brainxplosion

I'm going on vacation tomorrow (it's past midnight, so it really is today - but I'm not ready for that reality yet). A shuttle is picking me & DH up at 5:30 am, and then we're flying to Detroit and from there to Frankfurt, Germany. My best friend from backinthedays is getting married on Saturday, and afterwards, we (meaning DH & me with my parents) are going to Italy to camp. Right now I'm too tired to be excited, but I'm sure I'll have lots of material when we come back. :)
Obviously, I won't be able to write for a while. I'll miss it - this blog really has become a creative outlet for me. DH is going to have a lot to listen to - *grin.*

Here's a thought for today, though. I was driving on the freeway and to pass a slowmoving car, I had to peruse the leftestmost lane. A pickup truck started riding my tail. The speed limit is 65. I was going over 75, and still this guy was riiiiiiiiight there at my bumper. Usually, I'd just slow down to about 64mph - I'm a pest. But I was going places and had no time for silly speed-games. I kept going at my speed and merged back to the right as soon as I could. Let me tell you something about me. I'm a bit sensitive when it comes to driving. I once burst into tears because some jerk honked at me (while I was, mind you, being a safe driver). I could already tell that I was starting to play the guilty "did I cut him off?" (no, I didn't, FYI) tape in my head.
Then, it happened.
It was a little miraculous, but actually, I think I had it coming for some time.
I started to sing.
I made up a little song that went kind of like this (the tune was similar to when Will Ferrell sings in Elf "I'm in a store and I'm singing"):

Ahhhh, poophead in the F150
you know you want to give me the finger
because you drive too fast
yeah
so go ahead
I'm ready
and you're a stupidhead.

Even now, that song fills me with glee. Hee, hee. He didn't give me the one-digit salute, but if he had, I'd have been ready. Actually, I was kind of hoping he would, because it would have been hilarious.

A breakthrough, my friends, a breakthrough! The singing really helped me not get mad at this speeding stupidhead. This made me ponder road rage, and I've come to the conclusion that singing is the way to go. You should try it out yourselves.

And also, I did the singing thing again, when I was exiting this parking lot where you have to pay on your way out. There are two lanes, and I was in the right lane. I decided to be nice and let a guy in from my right. Ohhhh, this man was talking on the phone and had some dull bumper sticker, AND THEN HE STOPPED TRAFFIC IN BOTH LANES SO HE COULD CUT THROUGH MY LANE TO THE LEFT. Why he did that I don't know. I do know that I made a little song about him as well, and it really helped me collect myself.

Doodiehead
on the phone
doing what you want in your stupid Nissssssan
blocking me
you old nerd

The funny thing is that I am absolutley serious. I'll see you in three weeks, with plenty of stories. Fare thee well!

I've been slaughtering ants, and tonight, I was contemplating the act of murder while eating green grapes. I came to the sudden realization that I was thankful not to be a Hindu. My religion teacher back in the days told us "Hindus live life thinking 'Don't kill that fly on the wall, it would be your grandma!'" So, if I were a Hindu, I'd be barred from killing the ants because they could be my aunts (oh the punniness!).

This really got me thinking. A question popped into my mind, and I was wondering about your thoughts on it:
Are Hindus allowed to use antibacterial soap?

I finally found a dress to wear to my best friend's wedding next weekend. I'd post a picture of it from the store's website, but it looks so hideous in their picture that I won't. It does look quite fabulous when I'm in it...
I also got my hair cut yesterday. It's shorter in the back than it was - no more touching of the shoulders! I like it, but I'm also still getting used to it. I'm in that weird phase now where every time I look at myself in the mirror I squint my eyes and look again, because, well, I just look so unexpected!
And I decided that vegetarianism is not for me.

"This way to this awesome pantry - it even smells like yummy citronella oil!"

So, the ants are just having a grand old time in my house. Grrrrr. I sprayed them again today, with the watered-down solution (so that I wouldn't pass out), but that didn't work so well. This time, the ants I got directly died again, but the bystander ants just went about their business normally. No panic or anything. They've lost all fear of me and my spray - this is very bad news.
And as if that wasn't enough, the spray leaves this film on my wood floor, so that the kitchen and pantry are now sticky.

I'll just have to suck it up and make that solution stronger again.
Beware, you creepy crawlery insects!

Stragglers were seen in the bathroom and pantry today (second day after the spray attack). I diluted my homemade spray (I will survive...) and will attack again before night falls.

Here are some thoughts I have on food:
1. I'm in love with feta cheese!
The real kind, that's actually made out of sheep's milk. It's so yummy, I could just have it for every meal.

2. I have a hard time eating anything without dropping some of it onto my clothing. Just this morning, I gave my jeans some of my yoghurt. The cool thing is that on those pants it didn't even really show all that much. Also, I wear my napkin bib-style when I eat pasta with tomato sauce. And even though my mom said it's rude, sometimes it's totally okay to hunch over your plate to reduce the dropping-risk. Don't do it in public though.

3. Should I be a vegetarian? I wonder sometimes. Yesterday, I clicked around on the Peta website and started wondering, once again, if indeed I should be a vegetarian. What I don't like about it is the commitment (which then opens up a whole new can of worms - why am I afraid to commit? And how do you really spell commitment - how many m's and t's?). I don't eat a lot of meat or fish as it is, because after reading Fast Food Nation, that has become pricey. I only buy eggs from free range chickens, and I usually buy free range organic chicken as well. I also don't eat meat every meal or even day. Fish I only eat at restaurants, because quite frankly, I don't enjoy the stink that comes with cooking it mysself (and yes, I know that really fresh fish doesn't smell fishy. The fish I cooked smelled up my house for days and I don't want to risk a repeat of that).
I guess the question is whether or not I can be an almost vegetarian (responsible meat eater) and still be a good person.

4. Bananas make you happy and thus are the answer to poverty. Adrian did all the research. I'm making banana bread today.

5. I love feta cheese. I put it on so many things, like Tacos, noodles, salads, bread, crackers, sandwiches... hmmmm! Wait, did I say this already?

I've been absent from cyberspace for a couple of days, because it takes SBC a week to switch over DSL service from one phone number to another. Grrrr. I felt really disconnected, which probably means I should get a life.
Well, back I am!

So, first this: Willow, sorry you had to disable the comments - it's no fun. I love your list (I like lists a lot, and I make a lot of them)! I think that meeting JL tonight will give you closure, and that will help your heart catch up with your brain. So, take a deep breath, and remember that you outgrew him, too.

Now, on to other things. I'm really quite pleased with the curtains I hung up this morning. Yay me! The empty windows were making me feel stared at - not sure why.

Michael Jackson is innocent -- was that jury on something??? The sad part is that the there are mothers lined up, ready to serve their sons on crystal platters to this sicko. Makes me mad.

Ongoing ant-removal project.
My new apartment is home to me, my DH, and a varying number of ants. These ants are not here to eat our food, they're after water and trash. I am opposed to spraying the critters with raid or some other poison - they're in the kitchen. Also, I really don't want to add poison into the food chain, so that's out.
My first thought was to put some water outside, so they could drink there and wouldn't have to come in. I was, however, afraid that I'd upset the natural balance blahblahblah, resulting in a swelling population of ants, so that was out as well.
Then, I found this great natural product (with peppermint oil) online. Unfortunately, it's made on the opposite side of the country, so the shipping would have been 20 dollars. I wasn't desperate enough for that, so it was out, too.
My DH found an article on the internet that said that you can spray ants with a tea-tree-oil solution, so I spritzed my Melaleuca cleaner on them. The number of ant-visitors in the house went down, but they were still parading around the kitchen sink and the bathtub. That night, I found out from DH that I had misunderstood - he had read about peppermint oil, not tea tree. So, melaleuca cleaner is out.
Yesterday, I bought Dr. Bronner's natural soap (peppermint) and citronella oil. I mixed them with water and started spraying the ants. This, as you might have guessed, was yet another recipie from the internet. My solution was really strong. So strong, in fact, that I felt quite dizzy. Add that to the glass of Riesling Kabinett I had with dinner, and you get a rather interesting mix (parts of my personality that were becoming rusty came out - that's all I'm going to say). The ants I sprayed directly died instantly, while the others (bystanders, I suppose), started to frantically run away.
So far, the citronella/soap mix is working. How fast the smell evaporates remains to be seen... I'll keep you updated.

Here's what I've seen lately:

1. Star Wars, Episode III
Now there's a movie full of surprises... NOT. I guess it's well done and it's sort of interesting, but it wasn't worth standing in line for an hour or sitting in a sold-out theater (yuck - I hate that. I like to put my feet up on the seat(s) next to me). Spoiler: Anakin goes over to the dark side. I know, I know, it's unexpected.

2. Monster in Law
This was surprisingly funny. I saw this movie with a bunch of girl friends late on a weeknight (the thrills, I tell you, the thrills!). This alone would make it funner than other movies (or the same movie on an afternoon). We were partially motivated by the fact that JLo gets her head smashed into a cake (life is about simple joys, people!) and the movie sure did deliver! Of course, JLo did her typical "I'm a singer" - acting and she wore really funny outfits, and the film had an ueber-sweet ending, but the two women battling over the boy (was he worth it - I think not... but anyhoo) and terrorizing each other were hilarious. See it in the middle of the night!

3. The day after tomorrow
This one was not as stupid as I'd expected. Sure, it was cheesy, but the special effects were good and Dennis Quaid is an actor I like, so I enjoyed this one. Spoiler: The world freezes over!

4. Collateral
Wow! Well done, with little twists and turns that I enjoyed. It's violent, of course, and I usually don't go for that (except for "Die Hard"). I had to put in "The Princess Bride" afterwards for a little while, so I'd be able to sleep! I was only a little bit disappointed of the ending, because the movie just sort of stopped. I would have liked some more fuzzy warm feelings of "itsallovernow" and a little more closure. All through the movie I was thinking about how this taxi cab driver would really need some counseling if he survived... I'm a bit of a goofball.

Enough for now. There's more where that came from...

This weekend, we moved. It went surprisingly well! We moved about 40 minutes awway from our church and my university, but we are now in wawlking distance from the beach. The nicer house, the ocean breeze, the small-town feel and all the windows we now have (old condo: 2 windows, new apartment: 6 windows - yowza!) make the commute worth it. I'll be able to take the train and bus up to school, and while everyone gives me a look of "sorrythatsawful" when I tell them, I am actually looking forward to it. Since moving here from Germany, I have not used public transportation except for once in CO when our car was totalled on a lovely stretch of icy road and we took a train back into town. I guess I'll be making up for the pollution DH causes when traveling to work. At any rate, school doesn't start up again for a couple of months (yes!), and the coming semester will be MY LAST SEMESTER. It'll also be only 2 months long since the rest of the time will be spent student teaching again.

Now. For the next couple of weeks, we'll be unpacking. Right now, I've only opened kitchen boxes and unpacked toothbrushes and clothes. I'm taking my time. After all, this is my time off.

I was watching Oprah on Wednesday. She had these crazed parents on the show who are pushing their kids into professional sports. It was quite interesting on multiple levels.
First, let me explain that I was only watching Oprah because I am sick. I don't watch her regularly anymore, because she is a bit of a freak. Yes. She is. Here are the bones I must pick with Oprah:
1. She thinks she's a God of some sort. The way she comes out onto her stage, with people all but fainting in the audience really strokes me the wrong way. People crouch and bow down, here cometh Oprah, thine faithful benefactor! Ugh. She also has a picture of herself on every cover of her magazine, which is - oh surprise - named after her. Just a teensy bit self-absorbed, she is! And really, what does she do? All the good wrok she does is an act of self-worship, a kind of a giant "look at me do good over here" sign. I just don't feel sincerety from her at all.
2. She is ignorant. There was one show a couple of years ago that made me stop watching. Oprah had a few refugees on the show who had gruesome stories to tell of maltreatment and war etc. in their home countries. Then they came to America and made new lives for themselves - it was really impressive. But then, Oprah said "This is only possible in America!" I must have stopped breathing for at least 30 seconds. How can she say something like that?! What, there are no other countries in the world where women are allowed to go to school and university? There are no other countries in the world who take in refugees who have nothing? I tell you, that was a bitter pill for me to swallow. In Germany (which is where I'm from), we have a lot more refugees and our public services for those people are a lot better than what they receive here. And what about other European countries?

Must stop to make blood pressure go back down.




Now here's my newest observation about Oprah: She is a Bravo spokesperson! The sports-parents she had on her show were "borrowed" from a show that premiered Wednesday night on Bravo. The refugees from the show that made me mad were also borrowed from Bravo. As was a family she had on the show once who lived in Africa for a couple of months (with indigenous people in the bush).

Oprah is addicted to money and power. She has this respected, do-gooder persona that she plays on TV and America falls for it every afternoon. Oprah does not care about people, she cares about ratings. Oprah is not helping out, she's showing off her oh-so-good-ness. Oprah is not listening, she's spinning her guests' lives to influence America to become Oprah-land.