Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Go Broke (With New Hair)
Well, that - that was a really bad idea. I just watched the most recent ep of Joan to cheer myself up.
The whole first half of the ep, I kept thinking, "Didn't we already do this? Didn't we do the "Judith is a wild child and lands herself in the hospital" episode?"
I didn't really think she'd die until she asked Joan to juggle. I suppose they wanted the viewer to be as surprised as the characters, to wonder why, because it didn't make sense.
I wonder if Amber had to practice a lot for that last scene, or if she already knew how to juggle. I didn't care for the effect at the very end, with the balls going up into the camera lens, but the image of her trying not to cry while concentrating on the balls was fairly effective.
It's a good thing I watched this one alone. A guy in Rhetoric (whom I met last month when a group of us went out to dinner) wants to get together to watch Joan sometime. He may or may not be gay. I'm not sure yet. Anyway, he was at a conference this weekend, so we couldn't catch last week's ep. Don't know what he would have thought of me sobbing through the last half!
I have speeches to grade tonight. Less than a third of the class, so it shouldn't take me long, but I tangled with SBC again and my emotions went haywire, as they are apt to do when dealing with that kind of stuff. I finally gave in and paid the $100 late fee for my $300 segregated fees part of tuition as well. I find that to be an obscene late fee, but if I don't pay, I can't register for classes on Monday. Possibly, I still can't register on Monday, if the account isn't updated in time.
Anyway, SBC took my payment from last time, and billed me for it again this time, plus last month's charges, so my account was automatically debited $224 on Friday. This put me into overdraft territory. Luckily, I signed up for that overdraft protection thingie, so money from Savings was moved over for an irritating $10 fee. SBC wasn't open when I called, so I can't work anything out until tomorrow. Grrr.
I actually had a very good, if guilt-inducing, weekend. You could call it "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Go Broke". rm_renfield and I had a grand old time, one last weekend fling of fun before descending into a world of papers and finals and presentations. Friday we went grocery-shopping and stopped at the post office (we are real rebels). I wasn't able to mail my projector to be fixed, because the mailing label InFocus emailed me was actually just an address label. I called them, and after waiting on hold for some time, was told that I was responsible for shipping charges.
"So, I bought a $1400 item from you a month ago and it no longer works and you think I should pay to send it to you so you can tinker with the whole thing instead of paying for me to walk a few blocks and buy a new bulb to install myself in three minutes? Is that it?"
Yes, yes it was. The lady eventually said they could email me a UPS label, "if it's really an issue". She threw in the "if it's really a problem" phrase at least six times, and I affirmed that, yes, it was a problem for me. Send me the damn label.
Anyway, Friday was actually a good time. We went to Big Lots to get Christmas lights (I actually went from owning dozens of strings a few years ago to having almost none now) and other assorted goodies. We had 30%-ff coupons for Half Price Books, so we went there next. By the time we got out, it was rush hour, and we were thus obligated to stay on the east side and eat out. We fortified ourselves at Applebee's before heading back to my apartment and killing time before going to see Garden State at the University Theatre.
We left a little early, just in case. When we got to the cashier, we were told that they had accidentally started the movie 30 minutes early and there was no way to stop the machine. I have never in my life heard of this problem, but that's what they said. We bought tickets for the 9:40 show and left to wander about town. It felt ridiculous to go right home, so we wandered around in search of someplace to have a few drinks. We tried The City, an underground bar that we visited back in Spring with our hosts, but it felt very odd down there. Like, everyone turned to look at us when we walked in and wondered why we were there. We sat down long enough to take off hats and scarves before popping back up. rm_renfield made the brilliant suggestion of mudslides at Uno's, and off we went. The mudslides thus consumed, we proceeded to rm_renfield's apartment to play Buffy on X-Box.
It was my first X-Box experience, and I discovered I was not cut out for it. I clenched that controller as though my life depended on it, much to the chagrin of my poor muscles. My whole body got into the act, not that it helped much. Any time I accidentally made a good move, I had no idea which four buttons had I been simultaneously been mashing, so I had no way to repeat the feat. Still, it's fun kicking digital ass and I got to stake vampires, so it's all good.
Garden State was as good as I remembered, although the theatre was very odd. It's their new "Theatre Cafe", which was an old cafe with a gigantic projecting machine thing and about twenty theatre seats. There was also a very long couch, and some cafe tables and chairs. We were relegated to the (very uncomfortable) chairs next to the (poorly-weatherproofed) windows, where we spent a very chilly evening. The machine was extremely loud. There's a reason those things aren't left in the open, people.
On Saturday, we decided to get haircuts. Both of us had been meaning to for some time, but didn't know where to go in a new town. We got 50%-off coupons in the mail for HAIR, so we decided to see if they had room for us on Saturday afternoon. They did. We went. It was good. I was quite surprised to see rm_renfield go from curls to straight hair, but it looked awesome. I felt fairly awesome myself, sporting some new layers that gave me a little more volume.
You may not be able to see it in the pictures, but it turns out that we got Buffyverse haircuts. No, really. I have Faith's hair. This pleases me to no end. I let the stylist do as she wished, and she gave me Faith hair! Specifically, "Enemies" hair, if I had to pin it down to an episode. rm_renfield got Buffy's Season Six hair. The pics of me don't really show the cut very well, but they're all I have for now.
I love my new hair. So does Rebecca (doesn't it sound like I'm talking in third person when I say her name? That's why I use her LJ handle so often) We felt that we looked way too hot to just go home after that, so we wandered the city a bit. After walking up and down State Street for no real reason, we eventually decided to eat at Uno's after all. I felt silly going back to the same place, but it's really what I wanted for dinner. We walked back to my apartment anyway to get the coupons I had, and finally, after much MUCH walking in the cold, sat down to eat. I had my usual Four Cheese Pizza with the Peanut-butter Cup dessert, the other half of which currently awaits me in the fridge.
We were still too good-looking to go home after that, so we stopped at the liquor store to pick up cheap champagne and Mike's and went to her place to watch Can't Hardly Wait and giggle at Seth Green's commentary. Do you have any idea how many Buffy people are in that movie? There's Oz and Tara, of course, and Pete (B&TB), Marcy (Invisible Girl), Jesse, and ... um, I swear there were more last night. I stumbled home after that, quite tipsy, with the rest of the bottle in my pocket, vaguely wondering if I could be cited for an Open Bottle even though the cap was re-sealed.
Today, we had a clear agenda and got started early in the day so we'd have time to work on school stuff after that. We hit Wal-Mart and picked up some essentials, including new hair dryers (I've been using a travel one for some time, and she didn't have one at all) and VCRS (hers broke and I need one for my projector, if it ever works again, and they were on sale for $40). Then, on to the West Side Half Price, because we had 50%-off coupons for today. I picked up the new Aladdin DVD for $7.50 and a few books on clearance. Very disciplined of me, wouldn't you say?
Then I got home. I read my new Paul Reiser ("babyhood") and prepared to grade speeches. When I turned on my computer (I have to give typed feedback), I got embroiled in the whole SBC thing and my mood plummeted. Unfortunately, I chose that moment to catch up on my JoA.
And here we are. I actually feel much better now, having written all that out. Tears have dried on my face and I'm anxious for next week's ep. secretary_rpg has been extremely fulfilling, so that helped. I'm sitting in front of my lit-up Christmas tree right now, considering whether I want to put up ornaments yet. I'm cat-sitting this weekend, and my houseguest was trying to eat the (fake) tree earlier, so I don't know how much I'd trust him around ornaments.
He's a very nice little kitty, and purrs prettily, and has soft fur, but I now realize I am not a cat-owner. The claws are part of it, and I know they can be removed, but it's creepy how quiet they are before they suddenly appear in front of you or just leap up on the back of your chair. I'm used to living alone, with no one jumping on top of my kitchen cupboards and knocking down Norbet, my wire dragon from Wales. Max is going home today, and I think his mommy will be glad to see him. He can tell her all about how I starved him and only fed him a few times a day. He often sits next to his empty bowl, mewling pathetically or licking it hopefully. I can't help but think of poor mollythedog and how she must suffer.
You see? You see, again, here I was minding my own business, typing on my computer, when I feel something sweeping over my foot. After feeling the rush of adrenaline sweeping through my bloodstream, I peered around my monitor to see that Max has been curled up in the chair across from me the whole time, and just stretched his paws out in his sleep. It's just - creepy.
The whole first half of the ep, I kept thinking, "Didn't we already do this? Didn't we do the "Judith is a wild child and lands herself in the hospital" episode?"
I didn't really think she'd die until she asked Joan to juggle. I suppose they wanted the viewer to be as surprised as the characters, to wonder why, because it didn't make sense.
I wonder if Amber had to practice a lot for that last scene, or if she already knew how to juggle. I didn't care for the effect at the very end, with the balls going up into the camera lens, but the image of her trying not to cry while concentrating on the balls was fairly effective.
It's a good thing I watched this one alone. A guy in Rhetoric (whom I met last month when a group of us went out to dinner) wants to get together to watch Joan sometime. He may or may not be gay. I'm not sure yet. Anyway, he was at a conference this weekend, so we couldn't catch last week's ep. Don't know what he would have thought of me sobbing through the last half!
I have speeches to grade tonight. Less than a third of the class, so it shouldn't take me long, but I tangled with SBC again and my emotions went haywire, as they are apt to do when dealing with that kind of stuff. I finally gave in and paid the $100 late fee for my $300 segregated fees part of tuition as well. I find that to be an obscene late fee, but if I don't pay, I can't register for classes on Monday. Possibly, I still can't register on Monday, if the account isn't updated in time.
Anyway, SBC took my payment from last time, and billed me for it again this time, plus last month's charges, so my account was automatically debited $224 on Friday. This put me into overdraft territory. Luckily, I signed up for that overdraft protection thingie, so money from Savings was moved over for an irritating $10 fee. SBC wasn't open when I called, so I can't work anything out until tomorrow. Grrr.
I actually had a very good, if guilt-inducing, weekend. You could call it "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Go Broke". rm_renfield and I had a grand old time, one last weekend fling of fun before descending into a world of papers and finals and presentations. Friday we went grocery-shopping and stopped at the post office (we are real rebels). I wasn't able to mail my projector to be fixed, because the mailing label InFocus emailed me was actually just an address label. I called them, and after waiting on hold for some time, was told that I was responsible for shipping charges.
"So, I bought a $1400 item from you a month ago and it no longer works and you think I should pay to send it to you so you can tinker with the whole thing instead of paying for me to walk a few blocks and buy a new bulb to install myself in three minutes? Is that it?"
Yes, yes it was. The lady eventually said they could email me a UPS label, "if it's really an issue". She threw in the "if it's really a problem" phrase at least six times, and I affirmed that, yes, it was a problem for me. Send me the damn label.
Anyway, Friday was actually a good time. We went to Big Lots to get Christmas lights (I actually went from owning dozens of strings a few years ago to having almost none now) and other assorted goodies. We had 30%-ff coupons for Half Price Books, so we went there next. By the time we got out, it was rush hour, and we were thus obligated to stay on the east side and eat out. We fortified ourselves at Applebee's before heading back to my apartment and killing time before going to see Garden State at the University Theatre.
We left a little early, just in case. When we got to the cashier, we were told that they had accidentally started the movie 30 minutes early and there was no way to stop the machine. I have never in my life heard of this problem, but that's what they said. We bought tickets for the 9:40 show and left to wander about town. It felt ridiculous to go right home, so we wandered around in search of someplace to have a few drinks. We tried The City, an underground bar that we visited back in Spring with our hosts, but it felt very odd down there. Like, everyone turned to look at us when we walked in and wondered why we were there. We sat down long enough to take off hats and scarves before popping back up. rm_renfield made the brilliant suggestion of mudslides at Uno's, and off we went. The mudslides thus consumed, we proceeded to rm_renfield's apartment to play Buffy on X-Box.
It was my first X-Box experience, and I discovered I was not cut out for it. I clenched that controller as though my life depended on it, much to the chagrin of my poor muscles. My whole body got into the act, not that it helped much. Any time I accidentally made a good move, I had no idea which four buttons had I been simultaneously been mashing, so I had no way to repeat the feat. Still, it's fun kicking digital ass and I got to stake vampires, so it's all good.
Garden State was as good as I remembered, although the theatre was very odd. It's their new "Theatre Cafe", which was an old cafe with a gigantic projecting machine thing and about twenty theatre seats. There was also a very long couch, and some cafe tables and chairs. We were relegated to the (very uncomfortable) chairs next to the (poorly-weatherproofed) windows, where we spent a very chilly evening. The machine was extremely loud. There's a reason those things aren't left in the open, people.
On Saturday, we decided to get haircuts. Both of us had been meaning to for some time, but didn't know where to go in a new town. We got 50%-off coupons in the mail for HAIR, so we decided to see if they had room for us on Saturday afternoon. They did. We went. It was good. I was quite surprised to see rm_renfield go from curls to straight hair, but it looked awesome. I felt fairly awesome myself, sporting some new layers that gave me a little more volume.
You may not be able to see it in the pictures, but it turns out that we got Buffyverse haircuts. No, really. I have Faith's hair. This pleases me to no end. I let the stylist do as she wished, and she gave me Faith hair! Specifically, "Enemies" hair, if I had to pin it down to an episode. rm_renfield got Buffy's Season Six hair. The pics of me don't really show the cut very well, but they're all I have for now.
I love my new hair. So does Rebecca (doesn't it sound like I'm talking in third person when I say her name? That's why I use her LJ handle so often) We felt that we looked way too hot to just go home after that, so we wandered the city a bit. After walking up and down State Street for no real reason, we eventually decided to eat at Uno's after all. I felt silly going back to the same place, but it's really what I wanted for dinner. We walked back to my apartment anyway to get the coupons I had, and finally, after much MUCH walking in the cold, sat down to eat. I had my usual Four Cheese Pizza with the Peanut-butter Cup dessert, the other half of which currently awaits me in the fridge.
We were still too good-looking to go home after that, so we stopped at the liquor store to pick up cheap champagne and Mike's and went to her place to watch Can't Hardly Wait and giggle at Seth Green's commentary. Do you have any idea how many Buffy people are in that movie? There's Oz and Tara, of course, and Pete (B&TB), Marcy (Invisible Girl), Jesse, and ... um, I swear there were more last night. I stumbled home after that, quite tipsy, with the rest of the bottle in my pocket, vaguely wondering if I could be cited for an Open Bottle even though the cap was re-sealed.
Today, we had a clear agenda and got started early in the day so we'd have time to work on school stuff after that. We hit Wal-Mart and picked up some essentials, including new hair dryers (I've been using a travel one for some time, and she didn't have one at all) and VCRS (hers broke and I need one for my projector, if it ever works again, and they were on sale for $40). Then, on to the West Side Half Price, because we had 50%-off coupons for today. I picked up the new Aladdin DVD for $7.50 and a few books on clearance. Very disciplined of me, wouldn't you say?
Then I got home. I read my new Paul Reiser ("babyhood") and prepared to grade speeches. When I turned on my computer (I have to give typed feedback), I got embroiled in the whole SBC thing and my mood plummeted. Unfortunately, I chose that moment to catch up on my JoA.
And here we are. I actually feel much better now, having written all that out. Tears have dried on my face and I'm anxious for next week's ep. secretary_rpg has been extremely fulfilling, so that helped. I'm sitting in front of my lit-up Christmas tree right now, considering whether I want to put up ornaments yet. I'm cat-sitting this weekend, and my houseguest was trying to eat the (fake) tree earlier, so I don't know how much I'd trust him around ornaments.
He's a very nice little kitty, and purrs prettily, and has soft fur, but I now realize I am not a cat-owner. The claws are part of it, and I know they can be removed, but it's creepy how quiet they are before they suddenly appear in front of you or just leap up on the back of your chair. I'm used to living alone, with no one jumping on top of my kitchen cupboards and knocking down Norbet, my wire dragon from Wales. Max is going home today, and I think his mommy will be glad to see him. He can tell her all about how I starved him and only fed him a few times a day. He often sits next to his empty bowl, mewling pathetically or licking it hopefully. I can't help but think of poor mollythedog and how she must suffer.
You see? You see, again, here I was minding my own business, typing on my computer, when I feel something sweeping over my foot. After feeling the rush of adrenaline sweeping through my bloodstream, I peered around my monitor to see that Max has been curled up in the chair across from me the whole time, and just stretched his paws out in his sleep. It's just - creepy.