We went to the Big Butler Fair this past Saturday. And let me tell you, that sucker is big. It's been forever since I went anywhere like that - Kennywood, Idlewild, or even local fairs - it's just been too long. We had a complete blast.

As a combined group, we won a boatload of knives in the "Ring-A-Knife" game. I won four of them on my own! Beginner's luck, I'm sure. What's even more amusing is that you could buy a "Family Bucket" of rings with which to win knives. Precious!

Liz & I paid the $2 it took to walk through the freak show, which consisted of:
- a cow with extra legs hanging of its rib cage
- a ram with two sets of horns (or just one extra horn, I can't recall)
- a sheep with a fifth leg
- a "giant rat" (which was really a capybera)
- a zonkey (cross between a zebra & a donkey)
- a display case of preserved two-headed animals

The first three animals on the list were legit - basically just had birth defects. The stuff in the display case was pretty lame - a pig with two heads in a jar, a stuffed raccoon with two heads, supposed alien skeletons... you get the idea. A group of us also visited the tent that housed the giant horse for $1.00. That was a bargain, considering the horse really was GIANT. We also got to see it take a piss, which was amazing. It stretched out in this amazing, majestic pose and just poured piss on the ground like a spigot. Remarkable.

Otherwise, we gorged ourselves on delicious carnival food and generally ran amok. It was a beautiful night, and there is photographic proof that we got every last laugh outta that place that we could.


Oh, and a full knife armory.

Today I was asked at the last minute to judge a karaoke contest at 9pm tonight. That provided just the motivation I needed to get this entry finished. It's only been sitting on my laptop for a few days now...

Best & Worst of Karaoke
Eric recently forwarded this link for the 10 best and 10 worst karaoke songs according to Entertainment Weekly. I can back some of them up 100% - but other selections simply bewilder me.

My lists are a little different...

( Fun to Sing )


( Horrible (for me) to Sing )


( Horrible to Hear )


( Great to Hear )

What are your favorites/least favorites to sing or just hear karaoke?

I ordered this adorable salmon dress from Old Navy recently. What I didn't realize was that due to my near midget stature, it would actually hit me around the ankles. Not exactly what I had in mind, considering I thought it would hit me just below the knees.

So I cut it.

I took scissors and cut off they very bottom section. Because there's a ruffle there, you can't even tell. Don't worry though, I'm sure my pride will unravel when the dress does.

Given the recent discussion of bangs and whether or not I should be getting them (which I am, so deal with it), I thought I'd provide proof that I did, at one time, have bangs. A long, long time ago. And they were cute.


The catch, however, is that I was 3 years old.
Don't worry, I'm not planning to get the same cut. :)

I want bangs. Ever since they came back into style, I've toyed with the idea. I have done the whole stand-in-front-of-the-mirror-holding-your-hair-to-look-like-bangs thing, and frankly I think they would look adorable. The problem is that when I'm doing that, I'm holding them the way I'd want them to look. When they actually get cut, they may not fall that way. So I've never followed through with my desire to get them.

I haven't had a truly different hairstyle in... ever? So I decided to bite the bullet. I scheduled an appointment with my girl Leigh at Salon Boheme (she's the best, ever) for Friday, July 17. And I'm nervous as hell.

Here is what I'd LIKE my hair to resemble. Granted I'm no Keira Knightly, but I just think the hairstyle is so relaxed and beautiful (two things I like to think I am):






Here's another example. I can't boast even half the neck this woman seems to have sprouted, but I love the 'do:



If I get them long, then it won't be a big deal to grow them in. Yeah, I realize that if they work out and I wanna keep them, it will require maintenance - but I can live with that. Leigh immediately said she thought they'd look cute on me, and I trust her opinion.

Some Pros & Cons:
+ a new, fresh look
+ they're "in" at the moment
+ if they look bad, they will grow in
- if they look bad, I have to wait for them to grow in
- greasy forehead = greasy bangs (ick!)

I thought I'd go all out and see what I could *potentially* look like with bangs, so here it is... ( AWKWARD! )


Thoughts/experiences in the comments, please!

What's in a name
We have been going to Elks Club karaoke for a couple years now, and I just realized this past Saturday that the roster reflects both a "Junior" and "Sis" in the club. And the head honcho's name? Big Jim. I'm going to start going by Addi Lou as soon as they correct the spelling on my tattoo.


Where the sidewalk chairs end
Speaking of Canonsburg, apparently they have a big to-do parade for the 4th every year. We drove through on Friday night, and the main drag's sidewalks were cluttered with chairs. One of the Elks Club members said the chairs started appearing as early as Tuesday of that week to save people's spots for the event. Apparently Canonsburg has even less going on than we originally thought.


BTW
"TMZ" refers to the Thirty Mile Zone in Los Angeles, which is basically the studio zone -- a virtual hub for celebrities. So, to those of you who've been losing sleep over what that stood for but have been too lazy to look it up, you're welcome. Rest easy.

My car is a 2002 model. It's had its issues, but is running pretty well for its age. It has not, however, LOOKED like it's in decent shape for a long time now. Every once in a while I'll clean it, and think about how nice that feels. I'll then convince myself that I won't wait so long to clean it again. I'll then stop caring for a long, long time.

I lost all but ONE original hubcap, and even the three replacements I put on fell off eventually.

It has lots of little nicks and scratches, and one big scrape on the back from rubbing against a brick wall within my first couple years of owning it.

Both side mirrors have been scraped on multiple surfaces many, many times. One was totally obliterated when I caught it on a cement pillar when backing out of a space in the Market District parking garage. Yay glass explosion into my open window and nearby face!

The front, which hangs really low (not unlike its owner's front, hey-o!), often scrapes on high curbs, so it eventually started cracking.

The interior has just been dreadful: leaves, gravel, loose change, plastic wrappers, feathers (wtf?), and a plethora of other junk have piled high on the floor. Well watch out bitches, because yours truly opened up a fresh can of elbow grease over the weekend! In the last two days I have:

borrowed Dru's vacuum and sucked out all the aforementioned rubble

windexed the hell outta all the windows & mirrors (OHMYGODICANSEE)

took Clorox wipes to the dash & other appropriate interior parts, including what I like to refer to as the gear shift "vagina" (the leather pouch surrounding the stick)

machine washed the rugs

took all unnecessary junk out of my trunk (working on that with my own body, too)

treated myself to a deluxe car wash at GetGo (ooh, fancy)

waxed it (all by myself!)

purchased a fresh, sleek new Air Wick car air freshener

put on three new hubcaps that blend perfectly with the original

The icing on the cake is that I just today got my registration in the mail (I somehow lost the old one and had to order a copy). So we're all set for this week's trip to DC & Baltimore! YAY! So if you see a hot chick and a handsome dude driving around town in a shiny black Stratus with 3 alarmingly new-looking hubcabs, don't be jealous. Just show a little leg and we'll take you wherever you want to go.

This'll do.


Thanks for introducing me to Wicked Minky, Liz!

Might as well make a habit of it, eh?

Sean and I agreed that "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga was the perfect of-the-moment catchy tune to parody this time. We also agreed "Penguin Fans" would be the hook of choice.

Crazytown thanks to Sean G. Donaldson, recorder and producer of all things magical, and his lady friend Abby Fudor with the mad lyrical skillz. Also, thanks Liz & Eric for tossing in your notes as needed.

Oh, and thanks for putting up with it all, Jojo. :)
With yours truly on the vocals, I present to you, "Penguin Fans" by Bait & Switch:



Our pal Annie is the perfect inspiration for this tune - the most dedicated and fiercely loyal fan ever! GO PENS!

Tonight, Joe took out the 4 bags of recycling we accumulated at the party. This reminded me that I never shared the highlights of the shindig with you. Please, allow me.


Oh - and if you were there and think I left anything out, do tell.

We accumulated 4 large bags of (aforementioned) recycling.

By the end of the night, the beer barrel was empty. And we had a ton o'beer in thurr.

At one point, Joe's boys took off their shirts.

At a later point, Joe took off everything but his boxers.

A few crazy kids did shots in the bathroom. Shhh, it's a secret!

Three words: lightning bolt pinata.

The lightning strike awareness stickers ended up on the floor. Like, STUCK to it.

THERE WAS A DOG.

Really I think I could have just listed the dog, and you would understand how fucking great the party was. But I thought I'd share more than that.

Yes, I'm still talking about it two weeks later. I have to get it out of my system now, because next week it will be time to plan Lightning Strike 2010!


;)

Berry funny
We hosted our first official family get-together here at the "new" house on Memorial Day. There was more fruit than you could shake a stick at, some of which was mixed in a bowl with sugar as a sweet treat. When emptying my dishwasher's silverware tray, it became unbalanced and tipped over - hitting the bowl of fruit on the way down. Super dark berry juice was generously flung all over my freshly clean silverware and countertop.

Miraculously, none of it landed on my clothes or mom's - but I had a good amount on my arm. We stood there laughing hysterically for a few minutes while I mentally added that one to the sitcom file.


Poping fun
Tonight I attended a retirement dinner for our former director. This was my third time at Buca di Beppo. It was my third time sitting in the Pope Room. And it was my third time getting the heebie-jeebies from the almost life-size Pope bust encased in glass in the middle of a giant lazy susan on the table.

At one point, a woman with a bad perm and big fake flower in her hair came walking by and just stopped, staring at the Pope. She made small talk for a minute about it - halting our table's conversation - then went on her merry way. About 30 minutes later, she brought her date by to see it for himself. I think he felt as awkward as we did by the second interruption. I judged this by his feigned interest and obvious eagerness to go back to their stuffed shells.

Oh HAY guys! Been a while...


Lightning Strike 2009 was a success. We had 60 guests this year - a new record! Actually it's strange, the first year we had 50 guests, last year 55. I'm not approximating - those were my exact head counts from each year. Next year let's go for 100...

The house held up well. The floor was the worst part of next day clean-up. We had a LOVELY breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, yogurt, and OJ thanks to LZ. Then she & I lounged around a bit and saw Angels & Demons together in the evening. All in all, it was the perfect lazy day after a great party.



So, what did I miss?

The house has finally reached a point where I could think about finishing touches. And what better finishing touch is there than local art? I've collected several pieces of varying styles/sizes/prices to decorate my digs.

Unfortunately, when Davebot and Ams came over to help me a few weeks ago, they were doing most of the hard labor while I supervised. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't drill a fucking hole in the wall. I could never keep the screw in place long enough to actually push it in - so Dave or Ams would take over and get the screws into the wall so that I had the pleasure of actually hanging the stuff. Bum deal, right?

Well, watch out Dave and Ams, because I SUCCESSFULLY USED THE POWER DRILL TONIGHT. That's right. I got so mad at life that I took it out on my walls... and it felt great. Apparently, my superpower is frustration. The only catch is that I have to get over the initial hump of defeat before I can reach my full frustrated potential.

My Gabe Felice pieces are up in the living room, so the only one left to put up in there is Benevolent Creator. I hung mom's poem in the guest room, along with a nice round mirror and a vintage VW hubcap. The rooms still don't look totally finished because they don't have curtains, but that should be fixed by Saturday.

I hope.


So, yinz comin' over or what? :)

So.

I don't usually drink. I often take shit for this, whether the shit-giver realizes they are giving it or not. Frankly, I don't see why I should have to drink to make YOU feel comfortable getting drunk. I grew up in a dry household and was never interested in alcohol or other substances in any way.

People laugh and roll their eyes when I say something tastes strong. Is that because they think I'm kidding? Or they think I'm trying to prove a point? Whatever the case, most drinks DO taste strong to me (often roughly like cough syrup, which I guess makes sense), and I don't care of people believe that. It's a FACT.

I'm tired of feeling peer pressure to drink. SERIOUSLY, I AM ALMOST THIRTY, IT'S RIDICULOUS. When it comes up, I explain that I just don't like the taste. On top of that, I've seen how people behave when they drink, and I just plain don't see how it's worth it to try feeling good. Especially when a) I feel plenty good without drinking and b) it often goes too far and the people around you are forced to worry and clean up after you (or worse, take you to the hospital).

No, I am not addressing any specific person. And I should point out that there are plenty of people out there who a) know how to handle themselves while drinking and b) don't pressure me in any way. And I'm grateful for that. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

My original point was that now I finally have what others would consider a "valid" reason not to drink. I'm part of a PCOS forum, and someone asked about drinking while on Metformin, the medication I've been taking for a long time. Apparently (and I have since further researched this), it's not a good mix.

From now on, I don't drink due to medical reasons.
SO STOP GIVING ME SHIT, EVERYONE.
I love you all.
- me

A handful of us watched Twilight the other night. I pretty much knew what I was in for - a teen fiction novel about vampires made into a movie. It's basically as awesome and as awful as it sounds. I enjoyed it a lot because I love movies like that.

Something I thought about (but didn't think to bring up in conversation) just popped up on the website textsfromlastnight.com (thanks, MegEtz!)...



It wasn't that exact thought, but I couldn't help but wonder why the fuck these beautiful, strong, IMMORTAL vampires would waste their infinite lives moping around some lame-ass small town in the state of Washington. SERIOUSLY.


In non-vampire related news, I've added two feeds you might like:
awkwardboners (which is EXACTLY what you think)
txtfrmlastnite (which is the website mentioned above)


Enjoy!

I don't often look back at my archived journal entries, but it's apparently a slow internet day so I figured I'd go back and take a look. When I went into the archive, I randomly picked 2004 and thought it would be interesting to see what I was doing right around today's date 5 years ago.

Interestingly enough, my employer had a round of layoffs at that time. Thought that was poignant considering what's happening in today's economy.

What's even more intriguing to me is that April 22 was around the time I started entertaining the idea of owning Grandpa's house. I somehow thought that he would be able to just give me the house, which is not the case (though I did get a sweet deal). I also suggested that it would be the perfect size for me and a "roommate." Yep, that was a year before I met Joe.

You can read the entire entry if you're interested.

I forgot to mention that, despite my hatred of naps, I took a nice long one after our volunteer day yesterday. Three hours, to be exact.


They always feel great, but then waking up is such a BITCH.

In the last couple of years, "Team Building" activities have been growing in popularity at work. It's basically a day when an entire department shuts down and takes an outing together. When I was still a TA, we all went to a Pirate game with the management.

Recently, the company has been encouraging everyone to make these days an opportunity for volunteering, so today my department volunteered at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

We pulled out garlic mustard plants (an invasive, non-native species brought over in colonial times and used as a spice because, well, it tastes like garlic and mustard), then we planted 35 trees. On the walk back from our work site to the visitor center, we picked up trash along the road and pulled out any garlic mustard plants we saw.

It was interesting to learn about the work they're doing, and it felt good to do a non-self indulgent group activity for a change. They have a lot of different programs for anyone who's interested in volunteering, even on an individual basis.

Happy Arbor Day!

Remember that time you wanted that thing really badly? Like so badly that it made you work really hard and withdraw somewhat from your social life JUST A LITTLE so that you could work toward it, because you knew it would TOTALLY be worth it?

Yeah, it's worth it.





Click on any pic to enlarge it.


Dining room before:


Earlier today:


And right now:



Bonus angle:

If you love playing games as much as I do, please go here NOW. Even if you aren't a game person, you should probably check it out anyway. It's pretty impressive.

It's a hard (knock) drive
You may have heard that our external hard drive, which has been used exclusively for our music, recently bit the dust. This is horrible news for several reasons:

1. We had ALL our music on there. As of late, up to 5-6,000 songs.
2. We never set up a backup.
3. Our big party for the year is in a month.

Some friends who know about this kinda stuff looked at it for us, and it basically comes down to this: it could probably be restored by professionals, but the estimate I got was..... wait for it... $1600 IF THEY FULLY RESTORED IT.

Needless to say, we decided not to take that route. Then something miraculous happened. At Sean's the other night, he went into his music folders and it turns out HE HAS ABOUT 2,000 OF MY SONGS. So basically my "half" of the drive is preserved on Sean's computer. BRILLIANT!


Putting the pain in painting
After days and days of toiling (and let's face it, some lazing), I have FINALLY finished painting the kitchen/dining room. The kitchen is all trim, so it was quite tedious. It's done now, though, and I'm ready to PARTY. Behold:

Before:


After:


Next up, getting rid of the carpet!

I usually ignore internet ads, but there was one on facebook recently that caught my attention. It was Lost related, so naturally I was curious. I clicked into the ad only to find this:

Go see it. This movie made me laugh AND cry. It especially made me nostalgic for two main reasons:

1. Kennywood: Kennywood fucking Park, the epitome of summer fun. It's everywhere in this flick. That alone made me shiver with nostalgia.

2. Summer romance/heartbreak: Although I never worked at an amusement park, I certainly fell in "love" several times each summer. I spent my summers doing things like United Methodist annual conference and church camp, where my primary focus was boys. This movie just really honed in on that for me, that feeling of excitement, anticipation, hope, and horror over finding and losing a crush in a matter of days/weeks/months.

I realize the characters in the movie were college aged, but for me this hit closer to high school era summers.



Did anyone out there not like this movie?

Kosher deal
A while back we had a pizza delivery guy comment on the obvious remodel in the dining room. He stepped inside because it was cold out and took the opportunity to ask about the job. Suddenly the conversation turned to him insisting I take his number to have him come and work on my house because, you know, he has done work on the homes of many prestigious Jews in the Pittsburgh area, so obviously I need him. I wrote down the number so as not to make a scene and the guy just wouldn't stop pushing it. I politely ushered him out the door and we ate our pizza in peace. Weird.


Spreading like cancer
My uncle (mom's somewhat estranged brother) has been diagnosed with tonsil cancer. Okay, seriously. TONSIL CANCER? That's something you rhetorically warn Susie about when you find out she's been blowing the entire football team. Anyway, I got an email about him starting treatment and it got the ol' wheels turning and, well... I don't know if I've ever expressed this here, but here goes.

I honestly believe that we all have cancer. Right now. Like, somewhere in your body, YOU HAVE CANCER. I just think it's a matter of where it is, how much, and how severe. Seriously, how many people do you already know who have had cancer or have it now? I can count... too many. Think about it - cancer is your own cells.

Okay, this concludes the ridiculous theory portion of our program.


On a lighter note
Taylor Swift is the most recent addition to my "Bad Bands" list. This is a list of musical artists who are either overrated, black holes of talent, or appear to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I mean, at least Britney Spears music is danceable.

Let me refresh your memory:
Nickelback
Goo Goo Dolls
Blink182
John Cougar
John Mellencamp
John Cougar Mellencamp
Creed
Limp Bizkit
The Clarks
Linkin Park
Lifehouse
Dave Matthews Band
James Blunt
Natalie Merchant
Tori Amos
Ani Difranco

I know I am probably offending some of you with The Clarks because they are Pittsburgh's golden boys, but honestly they are totes overrated. Sorry!

My cellphone is through Verizon. I've always been pretty happy with their service, but the occasional little thing bothers me. If I'm texting a fellow Verizon customer, I can enter as many characters as I want and it will deliver them in a series of shorter texts. On the other hand, if I text a non-Verizon customer and accidentally go over 70 characters, it will let me send the message, then send me a notification that only the first 70 characters were sent. The kicker? Short of counting the characters in my sent message, I have no way of knowing where the message got cut off.

Hard. Knock. Life.

What's more is that if I'm sending a photo, it lets me put in a thousand words. Because, you know, that's cute. Actually the irony in that is that if I worked for Verizon, that would've been my idea.

I recently created a "Hey Ya" related station on Pandora. It's been pretty decent until today, when they played "Baby Got Back." Seriously, Pandora. No.

Also, I noticed that Pandora doesn't blip any of the conventionally censored words (fuck, nigger/nigga, ass, hell, shit, etc.), but it cuts the word "gun" from the song "Unfaithful" by Rihanna. This seems purely contextual, as Davebot pointed out that songs like "Janie's Got a Gun" would not be censored. This strikes me as especially odd seeing as the Aerosmith use of the word is far more literal than Rihanna's lyrics seem in this case.

When I play a certain station for long periods of time (for instance, while house painting), I find that it is really quite repetitious. I'm thinking last.fm may be better radio for this reason, but maybe I just need to add more song examples to my existing stations. I'm hoping to paint tomorrow, so I'll use last.fm this time and let you know the final results.


I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats.

Last year at ModernFormations, there was a piece that absolutely took my breath away. It was by an artist named Aimee Manion, and it was the most beautiful drawing I've ever seen. I drooled over it until I saw the price tag and decided it would have to be something pretty to admire for a bit, then I'd have to get over it. I contacted the artist and arranged to get a print made.

I was talking to Jen at ModernFormations last night and I mentioned that I'd love to own the piece, but would have to pay in installments, and the artist ain't no Chevy dealer so I didn't want to insult her. Jen suggested it was at least worth asking, so I came straight home and emailed Aimee right away.

When I awoke this morning I ran to my computer, but she had not responded. Then it hit me that I failed to check on her site last night to see if the piece was even still available. When I got to the page, my heart sank - there was the word "SOLD" written in big red letters.

I resolved myself to the idea that a print would be good enough, but deep down I was really disappointed.

The next time I checked my email, I had gotten a response. Much to my surprise, the piece had not yet been sold! She said she was thrilled for me to own it and we could settle on a payment plan together! I don't know if she had updated the site already based on my interest or what, but I don't care what the explanation is. I am making my first big art purchase and I couldn't be more excited!

The work is called "Benevolent Creator Turns Her Back and Loses Interest, circa 350mya." The title actually made me fall even harder for it. Behold:


Click here if you want to read the short blurb on her site and see a larger version. There is a lot of lovely detail.

She said people have really great reactions to it everywhere they exhibit it. I just think it's so eye-catching. The composition, the layers, the flow of the piece... it's just breathtaking. It's going to add so much to my living room. I am thrilled to be supporting a local artist and surrounding myself with beautiful art.

Walking on airmail
I ordered my first authentic pair¹ of Converse All*Stars last night from Zappos. They emailed me immediately to let me know I was bumped up to FREE 1 day shipping. Considering that I ordered them around 11pm, I was quite shocked when they were waiting on my doorstep after work.

INSANE.

Sure beets picking up shards of glass
I bought some pickled beets the other day, and put them in the fridge as soon as I got home because I like them a little chilled. When I went to open them, the jar was being stubborn so I asked Joe to take a shot. Neither of us could open it no matter how hard we tried or how many extra-grippy rubber doilies we used. We even tried holding opposite ends and twisting opposite directions² but that did abso-nothing. I was this close to breaking the thing open with a fucking hammer when I thought, "hmm, could science open it?" So I ran some hot water over the lid and it twisted off like a dream.<sup>3

1</sup> I have had a few pairs of imitations, but never the real thing. Nothing like getting your first pair at the age of 29! They are basic black and I can't wait to wear them.
² This almost confirmed my suspicion that I live in a sitcom, except that we did not lose our grip and send it flying into the air in slow motion, nor did we get the lid off only to spew purple beet juice everywhere. Thank goodness.
³ Why it took me 15 minutes to think of this I do not know.

I can't recall if I've mentioned this before. Even if I have, the story got a little longer today.

Shortly after spreading "Steeler Ladies" around this past football season, I received a message on facebook from a guy named Joseph. He asked if I was the singer of the song as indicated on the YouTube page, and went on to tell me about the joy the song brought him, and that he was unbelievably grateful.

Joseph is a Marine who returned from combat only to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. He's about 40 I think, with a wife and two lovely daughters who live at their home in Vegas while he receives care in Maryland. He told me all about how happy the song made him and the other soldiers in the cancer ward, and that even the non-Steeler fans were loving it. Apparently it was a real hit there.

He asked me if I'd autograph a terrible towel if he sent me one, but Dru had a connection to get me a bunch of them so I autographed 3 and sent a handful on their way. A couple weeks later, I got another facebook message thanking me for the surprise and for my kindness. He then informed me that he has asked to be buried with the towel that I autographed for him.



I still don't know how to react to that.



Today I received a thank you card from him, along with a Boonie Hat adorned with several military related pins. Apparently it's supposed to be good luck, and he had two so he thought he'd give me one. He wrote a very grateful message in the card and sent a couple pictures of him with his family.

I guess you never know when the smallest thing you do can impact someone so profoundly. He and his buddies needed hope and smiles, and we delivered in their hour of need. I suppose when you think it might be your last hour, it's worth a little bit more.

I've been playing the Wii Fit a lot, so I have unlocked a lot of new games recently. One of them is a balance game where your Mii stands on a lil' glacier in the middle of the ocean and slides back and forth to catch fish jumping out of the water. The best part?

Your Mii wears a penguin suit. Behold:



Cyootest.

EVVAR.

Bumper bike
Joe and I saw a dude riding a bicycle in Friendship last night right down the middle of the street. This would not have seemed remarkable were it not for the bumper attached to the front of the bike. I shit you not. Whatever you imagine that to look like, your imagination is probably not absurd enough.

It was Addie with an "e"
It always cracks me up when people find me on facebook and send me a message asking if it's the same Addi Twigg who went to camp/high school/college with them. How many other girls named Addi have you ever met? Probably not many. Even fewer with the last name Twigg. I'm so tempted to fuck with people. Like, no, sorry, I just look EXACTLY LIKE HER. But I don't know you.

Seriously, everyone, it's me.

I decided it's fate - my brother NEEDS to have his own DIY show. Its title? You're gonna love this. Wait for it...

Drew It Yourself.

Yes, thank you, thank you. I think I can hang up my pun hat now. It doesn't get any punnier than that. He came over tonight just to say hi, and ended up staying for a couple hours (too long) to help me rearrange the living room. While we were at it, he broke open the curtains we've had sitting around for weeks now, and we got them up. The reason he's so awesome is not just that he thinks on his feet and knows a lot of shit - he's also a GREAT motivator. Behold (and click to enlarge):



I'm not sure I like them tied like that, but Joe digs it so we'll leave it for now. I just LOVE the colors and the big bold pattern. Crazy what they do for the room, no?

Tomorrow I'm getting my taxes done, chillin with some pals and watching LOST, and hopefully finishing the recording of my 5-song album for dad's birthday. What else can I fit in there?

I definitely somehow scratched my face in my sleep Friday night. Yesterday morning I woke up with two little scratches on the bridge of my nose. Right. Smack. In. The Middle. Of my face.


I have finally been using my Magic Bullet blender after several years of letting it collect dust. I wanted it SO BAD when I saw the infomercial (you know how I am with As Seen On TV products), so Joe got it for me as a gift. Unfortunately, I'm a lazy ass, and I just never bought anything to make with it. Turns out, all it took was some milk, yogurt, and frozen mixed berries and voila! Smoothies. My favorite.


I have really been chewing the hell outta my cuticles lately. WTF? Does that mean I'm stressed? And if so, about what?

I have pretty much settled into listening to WYEP at work. Yesterday they played Natalie Merchant's "Jealousy," and at the end of that song she says:

Sometimes, tell me, while she's touching you
Just by mistake, accidentally, do you say my name

I'm sure guys have at least thought about other women when they've been with me, but I've never had a guy say another person's name by mistake. At least, not that I remember (and I feel like that would be hard to forget).


Has that ever happened to you?



Do tell.

This may reveal a little more than I want about my current physical shape, but I don't care. My arms are KILLING me right now after all the Wii-ing I was doing yesterday. I am SO SORE.

To my credit, though, I was really going at it.

I think what's nice about the Wii is you get back what you put in. Like, if you wanna sit in a chair and move your wrist to play, that would probably work. If you want to stand up while you play and just go CRAZY, well, that works too.

Seriously, I was kicking ass at boxing.
And it kicked my ass right back.

In related news, my soreness is being exacerbated every time I lift heavy objects. Just so happens I'm doing a lot of that today, since I'm in Camp Hill again for work. I have been lifting my laptop bag and my suitcase frequently today.


OW.

If I could sum it up in one sentence - one short sentence - consisting of only two short words, that sentence would be:


Get it.


WiiSports (the "default" game that comes with it)

Bowling: Seemed a little too easy. I bowled a 157 on my first try. Maybe you can get to harder levels as you go along... this was my least favorite, but it was still fun. It would probably be more fun if you're competing, too. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Baseball: I haven't played this on mine yet, but I played homerun derby with Gabe and Jojo a while back, and it was super fun. Simple, easy, fun. 3 out of 5 stars.

Tennis: What a blast! You can have four players on this and play doubles! I played alone and really enjoyed it. The only thing that would make it better is if you actually had to run left and right to get your Mii to run on the court. Instead you just sort of move the remote, but at least the swinging is the same as if you were playing actual tennis. 4 out of 5 stars.

Boxing: OH MY GOD IS THIS FUN. I was having a blast punching folks out. What a great time and what a great workout! Enthusiastic 5 out of 5 stars!

The Fit
This shit is smart. It has a scale (of course) and asks you for your height so you can get a BMI and a "fit age." Mine is... not good, as you can imagine. It has yoga, balance games, and some other activities to choose from.

The balance games are hilariously great. There are these floating platforms with a hole, and a ball on the surface that you have to get through the hole by manipulating the platform via your balance... it gets more and more complex as you go, with time limits and multiple balls/holes. It's challenging and honestly made me giggle the ENTIRE first time I played it.

It also has ski jumping, slalom, and this adorable soccer game where you're a goalie. You have to use your head to block the balls from getting in the goal, but you have to dodge the shoes of the kickers as they fly at your face. Those are -2 points. Oh, and panda heads. They're -3 points. GUFFAW.

The hardest one seemed to be the tight rope. You have to walk across without falling off, and occasionally you have to dodge some crazy creature with big teeth that will eat you. You do so by "jumping" over it (you don't really jump, you just bend and straighten your legs to get the Mii to jump).

It appears there are other games and activities you can keep unlocking the more you play and the better you get.

The Fit also tells you if you're underweight, just right, overweight, or obese. It tells you to set a goal for how much weight to lose or gain and in what period of time. For some reason it only let me do 22 pounds to start. I guess it doesn't want to overwhelm you...


Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. This may be optimistic, but I'm hoping the Wii will be the "trainer" I so desperately need to motivate me.

So... who wants to play?

A few of us saw Watchmen tonight, most of us for the first time. I went into this knowing VERY little about the graphic novel. I basically only knew what I've heard or read since the movie hype started. I'd say the majority of opinions I heard were negative, saying that the first 30 minutes are GREAT and the rest sucked - so I went into it with very low expectations. Here are my basic thoughts.


1. The story was engaging. At no point did I go, "Ugghh, this is so boring and drawn out," like I'm hearing that a lot of folks did. It didn't feel like a long movie to me. I found that the plot easily kept my attention, and the way they revealed back stories worked just fine for me.

2. The violence was... graphic. I have somehow become MORE sensitive to violence as I get older, instead of being desensitized. I couldn't watch a lot of the violent scenes, and just as many of them made me react physically (by cringing or covering my mouth so that my gasping didn't disturb others). That aspect of this flick was hard for me.

3. The sex was sexy. Plenty of blue dong, ladies! And UNCUT blue dong, at that! There is also a sex scene (like, involving actual boning) that I thought was pretty hot mostly because I REALLY liked the male character involved in the scene. Lots of man ass, too! I'm an ass woman for sure, so it was a real treat for me!

4. The action was mediocre. If you were hoping for an action flick, this wasn't it. Luckily, I was not disappointed by this matter.


Some general, inconsequential things I didn't like:
- Some of the people who were supposed to look old just looked like they were wearing old person makeup.
- The ladies all had their lipstick applied OUTSIDE their natural lip lines to make their lips look fuller. This is always, always, always a mistake. You are on a GIANT SCREEN where I can SEE YOUR PORES. I can tell how thin your upper lip is, honey, no matter how much lipstick you apply.
- Some things weren't explained. This is probably my own fault for not doing my research before hand, I know. For instance, the Rorschach mask was not explained (that I noticed, anyway), and the giant glass machine on Mars was kind of random to me. My pals were kind enough to explain these things for me after the flick.


Regardless of the things I didn't like, I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars.

I did it.
I bought a Wii and a Wii Fit.

We recently played with Dave's at his place, and it just seemed so FUN. Now that the basement is in order, I am bribing myself to exercise by getting a nice TV and the Fit. I think it'll work. I can do some cardio and some fun balance games several times a "wiik." Heh.




I'm quickly running out of excuses. Yay?