Long time, no post
Hiya...
OK, I have been seriously lax in posting, especially seeing as how I have moved and am no longer seeing one of my best friends every day (you spotted leopard, you!). I'm back with my parents until I find a job, and they have dial-up access, so I'm only able to get online every couple days, usually late at night (since they only have one phone line--using the internet during the day blocks calls). My Mom is eternally online--I think the computer may be surgically attached to her. If I didn't have my laptop, we'd have to fight to use the computer, I swear.
So what's up with me. Well, I took the two weeks after I moved home off on my parents' orders. It was nice...I rented a bunch of movies, read books, luxuriated in a great library system, played outside with my Pooch. My Parents are expanding their shed, so I helped quite a bit with that as well. We still have roofing and siding to go, but my Dad had a scope on his knee Monday, so he's out of heavy commission for the next little while. Mom retired a few weeks ago, so she's enjoying being a slacker.
I keep thinking I need to buy school supplies. This is the first August since I was 4 that I'm not going 'back to school.' It just feels WEIRD.
The Puppy is good. We've gone to PetSmart twice, and swam in our pool, and got new tennis balls to play with. We also go for a walk every day at 9 with Mom and Kath, which is very exciting because she gets to have lots of people tell her how pretty she is. She did have a fit of the devil though, and got out of the backyard for the first time ever. She ran two blocks away, looking for little kids (there's a daycare and she always hears the kids). After ten minutes of chasing, swearing, and panic, Mom and Kath got her inside. She then went in her house after Kath spanked her so hard my hand hurt. Of course, my Mom and I left to run an errand and the minute we were gone her Daddy sprung her from jail. That dog has him wrapped around her finger.
The job search is going. I found 50 federal agencies that are a good match for me, and 17 that are excellent ones. Now I've gotta start begging. After a lot of fretting and worrying, I realized that I have to look outside Chicago and Cleveland, because there just aren't a lot of federal government jobs in either. Thus, I'm now targeting D.C. and Denver, since they are the top two cities with federal employees in the nation. Obviously, Denver would be nice since my brother and sister-in-law are an hour away. D.C. has TONS of jobs though, so it's likely I'm going to end up in that area. I'm terrified about being able to afford to live out there...it's pretty damn expensive, even more so than TO. Here I've dreamed that once I got my degree I'd be able to get a two bedroom apartment. Now it's pretty likely that I may have to get a bachelor apartment again if rent is as bad as I think it is. I'm hoping I'll be able to live in the suburbs and cut down on cost, but we'll see.
9 of the agencies have offices in Toronto, which would be ideal, but they don't come out and say they actually have offices, so it's hard to apply with that in mind when you don't know if there is an actual office. (wow, that was a crazy sentence).
I am not looking forward to moving again. My life is sitting in a storage facility right now, waiting to figure out where it's going. I'm digging through my bedroom here at home, dumping stuff left and right. I took seven full boxes of books to the library for donation, and I've only done two of my 5 bookcases so far. C & Steph, we're all in the same boat right now...let's commiserate together!
So I rented a bunch of movies. Let me see if I can remember and review:
--Sin City: Very different and inventive and bizarre. I liked it, and I know it was good because I've thought about it multiple times since I watched. Not really my cup of tea, though. B
--Alexander: I turned it off 45 minutes in. If I can't sit through it, it must be bad. D-
--Hotel Rwanda: Amazing. Chilling. The DVD extras gave me nightmares. A
--Switch: Typical romantic comedy. Good bloopers. Entertaining. B-
--Girl From Rio: Hugh Laurie. Sigh. He could read the phone book and I'd probably watch it. Cute little film set and filmed in London and Brazil. Great production value and well-executed story. B
--Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone: I watched it again since only saw it the first time in the theatre with C. I enjoyed it as much as before, although the third movie is still my favorite. A-
--Constantine: Bizzare. Enjoyable enough. Good production value. C+
--The Wedding Date: I thought this was better than Switch and didn't deserve the reviews it got. Quite entertaining, but c'mon people, take it for what it is: romantic fluff. B
--Miss Congeniality 2: Fluff. Entertaining enough, but not as good as the first one. C+
Books
--Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: By far the best of the series. Made me cry. A+
--The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco: If you didn't have a thorough knowledge of Italian culture and history, this book would be impossibly confusing. I enjoyed it, but was pissed at the ending. It trailed off right when it was getting REALLY interesting. B
--A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K. Hamilton: Entertaining sci-fi quasi-smut. A quick read. B-
--Chaucer by Peter Ackroyd: I want to marry Ackroyd and have his babies. His books are always so well-researched and written. This is a short biography of Chaucer, and taught me a shitload of stuff I didn't know. He was all over the royal families. Ackroyd describes him as a political figure who happened to write. Who'd a thunk it? A-
--Numerous career and job guides: They've made me cry and have panic attacks. Don't read them if you want to hold onto your sanity. No grade for fear of karmic boomerangs.
I've been doing, for some odd reason, all subsequent fiction I've 'read' on audio. I'm on the third book of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries, which are short and entertaining and a B average. Two days ago, I started doing the unabridged version of The Golden Compass, Book One in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Everyone knows I don't like unabridged, but this is a full cast recording, which rocks. One of the tapes was damaged/unusable, so I had to read a few chapters to bridge between the good tapes. Even reading it, I heard the audio readers in my head. It's like Harry Potter: the actors are immediately pictured in my head now when I read the books. So far, it is AMAZING. Full grade withheld until completion.
What am I reading right now?
1. The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America by Eric Idle: Hilariously funny. Plowing through it like a freight train.
2. An Underground Education: The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge by Richard Zacks: Informative and insanely funny. Reading and savouring a little at a time.
3. What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World: Your Guide to Today's Hot Spots, Hot Shots and Incendiary Issues by M.L. Rossi: Should be required reading for anyone in North America. Amazing, concise, and a 'keeper' reference book (I loves me my reference books).
4. The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick: This is about the previous theft of "The Scream" (not the one that just happened). It's about art theft, so you know I'm going to love it.
HOUSE IS OUT ON DVD TUESDAY!! YIPPEE!!
My ten current song addictions (these should be on your computer):
1. 3 LIBRAS by A Perfect Circle: "'Cause I threw you the obvious just to see what I could behind the eyes of a fallen angel, eyes of a tragedy"--my new addiction, which also has several great remixes
2. 7 SECONDS by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry: "Just as long as I stay, I'll be waiting"--Live 8's fault
3. ALL AT SEA by Jamie Cullum "Sometimes don't you just crave to disappear within your mind? You never know what you might find"--one of my favorite songs ever
4. DAMAGED by Plumb: "Will anyone get close to me? I'm damaged, as I'm sure you know"--another of my all-time favorites; I can't stop listening to it
5. FIX YOU by Coldplay: "When you love someone but it goes to waste, could it be worse?"--amazing lyrics
6. GRAVITY by Embrace: "'Cause I can't help thinking, and I don't look down"--written by Coldplay; Steph introduced me to this and I'm now addicted
7. HIDE AND SEEK by Imogen Heap: "Spin me round again and rub my eyes, this can't be happening"--the last minute and a half are mind-blowing
8. NO MYTH by Michael Penn: "Maybe she's just looking for someone to dance with"--oldie but goodie
9. WE WENT FOR A RIDE by Fefe Dobson: "I'll be praying for a red light to extend this precious night"--great song to belt while driving on the expressway
10. YOU AND ME by Lifehouse: "I can't keep up and I can't back down, I've been losing so much time"--fluffy but I love it anyways
OK, this is a novella at this point. This should tide everyone over for a while, eh? Hope everyone is doing good, and cheers to everyone going back to school. Trust me, it's better than attempting to find a job in a dismal job market.
Cheers, Kath
OK, I have been seriously lax in posting, especially seeing as how I have moved and am no longer seeing one of my best friends every day (you spotted leopard, you!). I'm back with my parents until I find a job, and they have dial-up access, so I'm only able to get online every couple days, usually late at night (since they only have one phone line--using the internet during the day blocks calls). My Mom is eternally online--I think the computer may be surgically attached to her. If I didn't have my laptop, we'd have to fight to use the computer, I swear.
So what's up with me. Well, I took the two weeks after I moved home off on my parents' orders. It was nice...I rented a bunch of movies, read books, luxuriated in a great library system, played outside with my Pooch. My Parents are expanding their shed, so I helped quite a bit with that as well. We still have roofing and siding to go, but my Dad had a scope on his knee Monday, so he's out of heavy commission for the next little while. Mom retired a few weeks ago, so she's enjoying being a slacker.
I keep thinking I need to buy school supplies. This is the first August since I was 4 that I'm not going 'back to school.' It just feels WEIRD.
The Puppy is good. We've gone to PetSmart twice, and swam in our pool, and got new tennis balls to play with. We also go for a walk every day at 9 with Mom and Kath, which is very exciting because she gets to have lots of people tell her how pretty she is. She did have a fit of the devil though, and got out of the backyard for the first time ever. She ran two blocks away, looking for little kids (there's a daycare and she always hears the kids). After ten minutes of chasing, swearing, and panic, Mom and Kath got her inside. She then went in her house after Kath spanked her so hard my hand hurt. Of course, my Mom and I left to run an errand and the minute we were gone her Daddy sprung her from jail. That dog has him wrapped around her finger.
The job search is going. I found 50 federal agencies that are a good match for me, and 17 that are excellent ones. Now I've gotta start begging. After a lot of fretting and worrying, I realized that I have to look outside Chicago and Cleveland, because there just aren't a lot of federal government jobs in either. Thus, I'm now targeting D.C. and Denver, since they are the top two cities with federal employees in the nation. Obviously, Denver would be nice since my brother and sister-in-law are an hour away. D.C. has TONS of jobs though, so it's likely I'm going to end up in that area. I'm terrified about being able to afford to live out there...it's pretty damn expensive, even more so than TO. Here I've dreamed that once I got my degree I'd be able to get a two bedroom apartment. Now it's pretty likely that I may have to get a bachelor apartment again if rent is as bad as I think it is. I'm hoping I'll be able to live in the suburbs and cut down on cost, but we'll see.
9 of the agencies have offices in Toronto, which would be ideal, but they don't come out and say they actually have offices, so it's hard to apply with that in mind when you don't know if there is an actual office. (wow, that was a crazy sentence).
I am not looking forward to moving again. My life is sitting in a storage facility right now, waiting to figure out where it's going. I'm digging through my bedroom here at home, dumping stuff left and right. I took seven full boxes of books to the library for donation, and I've only done two of my 5 bookcases so far. C & Steph, we're all in the same boat right now...let's commiserate together!
So I rented a bunch of movies. Let me see if I can remember and review:
--Sin City: Very different and inventive and bizarre. I liked it, and I know it was good because I've thought about it multiple times since I watched. Not really my cup of tea, though. B
--Alexander: I turned it off 45 minutes in. If I can't sit through it, it must be bad. D-
--Hotel Rwanda: Amazing. Chilling. The DVD extras gave me nightmares. A
--Switch: Typical romantic comedy. Good bloopers. Entertaining. B-
--Girl From Rio: Hugh Laurie. Sigh. He could read the phone book and I'd probably watch it. Cute little film set and filmed in London and Brazil. Great production value and well-executed story. B
--Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone: I watched it again since only saw it the first time in the theatre with C. I enjoyed it as much as before, although the third movie is still my favorite. A-
--Constantine: Bizzare. Enjoyable enough. Good production value. C+
--The Wedding Date: I thought this was better than Switch and didn't deserve the reviews it got. Quite entertaining, but c'mon people, take it for what it is: romantic fluff. B
--Miss Congeniality 2: Fluff. Entertaining enough, but not as good as the first one. C+
Books
--Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: By far the best of the series. Made me cry. A+
--The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco: If you didn't have a thorough knowledge of Italian culture and history, this book would be impossibly confusing. I enjoyed it, but was pissed at the ending. It trailed off right when it was getting REALLY interesting. B
--A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K. Hamilton: Entertaining sci-fi quasi-smut. A quick read. B-
--Chaucer by Peter Ackroyd: I want to marry Ackroyd and have his babies. His books are always so well-researched and written. This is a short biography of Chaucer, and taught me a shitload of stuff I didn't know. He was all over the royal families. Ackroyd describes him as a political figure who happened to write. Who'd a thunk it? A-
--Numerous career and job guides: They've made me cry and have panic attacks. Don't read them if you want to hold onto your sanity. No grade for fear of karmic boomerangs.
I've been doing, for some odd reason, all subsequent fiction I've 'read' on audio. I'm on the third book of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries, which are short and entertaining and a B average. Two days ago, I started doing the unabridged version of The Golden Compass, Book One in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Everyone knows I don't like unabridged, but this is a full cast recording, which rocks. One of the tapes was damaged/unusable, so I had to read a few chapters to bridge between the good tapes. Even reading it, I heard the audio readers in my head. It's like Harry Potter: the actors are immediately pictured in my head now when I read the books. So far, it is AMAZING. Full grade withheld until completion.
What am I reading right now?
1. The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America by Eric Idle: Hilariously funny. Plowing through it like a freight train.
2. An Underground Education: The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge by Richard Zacks: Informative and insanely funny. Reading and savouring a little at a time.
3. What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World: Your Guide to Today's Hot Spots, Hot Shots and Incendiary Issues by M.L. Rossi: Should be required reading for anyone in North America. Amazing, concise, and a 'keeper' reference book (I loves me my reference books).
4. The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick: This is about the previous theft of "The Scream" (not the one that just happened). It's about art theft, so you know I'm going to love it.
HOUSE IS OUT ON DVD TUESDAY!! YIPPEE!!
My ten current song addictions (these should be on your computer):
1. 3 LIBRAS by A Perfect Circle: "'Cause I threw you the obvious just to see what I could behind the eyes of a fallen angel, eyes of a tragedy"--my new addiction, which also has several great remixes
2. 7 SECONDS by Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry: "Just as long as I stay, I'll be waiting"--Live 8's fault
3. ALL AT SEA by Jamie Cullum "Sometimes don't you just crave to disappear within your mind? You never know what you might find"--one of my favorite songs ever
4. DAMAGED by Plumb: "Will anyone get close to me? I'm damaged, as I'm sure you know"--another of my all-time favorites; I can't stop listening to it
5. FIX YOU by Coldplay: "When you love someone but it goes to waste, could it be worse?"--amazing lyrics
6. GRAVITY by Embrace: "'Cause I can't help thinking, and I don't look down"--written by Coldplay; Steph introduced me to this and I'm now addicted
7. HIDE AND SEEK by Imogen Heap: "Spin me round again and rub my eyes, this can't be happening"--the last minute and a half are mind-blowing
8. NO MYTH by Michael Penn: "Maybe she's just looking for someone to dance with"--oldie but goodie
9. WE WENT FOR A RIDE by Fefe Dobson: "I'll be praying for a red light to extend this precious night"--great song to belt while driving on the expressway
10. YOU AND ME by Lifehouse: "I can't keep up and I can't back down, I've been losing so much time"--fluffy but I love it anyways
OK, this is a novella at this point. This should tide everyone over for a while, eh? Hope everyone is doing good, and cheers to everyone going back to school. Trust me, it's better than attempting to find a job in a dismal job market.
Cheers, Kath