I decided last week that since I can't seem to a) get out of bed on time, ever b) manage to make it to work out 3 times a week at my gym and that c) I am officially the heaviest I have ever been in my life and d) I'm always at least 5-10 minutes late for work every day, that things need to change. I decided to start getting up at 6 (with my housemate making sure I'm up), taking the dog for a walk, then I'm back home in time to shower and get ready for work and actually leave the house on time.

Today was the first day I did so, and I'm between walk and getting ready for work. I've discovered the leash we have is too short- we have a fairly large dog and I bumped into him a lot- and that our dog sniffs EVERYTHING. (shut up, I've never walked a dog that did that before, or maybe the other dog was just smaller and therefore easier to pull away from stuff) We only walked about 20 minutes or so today, but I'm sure we'll build up to longer ones. especially once my new friend gets here.

Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on

Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
Still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer each day
Still I can't say what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna scare him
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know

Damien Rice- Cannonball

Okay, so I'm always way behind with memes. But oh well. My life has been insanity and it took me this long to come up with all of these.

Pick one dozen movies that are ones that you have special feelings about.
Pick a few lines of dialogue.
As people guess the film, strike out that entry.
If possible, after the film is guessed, explain why that movie made the list.

1. “Oh but ‘Baby Fishmouth’ is sweeping the nation” Kat got this one. I say this all the time. When Harry Met Sally is the greatest movie, Keegan and I watch it together all the time, and when we're not watching it we're quoting it.

2. “I think we should pray”
“I’d rather eat dirt” David got this one. Steel Magnolias is the ultimate chick flick, and another one I can quote endlessly and recite along with the movie.

3. “Happiness isn’t happiness without a violin playing goat.” Rasee got this one - It's Notting Hill. I just love this movie because it's sappy sweet and because I love Chagall.

4. “I'm nice, I really am, apart from my terrible taste in pie”

5. “These are my children, and I will protect them from myself even if I have to”

6. “Oh how romantic... a marriage proposal that contains the word ‘shit’.” Caryn got this one - Riding in Cars With Boys. This movie wasn't what I expected from the ads. Special to me though because it's the only movie I've ever known to make my best friend cry.

7. “Being nice when you say something pricky is even prickier”

8. "There are few things sadder in this life than watching someone walk away after they've left you, watching the distance between your bodies expand until there's nothing... but empty space and silence" Rasee got this one too. Someone Like You. Hugh Jackman is the epitome of yumminess. This is one of the movies that had me screaming at the TV, pillow clutched to my chest, holding my friend Lolly's hand. And the first time I saw it was with Lolly, and when it ended, we rewound it and watched it again. And sadly, I've experienced the feelings expressed in this quote, so it's doubly meaningful.

9. "Oh, there's nothing worse than a finicky agapanthis"

10. "If you say that my IQ is well beyond your IQ charts then why are you asking me if I understand what you're saying?" Kat got this one too - Powder. This was the one I didn't expect anyone to get. I loved this movie, because I hate when people suffer because other people fear what is different or that they don't understand.

11. "Leave it to you to use big words when you're smashed" Rasee got this one too. 10 Things I Hate About You. Gosh. Who doesn't love this movie? I like it because it's about not being afraid to be who you are, it's a modern version of Taming of the Shrew, it has Heath Ledger... what's not to like?

12. "George Michael is still a superstar and you still listen to Wham!" David got this one too. Bend it Like Beckham. I was totally prepared to hate this movie because of the ending, but then it didn't end the way I thought it was going to. I like it because it's about trying to be who you want to be, but without disappointing anyone else, and that can be a really hard thing to do.

This is also may be the last meme you'll see here. I've decided to make my livejournal meme central.

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been super busy, in several areas of life:

Theater:
I'm working on a new show- I'll be running lights for the first time ever, and I'm excited about it because it's for Affordable Theater's entry in AACT Fest for regionals in Oregon, then hopefully on to Nationals in Michigan. I'm very excited about participating in a theater competition. I really wanted to do this show but knew with everything else going on I would not have time to learn lines and attend rehearsals twice a week.

Picasso at the Lapine Agile opened at Hillbarn this past weekend, and Valerie and I will be splitting House Manager duties on the production, so I'll likely be there Thursdays and Saturdays. I'm also thinking about auditioning for The Sound of Music, which will be Hillbarn's spring production. I found out they're doing Brigadoon next season, and I desperately want to do that one...

SCA:
I'm also planning a feast for my Medieval group. The theme is Montagues v. Capulets: The Funeral Feast of Romeo and Juliet. That has theater aspects as well, but due to unfortunate timing, I will not be able to attend the event, which while I'm bummed that I'll miss it, I'm missing it for a delightful reason. We had the "test feast" this past weekend, where we test all the recipes and make sure they're edible/appealing to the modern palette since they are period 16th century recipes. I'm pleased to say the the test feast was a smashing success, we nixed one of the desserts but other than that everything was fabulous. It helps that our cook is amazing.

Other:
Wow, what else? I've been dating a bit, that has been fun when I can find the time. I think half the people I know have decided that 2005 is the year to marry and/or have a baby- I'm know of four wedding so far this year, two of which I'll be flying to, and two babies due to other friends. In addition to traveling for two of the weddings, I'm planning trips to Texas for blogathon this summer and hopefully a trip to San Diego in April because Peter may be coming out from PA for a conference. If I don't get to see him in SD he might drive to Buffalo from Philadelphia to see me while I'm there.

Okay, I hate those posts that read like a Christmas letter, but I wanted to provide my many excuses for why I haven't been posting. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Ok, so yesterday, I asked Brad if, in light of Monday's post, it would be irresponsible of me to buy an iPod, since I am trying to be good about debt and all. I decided that yes, it would be irresponsible and bad, but that cash for paying stuff off was just sitting in my bank account, and I reeeeeealllyyyyy wanted an iPod. And a massage, and new shoes, and all kinds of other stuff. Which, as Brad pointed out, was spoken like a true American-in-Debt(TM). But no. Bad. Buying an iPod Bad.

Today, I was less convinced. My resolve was crumbling. I REALLY wanted that iPod. I told Caryn I was gonna be bad and buy it. The only thing keeping me from ignoring that little voice in my head whispering "financial independence" was the fact that I couldn't think of anything tres cool to have engraved on my little pink bit of music-y goodness. I needed some broccoli cheese soup to help me think.

I got in my car. I flipped on the radio. The DJ told me that if I was the first caller that could tell her who collaborated with the New Kids on the Block on the 1990 hit "I'll Be Your Everything" *and* what album the song appeared on, I'd win a mini iPod. What? Duh! Tommy Page, and the album was Paintings in my Mind. I figured someone else would get it but dialed up the station anyway. And OMG!!! like 4 people got it wrong. Hello? What? How could you not know that?? (everyone knew it was Tommy Page but didn't know the name of the album)

But dude! I'm glad they didn't know, BECAUSE I WON AN IPOD!!!!!!! I now have, sitting in my email (and not my domain email so don't even think about trying to hack in and get them), a claim code to go to the Apple website and get an iPod mini of my choice, AND an iTunes allowance code I can use to download the songs from that album. Seriously, as I said to Caryn, this day couldn't really get any better. (Well, if the stupid usb port on my laptop worked, that would be better, but you can't have everything)

If people talking about their finances offends you, you can go somewhere else, this post is not for you.

Today I took a small step towards financial health. Not freedom or independence, but health. I'm working towards getting myself out of debt. It's going to take a long time, but at least I'm working on it. My actual amount of debt is the same, I just moved around who stuff was owed to. I refinanced my car loan for cash on my lunch break today. But in doing so, I have managed to eradicate all of my reportable debt except the car loan, leaving only the money I owe my parents.

It might sound stupid, but I just have to say, my car loan is one if the things I'm most proud of. I was the stupid 18 year old with a credit card, and I am still terrible with money. I worked up some pretty serious debts, pretty darn fast. With my mom's help I managed to get myself out of the huge hole I had dug, but my credit report was still a mess. When my car was falling apart, I asked my dad to help me get a new one. My parents were not the type that bought my sister and I cars for our 16th or 18th birthdays. My sister and I both bought our first cars ourselves. When those cars died, my dad bought our second ones to save us the high interest rates, but we paid him back every cent. When I went to him again for help, he said no. He said he wasn't paying for the whole car this time. If I could get a car loan, he'd help me with the down payment. Which, in my mind, meant no new car, because with my credit I didn't think I'd ever get a loan.

But I went to my bank. I filled out the application, and I sat in the chair and sweated. But I got the loan. I could not believe it. And I think the thing that I am prouder of than anything is that I have been paying on that car loan for 39 months. That I have never, even when I was unemployed, missed or been late with a payment. And today starts a new chapter. As of tomorrow, my car insurance will be paid in full for 6 months, which will free up some cash each month (I usually make monthly payments), my only credit card will be paid off, and I'll finally be able to start chipping away at the money I owe my parents, which has been slowly adding up over the years.

It may not sound like a big achievement to anyone else. It may sound like what we all have to do. But I'm proud of myself for actually taking the steps to enable myself to do it. Because now I can stop squeaking by and having all kinds of payments every month. Because it'd be nice, at some point in my life, not to be living paycheck to paycheck.

I probably spelled the title wrong, but I don't care. In my office building, we have a little deli/cafe, where I get lunch most days. They have a daily soup and a daily special, but I'm usually uninterested in those and get my usual chicken caesar salad. But today's special was sloppy joes. I love me some good sloppy joes, so I got a special. It reminded me of the summer I was a camp counselor at a Christian camp near South Lake Tahoe.

Highschool kids can be a squirrelly lot, especially the freshman boys. (These are boys who have just finished the 8th grade and will enter HS in the fall) One such freshman boy had a crush on one of the freshman girls in my cabin, and so I had lots of exposure to his antics during the two weeks of camp. He pulled lots of pranks to get himself noticed, and was a student of the "torment the ones you love" school of thought, and he put dirt down the back of her shirt, hid her towel, spent more time trying to creep up and scare her during the night games than he did playing the games, and one night at dinner, he pulled the old "loosen the cap on the salt" trick.

Well, my poor girl did not like this boy back, but was too polite to whop him one and tell him to leave her the hell alone. Every time he did something, I heard about it, either from her, or from one of the other counselors (usually his), and everyone was heartily sick of it by sloppy joe night. When my girls and I got up to get our food, he slipped over from his table and loosened the top of our salt shaker. It just so happened that I was the unlucky one that got salt dumped all over my dinner. All eyes at my table turned to him at his table, and his counselor just looked at me and grimaced.

He wasn't a bad kid. He was just fond of taking things a little too far, and no amount of reprimands seemed to be helping. I actually would have found the stunt funny if a) it wasn't completely unoriginal and b) this was not the 537th prank I had had to endure from this kid in less than 10 days. So I simply picked up my plate, walked over to his table, picked up his freshly served and therefore as-yet-untouched plate, and plunked my very, very, very salty sloppy joe in front of him with a "bon appetite".

He thought I was kidding. I so wasn't, and neither was his counselor. We both watched while he poked the thing with his fork, glancing around him in the now silent dining hall. But we weren't backing down- he was going to eat it. We let him have plenty of water, and we let him scrape off as much of the salt off the surface as he could, but that sloppy joe was all he was getting to eat until it was gone. I'll admit it, it was mean, and I did feel kinda bad about it, but we made our point. (and we did make him a peant butter sandwich after he puked and wasn't too keen on the idea of eating another sloppy joe).

His counselor and I both got reprimanded by the camp director after the kid called his mom and the mom called the camp, but the reprimand was more of an "okay guys, don't do that again, okay?" since the camp director was pretty much on our side in the whole thing. The kid, other than puking, was none the worse for wear, and the whole camp benefitted because he learned his lesson and actually apologized to my girl. Once he stopped tormenting her, she decided she actually liked him back and we had a little bit of a camp romance on our hands.

It's been a busy year so far. Not really with things that have already happened, but in planning for things that will be happening. Like, trying to figure out how I'm going to afford to fly places three times this year. My friend Nicole is getting married in Toronto in April, I want to do Blogathon from Texas this summer, and then back to Texas this fall for Caryn's wedding. Also, being able to go to Nicole's wedding required making some arrangements for getting out of the thing I already had planned for that day.

Speaking of changing plans, there is the weird thing that I had plans for this Saturday (the 8th) but backed out of them for a variety of reasons. While I was cancelling my plans, my call waiting beeped, and it was Nicole, wanting to know if I was free Saturday. I often get calls in January and July "I'm in town, can we get together". This one was a little different, it was "I'm in town and having a wedding shower on Saturday" (it was also the call where I found out she was getting married). It's kinda neat that all the pieces fell into place the way they did so that I could go to the shower and finally meet her fiance.

In terms of it being a new year, I don't usually make new year's resolutions, but I made a few this year. They all fall under the general category of health, but they are:
1. Get more sleep
2. Eat three meals a day
3. Work out (at the gym) 3 days a week, minimum.
4. No more fast food

Other than the going to the gym one, I'm doing pretty well.

Gosh this entry sucks, but I'm putting it up anyway.