anagram of brat

The weathermen have said to expect 1-4 inches of snow for the last three days. Other than a sprinkle that was gone by 10am? no snow. Temperatures dropped and errthang, but nothing fell from the sky. At least it sorta feels like winter out there - other than the freak snowstorm around Halloween we haven't really had any winter weather of note this year.... which of course means we're going to get five feet around beginning to mid-April. I'd not be surprised if we got snowed into PAX.

Anyway. So life, not much really to report at the moment. I've been fighting off a chest cold for a little over a week; today I'm ready to declare the battle lost. Mostly because I can; I'm done with today's bell performance (which went much better than previous ones) and I've got nothing planned for the rest of the day. I did want to get productive things done with the time, but considering how I feel right now, I'm declaring fuck it and reserve the right to hide in my nice warm bed with library books and the iPad relentlessly consuming media and occasionally whining pathetically at cell23 to get me things so I don't have to move. Considering what the last couple of days have been like with regard to social, family and wedding stuff commitments, I'm not too surprised my body is all "No, seriously, bitch, lay down and rest a spell."

Course, I can't complain, other than being punctuated by coughing the past couple days had their really good moments. Friday I spent running around doing wedding shit (more about that in a separate entry because there is a LOT of blathering to be done about that) and yesterday I spent first up in Athol at cell23's uncle's birthday brunch, and then later we went to Moti's for dinner and all I can say is oooooooh, Persian lamb stew nom nom. After that there was the Bon Appetit Burlesque's Love/Hate Show and, well, boobies. Also there is something incredibly happy about ending your day by being sassed (and then hugged) by an adorable drag queen in a wedding dress. I seriously have more than a little bit of a crush on Hors D'Oeuvres, I'm not even going to lie.

It was during the second half of the show that I (and indeed, everyone else in the audience) heard about Whitney Houston. ( this got long. )

Anyway. About that lying down, resting a spell and feeling miserable... Waiting to Exhale has been on my Netflix queue forever, maybe today's a good day to actually watch it.

So during Morgan Freeman's Cecil B. DeMille award montage on Sunday's Golden Globes, they sneaked in a clip from his stint on The Electric Company:



NEGL, I let out this sound that was somewhere between a scream, a giggle and a squee. I totally remembered this song, even though I was probably a little younger than I was in the icon the last time I saw it.

Okay, the awesome that is Morgan Freeman aside (and no, no one was tickled, damn it) what the hell was with children's educational programming in the 70s and the whole vampire thing? was there a study conducted that showed little kids learn better if the lesson is delivered in mock-Transylvanian? Or, like everything else, should we stick to blaming drugs?

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Once upon a time I would have said yes. But I find that these days I don't really mind it and am more annoyed by OMG IT WAS TOTALLY INVENTED BY HALLMARK. Really? If you believe that you probably also believe that Coke and/or Macy's invented Santa and that Hannukah was hyped up from a minor feast into a major thing so that Jewish kids could have a "Christmas." This is totally my judgey face. Sure it's over-hyped and commercialized (so is Christmas), but under the diamond ads, florists losing their shit and heart shaped boxes of chocolate what on earth is wrong with dedicating one day to love, and how can people object to that?

I realize my entire view is colored by the fact that Valentine's Day has never really been a super-romantic holiday for me. Sure, I took valentines to school (and I made them for everyone long before school ordered you to), but for me, Valentine's day was a day that Dad would often take off from work so he could come home and spend the evening with Mom and I and whomever of the siblings were around, since usually he was working 4-12am and I didn't see him much during the week. Sure, there was the ridiculous flower arrangement on the dining room table for Mom that she would audibly complain about but secretly loved, and sometimes a trip to the Godiva store for me after school (which was awesome because I got to pick out my own truffles... I'm extremely picky about them), and funny oversized cards for everyone (Dad always had a knack for picking out cards). But it sort of was beside the point. It was more... I don't know. Dad's ways of showing affection came in odd fits and starts and he only loosened up as he got older, which makes a bit of generational sense. But Valentine's Day was always the holiday when he was always no holds barred all about being with and spoiling his wife and kids. I'll honestly never forget my amusement/horror/squish when I went to the mailbox my first year of college to find Dad had sent up a box of chocolate big enough that my entire floor at Lamont had to come help me eat it. It's gotten less so since Mom died and all of us are gone, which I kinda miss. But I plan on calling him and the sibs today to wish them all a happy VD day per usual. Well, I won't wish Dad one. :) He'll get a regular Valentine's day greeting.

Also Valentine's day was really really fun at school too. There was usually some kind of hearts and cookies festival being thrown every year for the smaller kids and the high school had the Valentine's Day Assembly, which were the teachers in each department putting on skits, and it always culminated in the Media Lab's big production of the year which was us camera and computer nerds running around interviewing kids and staff about love and friendship and Valentine's day and some of the teachers answers to things were just off the frakking wall. It being UNIS it was interesting getting a bit of a not-US perspective on the whole thing, which is probably why I came away with the idea that it's more about all kinds of love rather than just the romantic type.

I guess with that sort of upbringing, it's very hard for me to be cynical about it. Sure, I audibly disdain it as much as the next devotee of the First Church of Cynical Hipster, but really? Life is hard enough as it is, and I'm totally about a day to celebrate love, be it romantic, filial or even just friendly. So no, I wouldn't get rid of it. I'd like it a little less sponsored by DeBeers and Zales maybe (not gonna happen), but the holiday itself can stay.

No, cell23 and I aren't planning anything too special other than him cooking dinner and us playing with the cat. After the craziness of last week and the past weekend, that is just about my speed. :)

It's not even about the game, or the award show, or whatever is on the TV. Sometimes it's about having a kitchen full of food and a living room full of friends, and having any old excuse to have both at any given time.

Thanks for coming, gang. :)

"Smooth Criminal" on duelling cellos! (hattip to nounsandverbs)



Today's Teefury! (I'd so wear that!)



Speaking of Peach, Super Mario as a first person shooter! (hattip to cell23)



And just for shits and giggles, a really large Super Bowl burger:



I'm not really rooting for anyone/thing tonight, except possibly for Troy Polamalu's hair.

Coffee and cleaning now.

Did I mention we have a small additional roommate for the next week or so?



the kids left their snail with us. I kinda wonder if he'd like spider plant instead of apple.


In other news, I have a couch and a large ass TV. I intend to spend Sunday evening on it eating wings and watching the one football game I actually pay any attention to during the year. If you're bored, reasonably local and want to join us, come on over. Bring something to share with the class.

Also love me.


Get your own valentinr

This is gonna be one of those entries where I lose friends on all sides of the spectrum. SO BE IT.

( RANTING AHOY. Considering it's regarding the PA Dickwolves drama, triggery like whoa )

ETA: non friend commentary screened. I'm not interested in outside wankery on this.

ETA2: ehh never mind i just locked the post from further comments. I realize thats probably going to piss folk off moar and violates my usual policy of encouraging people to tell me when i'm wrong, but upon thinking about it, i realize i don't have my usual level of trollface and popcorn interest in seeing which of my friends are on what side (i'm pretty sure i know where y'all stand by now) and having you cockfight it out. Also, this is the blue moon occasion where i'm off the fence i usually ride like a prize stallion and am pretty solid in how i feel about it. For whatever its worth, it seems like a flounce/chickenshit/fuck you move even to me, lol. But whatever. Its not like if you really want to talk to me about this you don't know where and how to get a hold of me. I just dont want to do it here. Interpret that as you will, i suppose.

The good news is that I'm more or less over the cold. Still phlegmy and coughing but I no longer feel like microwaved death. It was kind of a revalatory moment sometime yesterday when I just had an "oh hey, I'm better" moment and started acting/feeling human again, whee.

I found out yesterday that I lost one of my aunts. Not one I was particularly close to, but still even though I rarely saw her she was sort of... I guess constantly present? I don't know. Still processing out how to feel about that. Anyway, no idea how things are going to fall out regarding services and whatnot, but since I'm heading to New York anyway to see Dad anyway I suppose that will get figured out when I get there.

Dad seems to be reasonably all right all things considered. Still not really sure where I am there either, other than my usual pit of stomach dread at going home. Graaaagh.

I took a fair amount of sadistic glee in making cell23 sit through the Miss America pageant yesterday. Well, okay it was more a "if I'm making myself suffer through it, I require company." It was about as bad as you'd expect, though there was that extra special moment when Miss Arkansas broke out the ventriloquist dummies and started yodeling. What. If I were any of those girls, I'd have been pissed that she made it to first runner up. WTF. I was personally rooting for Miss Delaware, seeing as she has alopecia and competed in a series of nice but probably purposefully obvious wigs.

Oh also, the shoes in the DSW Miss America collection? awful. Yeesh. I'll be really glad when sleeveless formalwear and peekaboo toe pumps go back out of fashion because ugh, really?

I finally tried out Rock Band for Wii this morning as for some reason I'd been avoiding it since cell23 brought it home at Christmas. Nah, that's a little disingenuous, I know exactly why I've been avoiding it, and it's a dumb emo reason. It's still abysmal trying to get it calibrated on Monstervision, but I can usually get it close enough to compensate for lag, and I actually was having fun playing it and talking to Kidzilla about The Clash and The Ramones and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (she's still too shy to actually try playing, but she likes the music a lot). I think I may pack her home with a mix CD later. :)

It's been a pretty good kid weekend overall despite everyone being under the weather/actually sick and cranky. (Both kids are getting over colds/stomach bugs, Kidzilla more than Lovebug). Poor cell23 has had to take care of everybody this weekend. Have I mentioned I love him? *sheepish*

Pretty much the next day and a half are going to be kiddos and wrapping up business up here, because at this rate I'm going to be in NY until at least next weekend. *twitch* No help for it, but... yeah. Y'all have been here with me, you know how heading down without backup does wonders for my headnoise. Whee. Oh well. Meantime I'm gonna try and soak up enough squishy kid and manbeast vibe as possible to take with me and hope that'll be enough to get through the week.