as if to say, "Is that on your diet?". If I tell you that I'm on a diet, I don't want to have to justify my choice of plan. If I tell you that I'm watching what I eat, I don't want you to ask me every time you see me how much weight I've lost. Basically, I just want to do this and be left alone about it with no fear of slipping because of who is watching my weight also.
I realized that I would need to share it with someone though. I have too much going on in my mind to not let it out every now and then. So, I'm going to share it with my friends in the box. I don't think anyone's actually reading this anymore. If you are, would you say hi to me? But, It's okay that no one is reading it. I think if I keep updating, maybe people will come around more. It's worth a try.
Anyway, that's about it for me. It's New Years Eve. Chris is at his home in Atlanta and I'm in mine in Chattanooga. The sun is setting and soon it will be the dawn of another year. What will this year bring to you? What hopes do you have for yourself? Does the new year really feel like a re-birth, a chance to start anew, or do you refuse to give in to the whole new resolution thing? (By the way, I bought all of my research books on my new eating plan last week so that I wouldn't be a complete cliche.)
I wish you whatever it is you want most for yourself.
Joy
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Okay, so I know I should like this movie, if for no other reason that it stars Johnny Depp. Eh, he did a good enough job but I much preferred the Gene Wilder version of the Willy Wonka character. I wish that they had kept a lot of the little rants that Wilder's character did in the original. He didn't show enough fake concern when each child met their fate in various situations throughout the factory and I missed this whole monologue:
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining?
Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes, the danger must be growing
'Cause the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing.
Overall, it was an okay re-make but it left me longing for the first one with all of the crazy, psychodelic, acid trip Oompa Loompa songs and the musical montages like "Pure Imagination", "Cheer Up, Charlie", and "I Want It Now".
Also, I thought Depp looked like Audrey Tautou in Amelie with an Elton John complex.
You be the judge.
Love Me If You Dare
I rented this a few weekends ago and have been meaning to mention it. This movie was excellent. I just could go on and on about it. It was twisted and totally warped but it made me very happy. In fact, there were so many great quotes but I couldn't find any of them online so I played parts back in slow motion so that I could write them down. For example, this little rant:
"It was pure, raw, explosive pleasure. Better than drugs, better than smack. Better than a dope-coke-crack-fix-shoot-sniff-ganja-marijuana-blotter-acid-ecstasy. Better than sex, head, 69, orgies, masturbation, tantrism, Kama Sutra or Thai doggy-style. Better than banana milkshakes. Better than George Lucas’ triology, the Muppets, and 2001. Better than Emma Peel, Marilyn, Lara Croft and Cindy Crawford’s beauty mark. Better than the B-side of Abbey Road. Better than Hendrix, the first man on the moon. Space Mountain, Santa Claus, Bill Gates’ fortune, the Dalai Lama, Lazarus raised from the dead. Schwarzenegger’s testosterone shots. Pam Anderson’s lips. Woodstock, raves … better than de Sade, Rimbaud, Morrison and Castaneda. Better than friendship. Better than life!"
I highly recommend it.
... and I have nothing to say.
Now that I finally have a space to dump all of the thoughts and ideas that ruminate in my head, I'm coming up empty. One day, very soon, I will have fun stories to share.
For now, I'd just like to thank Amy at Happy Homewrecker for her most excellent web design skills. Amy set up the entire blog for me and designed my banner. She is wonderfully talented and VERY patient. Thank you, Amy!!
Self-Made Man 
