Beware Thursday's Summary
So I haven't posted all week! So busy I've been.
Monday: Came back from the TC D: Washed my hair.
Tuesday: Back at work. We finished up a project with the kids that's going to be either auctioned or raffled off for the NPO's fundraiser. Dinner with Corey at Claim Jumper. I had missed their Deluxe Irish Nachos.
Wednesday: Working at the NPO office. More idle time than I would have liked. Trying to plan with Diana, and making up my own activity ideas is really not my strong suit, esp not when Diana added her own twist making it sound lame. Training with my supervisor, where she unofficially invited us to join the sub pool after AmeriCorps is over. Called the Relief Squad. What kinda name is that? I'd be a fool not to find out more about it, though. Spanish class that night. I was paired up with this old timer. He let some French out a couple times. I know what that's like, cuz my brain sometimes wants to answer back in Japanese.
Thursday: Field trip to the zoo. Very tiring, and shorter than any decent trip to the zoo should be, but such is the nature of field trips. The weather was mostly cloudy, and we got there when the zoo opened, so a bunch of the animals that were in outside quarters were sleeping. The ones who weren't were eating breakfast. There was a peacock just hanging out in this one area. I don't know what he was doing there, but he was just chilling on this fence, not even caring about the amazed children who would stand less than a foot away from him. He was gorgeous.
Another highlight was what's become my favorite exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo, the orangutans. I love the males the best for their huge cheeks. They're so just striking. Apes in general tend to be the most fascinating to me, I think. The only reason why orangutans win out over gorillas on my scale of Favorite Exhibits to Just Sit and Watch for Extended Amounts of Time is because the orangutans have carried a lot more emotion across, for lack of better phrasing. The first two times I'd been to the zoo here, I saw orangutans who sit up right at the glass and watch you in their little hidey-holes or slings. They always look kinda sad. And they have these brown eyes that I guess are like, more soulful? than gorillas. I dig gorillas in general. Males have more of this awe-inspiring way of carrying themselves that seems so... dignified? I almost want to say regal. I don't know if she was around or not, but I didn't notice Nina, the old lady gorilla who loves people watching. The other two times I've been there she'd be sitting right in front of the window watching all the people come and go.
I did get to see a baby gorilla though. It was born back in October, and was sitting in what I presume was its mom's lap as they all napped. The kids really got a kick outta that.
Back to Orangutans: Thursday was paper towel day. Each orangutan was given an entire roll of paper towels to play with. The big male up on this platform had mostly finished unraveling his and was spreading it around the hay, making what I assume was a nice nest for himself. One of the other apes had already finished theirs and ended up taking a spot on a sling up against the window and watching the crowd. A couple of the zoo workers were there, and one of them held her pedometer up for the ape to look at. A third one was over by this window, too. She was just starting out on her roll and was taking her time pulling out paper to crumple up. I could have watched them forever, the male in particular. He kept moving around so much, I couldn't get enough of his face and those giant cheeks. The kids, however, could not be as engaged as long, so we had to ramble on when it was much too soon for me.
Friday: Team meeting. First one in 3 weeks. Tried not to impose my personality too heavily on the room, even when I was so over the meeting and just ready to GTFO but everyone kept talking. Got the okay from my boss to count my Spanish classes for work hours. She also told me that she mentioned my name to her sister, who's considering getting a nanny. Came back home and ate some dinner. Crackers with hummus, asparagus and salmon. First time I used my oven.
For my lone Friday night (it's weird to think about how much time I actually spend all alone), I did some internetting, watched TDS and TCR, and after I finish this update I'm going to get back into Dark Tower VII, which had been sitting around waiting for me for over a week now.
Must also remember to drill on my Spanish stuff. My homework is due tomorrow at midnight.
I am totally reminded of Zanarkand, particularly in the first and third pictures.
The Alot is better than you at everything.
Gov't wavers on double name system for married couples- Just remember folks, every time Japan makes a new technological leap that puts them even further ahead of the curve, they make one centimeter step forward in terms of how they treat some of their own citizens.
Octopus Attack with a Happy Ending- I also saw this on Pharyngula, of course. I loved how good the footage was. I was expecting it to be some blurry, indiscernible show-down. Also, the ridiculous music.
Yahoo posted their 100 movies to see before you die. There's also a link to their list of 100 modern movies to see before you die. Lemme go through these under a cut.
Note that this list is, for some reason, in alphabetical order.
The All-Time Greats list:
12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
8 1/2
The African Queen
Alien
All About Eve
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
The Battle of Algiers
The Bicycle Thief
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Blow Up
Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Bringing Up Baby
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Die Hard
Do the Right Thing
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Duck Soup
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Enter the Dragon
The Exorcist
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The French Connection
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
Goldfinger (1964)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Goodfellas
The Graduate
Grand Illusion
Groundhog Day
A Hard Day's Night
In the Mood for Love
It Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful Life
Jaws
King Kong (1933)
The Lady Eve
Lawrence of Arabia
The Lords of the Rings Trilogy
M
M*A*S*H
The Maltese Falcon
The Matrix
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
National Lampoon's Animal House
Network
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next
Paths of Glory
Princess Mononoke
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raise the Red Lantern
Roshomon
Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Rocky
Roman Holiday
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
The Searchers
Seven Samurai
The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
Singin' in the Rain
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Some Like It Hot
The Sound of Music
Star Wars (A New Hope)
Sunset Blvd
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The Third Man
This is Spinal Tap
Titanic
To Kill a Mockingbird
Toy Story
The Usual Suspects
Vertigo
When Harry Met Sally...
Wild Strawberries
Wings of Desire
The Wizard of Oz
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
The World of Apu
41/100
This Modern list was made after the first one, so there is some overlap which I'll be omitting, the so the list will be shorter.
The Modern Classics:
Misery
Beauty and Beast
Thelma and Louise
Hard Boiled
Malcolm X
The Player
Supercop
Unforgiven
Dazed and Confused
Chungking Express
Ed Wood
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge)
Babe
Before Sunrise
Clueless
Heat
Living in Oblivion
Sense and Sensibility
Big Night
Dead Man
Fargo
Ghost in the Shell
Lone Star
Scream
Secrets & Lies
Sling Blade
Swingers
Trainspotting
Boogie Nights
Eve's Bayou
L.A. Confidential
The Sweet Hereafter
The Big Lebowski
Fireworks
Out of Sight
There's Something About Mary
All About My Mother
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
Election
Fight Club
Run Lola Run
The Sixth Sense
Three Kings
Almost Famous
Best in Show
Yi Yi
Amelie
Donnie Darko
Momento
Mulholland Drive
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Painist
Y Tu Mama Tambien
City of God
Elephant
Finding Nemo
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Shaun of the Dead
Sideways
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Brokeback Mountain
A History of Violence
Oldboy
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
The Dark Night
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
26/83
Monday: Came back from the TC D: Washed my hair.
Tuesday: Back at work. We finished up a project with the kids that's going to be either auctioned or raffled off for the NPO's fundraiser. Dinner with Corey at Claim Jumper. I had missed their Deluxe Irish Nachos.
Wednesday: Working at the NPO office. More idle time than I would have liked. Trying to plan with Diana, and making up my own activity ideas is really not my strong suit, esp not when Diana added her own twist making it sound lame. Training with my supervisor, where she unofficially invited us to join the sub pool after AmeriCorps is over. Called the Relief Squad. What kinda name is that? I'd be a fool not to find out more about it, though. Spanish class that night. I was paired up with this old timer. He let some French out a couple times. I know what that's like, cuz my brain sometimes wants to answer back in Japanese.
Thursday: Field trip to the zoo. Very tiring, and shorter than any decent trip to the zoo should be, but such is the nature of field trips. The weather was mostly cloudy, and we got there when the zoo opened, so a bunch of the animals that were in outside quarters were sleeping. The ones who weren't were eating breakfast. There was a peacock just hanging out in this one area. I don't know what he was doing there, but he was just chilling on this fence, not even caring about the amazed children who would stand less than a foot away from him. He was gorgeous.
Another highlight was what's become my favorite exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo, the orangutans. I love the males the best for their huge cheeks. They're so just striking. Apes in general tend to be the most fascinating to me, I think. The only reason why orangutans win out over gorillas on my scale of Favorite Exhibits to Just Sit and Watch for Extended Amounts of Time is because the orangutans have carried a lot more emotion across, for lack of better phrasing. The first two times I'd been to the zoo here, I saw orangutans who sit up right at the glass and watch you in their little hidey-holes or slings. They always look kinda sad. And they have these brown eyes that I guess are like, more soulful? than gorillas. I dig gorillas in general. Males have more of this awe-inspiring way of carrying themselves that seems so... dignified? I almost want to say regal. I don't know if she was around or not, but I didn't notice Nina, the old lady gorilla who loves people watching. The other two times I've been there she'd be sitting right in front of the window watching all the people come and go.
I did get to see a baby gorilla though. It was born back in October, and was sitting in what I presume was its mom's lap as they all napped. The kids really got a kick outta that.
Back to Orangutans: Thursday was paper towel day. Each orangutan was given an entire roll of paper towels to play with. The big male up on this platform had mostly finished unraveling his and was spreading it around the hay, making what I assume was a nice nest for himself. One of the other apes had already finished theirs and ended up taking a spot on a sling up against the window and watching the crowd. A couple of the zoo workers were there, and one of them held her pedometer up for the ape to look at. A third one was over by this window, too. She was just starting out on her roll and was taking her time pulling out paper to crumple up. I could have watched them forever, the male in particular. He kept moving around so much, I couldn't get enough of his face and those giant cheeks. The kids, however, could not be as engaged as long, so we had to ramble on when it was much too soon for me.
Friday: Team meeting. First one in 3 weeks. Tried not to impose my personality too heavily on the room, even when I was so over the meeting and just ready to GTFO but everyone kept talking. Got the okay from my boss to count my Spanish classes for work hours. She also told me that she mentioned my name to her sister, who's considering getting a nanny. Came back home and ate some dinner. Crackers with hummus, asparagus and salmon. First time I used my oven.
For my lone Friday night (it's weird to think about how much time I actually spend all alone), I did some internetting, watched TDS and TCR, and after I finish this update I'm going to get back into Dark Tower VII, which had been sitting around waiting for me for over a week now.
Must also remember to drill on my Spanish stuff. My homework is due tomorrow at midnight.
I am totally reminded of Zanarkand, particularly in the first and third pictures.
The Alot is better than you at everything.
Gov't wavers on double name system for married couples- Just remember folks, every time Japan makes a new technological leap that puts them even further ahead of the curve, they make one centimeter step forward in terms of how they treat some of their own citizens.
Octopus Attack with a Happy Ending- I also saw this on Pharyngula, of course. I loved how good the footage was. I was expecting it to be some blurry, indiscernible show-down. Also, the ridiculous music.
Yahoo posted their 100 movies to see before you die. There's also a link to their list of 100 modern movies to see before you die. Lemme go through these under a cut.
Note that this list is, for some reason, in alphabetical order.
The All-Time Greats list:
12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
8 1/2
The African Queen
Alien
All About Eve
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
The Battle of Algiers
The Bicycle Thief
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Blow Up
Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Bringing Up Baby
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Die Hard
Do the Right Thing
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Duck Soup
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Enter the Dragon
The Exorcist
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The French Connection
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
Goldfinger (1964)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Goodfellas
The Graduate
Grand Illusion
Groundhog Day
A Hard Day's Night
In the Mood for Love
It Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful Life
Jaws
King Kong (1933)
The Lady Eve
Lawrence of Arabia
The Lords of the Rings Trilogy
M
M*A*S*H
The Maltese Falcon
The Matrix
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
National Lampoon's Animal House
Network
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next
Paths of Glory
Princess Mononoke
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raise the Red Lantern
Roshomon
Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Rocky
Roman Holiday
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
The Searchers
Seven Samurai
The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
Singin' in the Rain
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Some Like It Hot
The Sound of Music
Star Wars (A New Hope)
Sunset Blvd
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The Third Man
This is Spinal Tap
Titanic
To Kill a Mockingbird
Toy Story
The Usual Suspects
Vertigo
When Harry Met Sally...
Wild Strawberries
Wings of Desire
The Wizard of Oz
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
The World of Apu
41/100
This Modern list was made after the first one, so there is some overlap which I'll be omitting, the so the list will be shorter.
The Modern Classics:
Misery
Beauty and Beast
Thelma and Louise
Hard Boiled
Malcolm X
The Player
Supercop
Unforgiven
Dazed and Confused
Chungking Express
Ed Wood
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge)
Babe
Before Sunrise
Clueless
Heat
Living in Oblivion
Sense and Sensibility
Big Night
Dead Man
Fargo
Ghost in the Shell
Lone Star
Scream
Secrets & Lies
Sling Blade
Swingers
Trainspotting
Boogie Nights
Eve's Bayou
L.A. Confidential
The Sweet Hereafter
The Big Lebowski
Fireworks
Out of Sight
There's Something About Mary
All About My Mother
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich
Election
Fight Club
Run Lola Run
The Sixth Sense
Three Kings
Almost Famous
Best in Show
Yi Yi
Amelie
Donnie Darko
Momento
Mulholland Drive
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Painist
Y Tu Mama Tambien
City of God
Elephant
Finding Nemo
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Shaun of the Dead
Sideways
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Brokeback Mountain
A History of Violence
Oldboy
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
The Dark Night
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
26/83