Thankful Thursday

Yay for Thursday. I’ve always liked Thursdays. Today was its own kind of Thursday…I won’t even say what dominated my day (hint), as I know for sure you’re tired of hearing it. I know I’m tired of writing about it. So, let’s get on with the positives:

• Almost Famous. I happened upon a showing of it on HBO this afternoon, and as always, it made my day. I will never be able to put into words how much I love a Cameron Crowe movie, especially this one (and Elizabethtown). Music, in his movies, is the air the characters breathe. And the air I breathe when I watch them.
• Baked apples. I’m making some right now, and they’re making my apartment smell sweet and delicious.
• Every week I say this, but every week as I get older, I appreciate them more: my family. Whether it’s my parents’ moral and financial support, my sister’s texts of Marley doing cute things, or just the knowledge that they’re all there…I’m so thankful they’re all healthy and happy. Special bonus family thankfulness: my brother-in-law, Walter, turns 27 today. Those kids are growing up.
• Comcast On Demand. I’m not always thankful for Comcast in general, but I love love love having movies at my fingertips. Tonight, I’m thinking either Choke or Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
  
• Speaking of Palahniuk, I’m thankful for Fight Club. It’s long been one of my favorite movies, but this past weekend, I finally got around to reading the book. I now want to eat everything he’s ever written. Special bonus Palahniuk thankfulness: I’m finally getting to the point that I don’t pronounce it “pa LA nee uck” and instead can usually automatically think “PAW luh nick,” though every once in a while, I end up with the hybrid “puh LA nick.”
• I’ll save the tearjerker for last. This week, one of my first-block freshmen was disruptive and disrespectful to me in class. I ended up having to send her out and write her up, but it was distressing because she’s not usually a behavior problem. That afternoon, after school, she came to my classroom and handed me some folded papers, saying “I thought you might like this.” The papers were a poem she’d written about how sorry she was and a letter explaining that she doesn’t have anyone to talk to about her problems. She said she isn’t very close to her parents and that her grandfather–who’d been her world–had died a while back. Of course I wrote her back, but what in the world do you say to something like that? She’s a brilliant poet, and I don’t use that term lightly. Many writers spend years trying to find that voice. I’m going to try to find some poetry contests or programs to get her into. I begged her not to let go of her gift, because it was something she would always have even when she didn’t think she had anything else.
• Pondering some life changes. I know I’m always doing that, but maybe, just maybe, something might actually happen. Sometime. Let you know.

Alright. Guess that will do me. We’ve almost made it through, folks. And in the words of Tyler Durden…er, never mind. He’s not very inspirational. Happy Thursday.

I did the Oscar night thing.

Normally, I watch the Academy Awards on my couch in my PJs (as I, no doubt, do some work I neglected to do over the weekend). This year, though, I had a friend! Who was a honcho! She let me come to the Oscar party at the Belcourt as a volunteer, and I got to partake of many of the evening’s delights.

So, I bought a serviceable (read: cheap) black dress, applied a little extra eyeshadow, and took a little extra time flattening the kinks out of my hair. For a volunteer (and not a guest who paid $100 to be there), I looked alright. And I had a great time. I began the evening pretending to be part of the paparazzi snapping pictures of all of the guests entering the red carpet. Then, I prowled the silent auction to make sure no one stole any of the cool items (one of them being a signed version of this print, which I’ve wanted for YEARS, signed or not).

Besides that, though, I really was able to just enjoy the food (loads of CHEESE!) and the drink (just club soda for me, thanks) and the flashbulbs (some provided by my amazing photographer friend Hannah) and the buzz. I don’t often get out anymore, period, but I’ve rarely gone to anything this glam. Though, I must say, it wasn’t a stuffy affair by any means. All who were involved in its planning and execution created a truly laid-back and charmed vibe.

I adore the Belcourt and all it stands for. Though admittedly I’d only seen one of the major nominated pictures, I loved being part of an audience connected in spirit to the glitzy crowd in Hollywood. Though I don’t get to watch movies as much as I’d like, in my heart I’m a film buff, and sharing in such a singular evening was a real honor.

I’m going to marry Trader Joe’s.

For real, though. I got my tax refund yesterday, and I decided to go buy groceries. Not with the whole thing, of course, but let me explain.

I’m on a tight budget, as I bemoan fairly often. Thus, I have a fixed dollar amount in my head, as well as a short list of just what’s needed for the week, when I visit the grocery store. Even under such circumstances, grocery shopping is a relaxing and almost therapeutic exercise for me. It’s like taking a little stroll in which I plot out a healthy life for myself for the next few days.

BUT, when I don’t have to fix a dollar amount in my head or whittle down my list to the basics…well, I am a woman unfettered. That’s how I was tonight. I didn’t even take a list. I decided to just stock up on lots of healthy stuff–or at least mostly not unhealthy stuff–so that I’ll have stuff to fix for the next few weeks that makes me happy and keeps me from spending money and calories on pizza delivery.

I was going to say “you should have seen me!” but it’s probably best you didn’t. I think I went down every aisle twice just to make sure I didn’t miss any flavorful organic goodness. I giggled over mini tacos and talked to myself about tzaziki and gasped over sliced mangoes. I hugged freeze-dried bananas. I caressed basmati rice.

And I came away with a really good haul of wholesome delights for a really reasonable price. The boy who checked me out was cute and attentive–he looked like Bob Marley’s soul son–and as I left, he said, “nice smile!” My smile lasted all the way to my car. I heart you, Trader Joe’s.

Thankful Feel-Good Friday Afternoon

I’m behind on my memes, as I spent too much time on the mother of all music memes yesterday. BUT, also yesterday, I spent two soul-baring, life-affirming hours with your favorite Sista, and mine. That’s number one on the Thankful list for the week. Absolutely number one.

Which leads me to what I tried to post for FGF this morning, but that didn’t work. As one would think quite natural for such a pairing, the conversation last night turned to music and we giddily exchanged iPods and squealed over each other’s great taste. Among our shared appreciations was Mr. Dwight Yoakam. Here’s my favorite of his, with special guest appearance by the great Buck Owens:

I’m thankful that Mr. Yoakam is still, as they say, keeping it real. I’m thankful for his ilk. We need them.

Okay. Back to what I’m thankful for this week. I’m thankful the week’s over and I’m sitting waiting for my sister to arrive at my parents’ house with the most perfect niece ever.

I’m thankful for the occasion that’s meriting this visit–my grandfather is turning 80 in a few days, and tonight we celebrate. If you knew my grandfather, you’d be shocked to know how old he actually is. I wish I had a thimble of his energy.

I’m thankful for my kids at school. (I know, I know.) They, for the most part–minus the one who shoved me yesterday–have been sweet this week. They’ve reminded me that they really do have these childlike hearts that can be so endearing. They’ve made me not hate my job so much. That’s a pretty big accomplishment.

I’m thankful, in a twisted kind of way, that more and more foods seem to be giving me migraines. These foods, thus far, are either unhealthy anyway or ones I don’t mind living without–like, right now, the only appealing things are whole organic foods. Not too shabby. I should be wafer-thin in no time.

Along the same lines, I AM SO THANKFUL FOR TRADER JOE’S. When they first hit Green Hills, I was excited because I’d heard good things, but not overly zealous to jump into the dogpile of yuppies opening day crowd. On a whim, though, I decided to visit during their opening weekend, which was a bad choice. I said I wouldn’t be back for six months. BUT, one of my co-worker friends was telling me about their great prices on organic produce, and the thrifty granola in me couldn’t help but give it another chance.

It’s an organic, economic wonderland. I kid you not. I don’t do a lot of cooking per se, but I do like to make “real” food, if that makes any sense, for my lunches and suppers at home. I have to keep it simple for the sake of health, money, and convenience. Everything there is healthy, prepared, and cheap. I was in awe. I really feel like–for my individual situation–I’m going to get the best value for my money. I don’t think it would work for everyone, such as families or people who do a lot of cooking with obscure ingredients, but as a single person trying to make healthy and cheap choices, I don’t think I can do any better.

Enough of that. I am VERY thankful that my tax refund went in today! And I am thankful for my mom for filing for me. Goodness knows I’d have no idea what to do if I had to do it myself.

Finally, I’m thankful and excited about my plans for Sunday night–I’m going to this as a volunteer and thus won’t have to pay. I just don’t know what to wear…suggestions welcome.

Happy weekend to you!

20 25 albums that changed my life. And then a few more that did so as well.

You know I love me a meme, and you know I love music. Thanks to The Fine Miss Snaps, I now get to combine both!

Except…this is really, really hard. So, some parameters: I decided to try to go roughly chronologically. This means that some of these are not going to be albums that I listen to or even necessarily like anymore, but that pointed me further down the road to what my taste is today. I also decided to start at about age 13, when I started to be a little more aware of more than just mainstream country radio.

This is so hard.

But here we go. I wish I could explain each one! No really–here we go:

1. The Doors–Greatest Hits
2. The Beatles–all three of the Anthology series
3. The Beatles–The Beatles (the White Album)
4. The Beatles–Abbey Road
5. Oasis–What’s the Story, Morning Glory?
6. Sheryl Crow–Tuesday Night Music Club
7. James Taylor–Greatest Hits
8. Nirvana–Unplugged
9. Beck–Odelay
10. Bob Dylan–Greatest Hits, volumes 1 and 2
11. Sarah McLachlan–Fumbling Toward Ecstasy
12. Counting Crows–Recovering the Satellites
13. Frank Sinatra–The Capitol Years
14. Simon and Garfunkel–Greatest Hits
(nononono! I’m running out and there’s still so much to cover!)
15. U2–All That You Can’t Leave Behind
16. Ryan Adams–Gold and Heartbreaker (tie)
17. Old 97s–Fight Songs
18. Gillian Welch–Time (The Revelator)
19. Wilco–Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
20. The White Stripes–White Blood Cells (and every album thereafter)

Nope. Not done. As Mistress O’Th’Blog, I’m granting myself five more.

21. Johnny Cash–American IV: The Man Comes Around
22. Pink Floyd–Dark Side of the Moon
23. Ryan Adams–Cold Roses and Easy Tiger (it’s a tie, okay?)
24. Gram Parsons–GP/Grievous Angel
25. Bob Dylan–Blonde on Blonde

Honorable Mentions (I’m granting myself some of these, too):
Norah Jones–Come Away With Me
Lucinda Williams–Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and Essence (another tie)
Ryan Adams–the rest of his albums not mentioned above (including with The Cardinals and Whiskeytown)
Bob Dylan–every other album–I have almost all of them, and they all matter so much
Jeff Buckley–Grace
Coldplay–A Rush of Blood to the Head
Gillian Welch–Soul Journey
John Mayer–Room for Squares
the holleycarbines–Glide Down Over Earth
Kings of Leon–Aha Shake Heartbreak
Ray LaMontagne–Trouble
The Raconteurs–Broken Boy Soldiers
Jenny Lewis–Acid Tongue

Heh. I cheated this mug up one side and down the other. I offer no apologies. That’s rock and roll, man…rock and roll.

Oh hai, migraine :(

Yup. I have other subject matter for another time, but if you don’t want to read about another migraine I’m going to redirect you (a la ‘Coma) to this picture of a bacon lampshade.

So anyway, you know how my migraines have gotten better? They really have! It’s been great! I went on the warpath late last year and have been attacking them from multiple angles for a couple of months. It took a few weeks, but I started noticing a major difference and have been cautiously happy that I might not live my life with a constant headache. Or nausea.

I got both last night. They attacked something fierce right after eating some Girl Scout cookies after school. Samoas. My favorites (besides the Crack Thin Mints, of course). I was nearly overcome, and I got afraid that my blood sugar was doing something weird, so I quickly drove through McDonald’s for some “real” food (ummm…you don’t always think clearly under these types of circumstances, k?). This did not help.

Let me also mention that in recent times, I’ve been doing my best to eat lower-fat, no-cholesterol, organic foods. I’ve cut out the soy wherever possible and cut back on sugar. It has made a difference in how I’ve felt. I’ve even, according to the Wii Fit, lost a meager handful of pounds. So…cookies followed by fast food wasn’t maybe the best idea. Then, I looked on the label for my beloved Samoas and was horrified to see how many artificial ingredients, as well as soy, were included. I don’t know if I can blame that or not–I didn’t think I was that soy sensitive–but in any case, I dropped off the rest at my parents’ house and came home yesterday evening and tried rest, Benadryl, Excedrin Migraine, and crystallized ginger.

No dice. I’ve been up since 3am with only a short nap in the meantime. The nausea and headache have eased some, but I’ve had some other, ahem, upsetting symptoms. And if you’ve ever had a migraine, you know that the next day or so is kind of a hangover. So, yes, I had to take yet another sick day and just hope they don’t fire me.

I guess the moral here is that, regardless of whether the Girl Scout cookies were the culprit here or not, what you put in your body does matter. I had been doing very well, and then I deviated, and it wreaked havoc with my bod and is going to end up costing me money.

It’s these little life lessons that I am learning as I get older and passing along to you. That’s why I’m here. No need to thank me–I’m happy to do it.

Stretching.

Seeing as how Teh Blawg just turned two and all, and seeing as how Things Are About to Change (I’m building that up way more than it deserves–it’s no biggie, promise), I’m thinking some stuff.

What stuff? Not sure. I’m wanting to spread my wings a bit. I’ve never written much more or much different than the things you see here–musings, commentary on music and teaching and life and love, streams-of-consciousness about whatever is mattering most to me at the moment.

I can do that ad infinitum, to be honest. I’m that self-absorbed-aware. But, now I’m wishing I’d stayed in that Poetry Writing class taught by one of my mentors back in college, or that I hadn’t always thrown out any poetry or fiction that I’d written because I was embarrassed. I’m not sure I have a talent for that, frankly, but I wish I’d had the courage early on to develop what was there. Instead, I pigeonholed myself as Not That Kind of Writer.

I’m also tired of being Such a Sweet Girl. [redacted: a couple of paragraphs written in that sleepy contemplative time right before bed in which I talk way too much again about matters of the heart that I'm kind of sick of writing so I know you must be sick of reading]

Anyway, I’ve never wanted to be one of those let-me-tell-you-my-boy-woes bloggers. It’s not my style in real life, and it’s not my style of writing. I’m hitting an odd time in my life–I’m leaving my 20s this year–though, and it’s a little more on my mind as I reflect on all that has gone horribly wrong with the opposite sex during this decade. I’m in no hurry to get married, even–I think I have a little more growing up and settling down to do (or at least the need to find someone who will grow and settle with me as I do so). I want to do the right thing.

Whatev. I entitled this post “Stretching,” and I didn’t really even know why I did so when I started writing. But that’s exactly what I’m doing lately and needing to do more of–stretching my abilities, stretching my notions of myself and others’ notions of me. I’m not Miss Lonelyheart, though she’s dominated this past winter of my discontent. I’m not a fabulous writer, but I’m not incapable of doing more and better. I’m not qualified for many jobs, but I know there’s a better career fit for me out there–I just have to figure out how to find it in this economy.

Well, anyway…I think one reason I wrote this was that I really would like some feedback. It always terrifies me to brush aside the gossamer veil that separates me from those who read here in order to ask direct questions–I fear rejection. Mightily. But…advice? What would you like to see me write? No guarantees you’ll get your wish–and I realize it’s arrogant of me to think you even think enough about it to even have such a wish–but I’m interested, if anyone has any ideas.

I’m ready to stretch some more. It’s time.

Let’s hope the blog doesn’t get the Terrible Twos.

Two years ago, in a little cubicle deep in the underground of the state legislature, I got bored. What you’re reading now is the result.

My blog has brought so much to my life that I would never have imagined. And I do mean never. I’ve given a lot of myself to it–perhaps too much–though, so I guess that’s about right.

Stay tuned for some changes. In the meantime, though, you’ve no idea how much it means that you bother to stop by and put yourself through my angst, frustrating lack of practicality, baby and/or cat pictures, Pauline sentences, and cryptic melodrama. Those things won’t change, most likely.

I am very thankful for you, reader.

This is not as fun as I thought it would be.

Earlier last week, I realized I was getting sick. My throat was a burning fire that only got worse after teaching all day, I was coughing and blowing my nose all the time, and the only thing that helped was Benadryl and lots of sleep.

So, around Thursday, I canceled my trip to Alabama for my mom’s birthday (and to see you-know-who) and planned to just rest this weekend. As sad as I was to miss the fun, after a long, sick week, a day on the couch with DVR and my laptop sounded perfect.

It’s been okay. I feel very lazy, but my bod doesn’t want to do anything. I broke down and did laundry last night, but that’s about the extent of the weekend’s activities. Oh, wait–I painted my toenails Friday night.

I am so bored. I’m at that point where I’m sick enough that doing a bunch of stuff is not advisable, but I’m not so sick as to not get bored just laying around.

Or as to not bore you with the details before I drift off again.

In lieu of an actual review of Twilight the book,

Here’s Cracked.com’s synopsis of Twilight the movie.

I found this via Stumbleupon during some insomniac surfing. I finished reading Twilight a few weeks ago and have not been able to fully find the words I need to express how much I hated it. If you really care about my opinion, just visit the link above and pretend it’s talking about the book and that I wrote it. Good stuff.

(No offense intended to my many friends who found themselves “addicted” to the series. I understand, as I’m all about guilty-pleasure reading [hello, Da Vinci Code]. I take my guilty pleasures–and vampires–very seriously, though, and in my opinion, Twilight is an insult to both.)