So I've been listening to Julia Child's "My Life in France" and all I can think about is moving to Europe. This is really bad for my focus.

Oh wait, I've always had a problem staying on task so this really isn't an issue. Whew.

Also, I spent a while last night looking at library jobs in the UK and I'm totally qualified. If they want to deal with all the junk that comes with bringing someone from outside the country to work.

This is why I don't approve of hair-feather-extensions. Also, it's delightful that fly-fishermen take their hobby so seriously- one man quoted in this article calls the trend "sacrilegious".

Oh another reason I don't approve- we are not owls, we are not Steven Tyler, and we are not in the movie "Rock-A-Doodle". Do you want to be mistaken for any of those? I don't.

I tried to upload an image of the..."female" lead from Rock-A-Doodle but Blogger is being crazy right now. Suffice it to say, you do not want to look like a sexy chicken. Or a chicken that someone tried to make look sexy. How can you look sexy with a beak? That entire movie is a travesty. IT'S ABOUT AN ELVIS CHICKEN.

The Green Lantern was....so terribly cheesy. I love Peter Saarsgard (sp? I'm too lazy to look it up right now) and he was probably the best part of this movie- the only actor who wasn't trying too hard, and he looked disgusting. But what an awesome characterization- his character pre-mutation (like at the party mid-movie) reminds me most forcefully of someone with whom I recently went on a date. And with whom I will never go on a date again.

Anyways, the movie. Oh yes, Mark Strong as Sinestro was also pretty good. But aside from that...purple aliens, blue aliens, aliens shaped like giant killer bees- it was like a new installment in the Men in Black franchise, but broader and weirder and not nearly as entertaining (as the first MiB, I can't speak to the later ones, not having seen them myself, but that should be a statement in itself- that I didn't see them). Oh yeah, and greener.

Also, I like the oath he speaks to the ring- there are the makings just in that of a spectacularly epic space-crime saga, but everything else about this movie falls SOOOO far short of that potential. Also...the good guys fight using the force of will, and the bad guys have harnessed the power of fear (which, apparently, is yellow)- that premise I know is part of the source material, but it just seems so dated.

Ugh. Watch it. If you're bored.


This movie was...meh. The same story as The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which is better) and Speak (but without the violent central premise- this is also a better story), and Born Confused (but not about second-gen Americans- this is also better)- that story being "American teenager has identity crisis but is saved by love/friends/family/relationships and art". Each of the stories mentioned about is both less-trying on my patience and more sincere than "The Art of Getting By". I am starting to really like Emma Roberts, but not even her spunk could save this bore.

There are also a lot of really awkward moments in this movie.

Skip it.



Super 8 is my favorite blockbuster-type movie so far this year (probably soon to be replaced, or at least tied, by HP7). It's not perfect, but it has all the things I love about Spielberg (heartfelt stories, honest characters, and nostalgia that somehow seems fresh) and all the things I love about Abrams (come to think of it, it's probably more his touch that takes the nostalgia and makes it seem fresh and shiny and new, and his love for explosions and big noisy things, and conspiracy theories, and awesome jokes) and smashes all of these things into a gem of flawed delight. It's hilarious, it made me jump (a lot), and it was better the second time I saw it. Also, it's two movies in one- there's a zombie movie in the credits.

Definitely definitely watch it. (with a wary eye for the surprisingly foul mouths of 13-year-olds)

Last night my cable went out. Not all the way- there's still a sort of picture, but it's covered with static and moves up and down constantly. And the sound is crazy.

ALSO since it was installed there has been an "HD technology" fee on my bill. I don't have anything HD. At all. For a TV, I have a giant boulder-like remnant of the days when television sets were three dimensional. It does not have HD picture. Anyways, you know me, and it took me a while to call them to actually remedy the billing issue. The person I spoke to recognized that that charge is bogus and shouldn't be there and offered to credit it to my account for the past three months. I've had Comcast for four months now. So what about the charge from the first month? "I'm sorry ma'am, it's just our policy not to go back further than that, and plus, you could have told us about it earlier." True, BUT.

I will explain to you why this ticked me off so much. First, don't tell me it's "just policy". Explain to me please the reason for this policy. Tell me your computer system locks out refunds past three months. Anything, give me a good reason. The claim that "it's just policy" is just a way for you to sound official when you really have no idea why things are the way they are. Second, it REALLY chapped my hide (or cooked my grits) that he would place the blame on me. REALLY, it's my fault that you've been over-charging me for four months? It's my fault that, even though I told the woman I spoke to when first setting up the account that I DID NOT WANT HD service, because I don't have anything that can show HD picture, the man who came to install the box etc... installed the *wrong* box, which caused me to be charged the wrong fee?


Yes, I waited a while to call and rectify the issue because I AM BUSY. But it is not my fault that there is a breakdown of communication within your organization, nor that your personnel are somehow simultaneously incompetent AND patronizing.

UGH. I wish there was something I could type (or, like, a font size or something) that could adequately express the depth of my frustration.

Anyways, his solution for the billing issue was that I have the wrong box, so I need to take it to the office and exchange it. Which thing I cannot do ASAP because someone is coming tomorrow night to hopefully solve the reception issues. (at least, I can't take it because then I would have to hook up a new box and if the issue persisted what if it was because of something I did? I want the technician to take a look at it and see it exactly as it was when it went out, and as it has been since then.)

Now that THAT'S over with...

Maybe I'm going to see Super8 for the second time today. DON'T JUDGE ME!

I totally have a good reason too- see there's an extra scene at the end of the credits that I didn't know about when I went to see it the first time, so I totally missed it. There. Good excuse right? It's worth the price of another movie ticket to see that scene...I think.

Anyways I'm ok with giving J.J. Abrams more money.

In other news:

1. The expected high today is somewhere in the 90s and I still haven't turned on my AC. Living in a buggy basement does have it's benefits- if being constantly chilly is a benefit (whatever, in the middle of summer, it's totally a benefit).

2. I learned not to date people who are 13 years older than I. If they are that old and have never been married....there is definitely a reason.

3. This is not news, more a piece of advice- don't ever ever barge onto an elevator before you wait to see if anyone needs to get off first. It happens to me EVERY DAY at work, and the people doing it are always either moms with strollers or more mature (i.e. elderly) folks who should certainly know better. It's rude. SO RUDE. It makes for very awkward situations. And I hate it.

I went on a date tonight. It ended with this exchange:

Me: "So if I ever decide to become a mass murderer, I'm set"
Him: "Yup, well, good night!"

(We were talking about my trunk- it's huge)

I don't know why I say the things I do.

Oh btdubs, I had my first cranky library patron the other day. It was awesome. I felt like I was back at BYUIS for a second because now, after two years away, the cranky customers are by far my best memories. Oh and Mad Cow Disease.

Anyways I was on my weekly reference desk shift and this elderly woman came up and said "I'm looking for a talk. It was by a general authority. And it's about flirting or something."

Classic.

She eventually gave the name of the speaker (or who she thought the speaker might have been) along with two other talk requests. I worked with her for maybe 5 minutes max, but every passing second made her more antsy and more angry.

She even started doing that huffy thing some folks do when they're upset- fidgeting, sighing loudly, tsk-ing, giving unhelpful suggestions.

I was eventually able to find two of the talks she was looking for, she gave up on the third- apparently she was in a hurry (except she wasn't, after she was done, she just wandered around the library aimlessly).

As we were finishing up, she told me "I would have found them myself, but our basement flooded and destroyed all our church magazines. As well as my demeanor."

Obviously.

Even though I have a job till February, I still look at job postings...like every day. So many of the interesting ones want an advanced degree in a field other than Library Science (in addition to the MLS). This has got me thinking already about the future date when I'll have to break down and get to work on something like that. I'll definitely wait until I have a job that will pay for it this time, but I have no idea what it should be. Guess the job will determine that.


Maybe I'll just go the Noah Wyle route and study everything forever. He's not just a librarian, he's THE Librarian.

Two things:

Two very important things.


First, on Sunday, Emmy and I went to see Les Mis for her birthday (nearly a month early) (but it's a birthday month so it's ok). And it was spectacular, of course. It has been forEVER since I've seen a fully staged version of Les Mis. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever actually have- I've only ever seen either the super bare-bones rotating stage version that toured for a long time or the concert version so this was kind of a treat. Yeah I loved it. Yeah, maybe I cried a little. I DO THAT, OK?! We went on Sunday bc it was the only day I could get tickets, but they were awesome tickets. I ended up buying them from a couple who has had season tickets for nearly three decades and consequently have seen most of the shows that come through our fair city, and so just sell the ones they don't want. Orchestra section tickets far to the front at less than half the normal price. Go bargain-hunter me!

On the walk home from the theater (because it's only about three blocks from my house), we were...propositioned? by a group of young men. Well really just one. We were walking past the Salt Palace (SLC convention center for you out of towners) and stopped at an intersection to wait for the light to turn. There was a group of three young men just hanging out in front of the Salt Palace- if you're not familiar with the area, let me say that this is a completely bizarre place to be hanging out. Kind of off the beaten path, it takes up an entire block, and there's just not too much around. Anyways, they saw us and caught up and while two hung back, one (who, as I've said before, looked like an escapee from the Jersey Shore) ran up to us and asked us "why the f[***] [we were] walking away from [him]" (because he had tried to flag us down). He was clearly not...ahem...possessed of his full faculties (at mid-day on a Sunday- where do you even find alcohol at that time in Salt Lake?) so we attempted to ignore him and just kept walking. He asked us if we were Mormon (yes) and apologized for "the eff word" and proceeded to tell us that we can't live our lives in fear and being scared of everything, we need to learn to have fun. Because our religion has everything to do with why we were ignoring him...except actually it was because we weren't interested (who would be?). Anyways, he asked us in the middle of his rant if we were seeing anyone, which gave Emmy the opportunity to tell him she was married. He asked me if I was married (no) and then, literally leering and leaning over me, said "what about you? are YOU seeing anyone?" He basically ran me off the sidewalk- I had to jump away to avoid him falling on me.

THEN he proceeded to tell us that he only wanted to know because if we WERE married or seeing anyone, he just wanted us to know that they (husbands and boyfriends) aren't sincere. They're "just doing it because people tell them to". Oh and followed that up with "Because I am SERIOUSLY attracted to both of you". So flattering. Anyways there was more and blah blah blah that's all I feel like typing.



The second thing. Last night I was at FHE (church activity) because I thought to myself "well it's probably not super healthy for you just to spend every night of the week crocheting and watching TV alone in your apartment, you should probably get out and actually meet some people". So I went, saw that only the teenagers were there (did I mention that my ward now is composed almost entirely of LDS Business College students? It's a two-year school. For the vast majority of them, this is their first ever experience away from home. They are still in their TEENS for heavens sake. I am old. I have two degrees. I have a job. We don't have a lot in common. I like to whine. I'm trying not to) so I went outside once they started migrating for the "activity" (whiffle ball or something ridiculous) and grabbed my bike so I could make a quick escape around the corner to my apartment to be alone with my old lady habits.

Right when I was about to ride off, this girl ran up to the group (she had been outside with some guy doing acrobatics in the grass (I mean that literally, they were doing flips and cartwheels, I'm not trying to be coy), and he, not realizing the grass was wet, tried to do a flip, slipped, and landed on his shoulder. Now it was pointing out all weird-like.


They were both worried it might be a broken collar bone. Anyways, she came running up to the group asking if anyone had a car to drive him to the hospital because he broke something. He, however, was still walking around and not looking too bad, so I think everyone just assumed she was over-reacting and just kind of ignored her plea. I told her I lived just around the corner and would be right back with my car to take them. So I did- two minutes later (I'm really fast on a bike :) ) when I got back he was looking much worse for the wear. By the time we got him, his sister, and his acrobatics-partner into the car, and got on the way to the hospital, he was basically weeping in pain. We had to take a detour to his sister's house to pick up his insurance card first though- I'm not sure he appreciated the wait. Anyways, we got him there, they gave him some drugs, and found out he tore some ligament in his shoulder- no broken bones. And I got some blissfully quiet reading time in the waiting room (which is good- I got a start on my book club book (which should make Kari happy because we've started about three different book clubs and they always fail because I never read the books- I just have this mental block against reading books when I have to. It's a problem) which I am *loving* so far.

Anyways, the whole thing made me feel like an old mom. I just feel very far removed from that first trauma of seriously injuring yourself, and that helpless feeling of not knowing what to do when someone you care about injures themself. Not that I'm magically a nursing genius with age, I just feel so much calmer about things like that now. My first serious injury- I had someone with me in the ER, but when I had to go back and have surgery, I had no one, I took the bus to the hospital by myself. I went to surgery prep alone, and I went into recovery alone. I dealt with it, it passed, and the world didn't end.

I hope that this kid and his acrobatics partner get together though- he was talking to his mom on the phone as I drove them home, and going on and on about this girl and how much they have in common and how "cool" she is- he was still on the drugs, but it made me laugh (and it made her giggly). Cute.

I saw X-Men: First Class this weekend. I was not dissatisfied at having spent money on this, but that may only be because my expectations were kept so low by the last few movies. Mostly I was happy to have an excuse to stare at James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender for a couple of hours.

All that said, it was a fairly goofy movie with a disproportionate number of go-go boots and very mini miniskirts (but I'm pretty sure that's an accurate representation of the time period).

I don't really have much else to say about it.

All of my biggest crushes right now are opera stars (I'm looking at you (figuratively) Rene Pape and Bryn Terfel).





I really need to get a life...