I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

I don't know why I'm using random movie quotes for blog titles lately.  Enjoy it while it lasts, I suppose!

OK, this is just a quick note, partly just to remind myself later when I don't remember it as well, but I had three dreams last night.  They were separate but the ones that followed the first would refer back to the others and it was all kind of strange.  But here are the things that were involved in them:

My Little Pony: the country, the castle and the most awesome pool ever (for sea ponies, of course)

Kingdom Hearts (2?  It doesn't matter)

Steven Spielberg and his nameless rival

Tony Stark

My old roommate and her niece

Fancy dresses that I do not own

Earrings that I do not own

A trip to St. Louis

Breakfast burritos from McDonalds

Chingachgook (but he was played by Wes Studi/Magua!  No!)

The Bog Monster (also known as the "Next Great American Novel")

Love triangles

Jeeves!

Last of the Mohicans

And yes....it was AWESOME. 

This is a messed up country

Did I make you think this was going to be a blog ranting about the government and politics? Well, it's not. I was actually just quoting The Mummy because that's what came to mind. And, just for the record, I'm going to see the third one even though 1) I think it's an unnecessary sequel 2) No Imoteph? Sad. 3) No Rachel Weisz? More sad. 4) Mario Bello? Most sad. Luckily it still has Brendan Fraser and John Hannah and I'm sure it will be over the top and fun. Or it SHOULD be.

Wow, I was not planning to say any of that. Back to the subject! An hour and 46 minutes ago it was still Independence Day, which I love. Early American history is my favorite American history, which is why I watched Last of the Mohicans...twice. And while part of me wishes (just a tiny bit!) that England had won the war, thus making us all British citizens, I am quite content with my American citizenship.

Now of course we have hot dogs, fireworks and blockbuster movies to celebrate this momentous occasion, but I decided we all need something extra this year. And that something extra is...Hugh Laurie.



(You're welcome.)

Yikes!

Last weekend I made my first trip to Ohio to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. And there were lots of things to look at, like Lego cities and a taxidermied polar bear. But this guy was hard to beat. Behold!

CRUNCH

He's an enormous alligator snapping turtle that is over 150 years old. And he was just hanging out in this tank, with his mouth open. Perhaps he was hoping someone would stick an arm in there? Let's have a closer look at that pretty face.

Indiana is not a Plane

So, as some of you may know and most of you may not, I was thisclose to applying to a study abroad program in England this summer. And once I finally listened to the internal advice that was beating me over the head, I decided not to. But if I had, I would be on a plane today, headed over to England where I could achieve some life goals and possibly kidnap Gerard Butler. But since I'm just sitting in Indiana instead, I figured a blog that celebrated England would be appropriate. Here are some things I love about England:

• The accents! You knew this was coming so I decided to get it out of the way.
  
• It's the birthplace of how many of the authors I love? A lot. Including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, James Herriot, CS Lewis, Thomas Hardy, JK Rowling, JM Barrie, and the Bronte clan.
• Besides authors, think of all the other great things that came/come out of England: Coldplay, scones, Robin Hood, Jeeves & Wooster, Orlando Bloom and an appreciation for dental care
  
• It's little.
  
• It has such lovely names: London, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Weymouth.
  
• It's the setting for all of those books written by all of those authors I just listed.
  

It's harder than I thought to make a list because there are just so! many! things! that I love about England/that came from England/that are part of my VERY BEING. Also, why talk about England when you can look at it? Let's look at it.

There are goals, and then there are goals: things you absolutely must do. I absolutely must go to an English moor and run around on it.
The British Museum. Pretty!

John Singleton Copley. OK, so he was an American colonial painter, but he eventually hopped the pond and settled in England. Part of me says "Way to ditch your country, Mr. Copley" but mostly I think "Yeah, I don't blame you, Johnny."
And my favorite painting? Painted by an Englishman. Thank you, Edwin Landseer. And thank you, St. Louis Art Museum, for buying it.

*sigh*

A Horrible Story

I've been meaning to blog all week, but haven't gotten around to it yet (obviously). My sister and her kidlets came to visit and I have been spending my free time playing hide and seek and answering the question "But why are you going to work again?" every morning.

But I still want to blog and as it is almost exactly a year since the following incident happened, I thought I should repost it, just to spread my horror to more people. So, enjoy, and to quote one of my favorite professors, I must ask you not to scream.

"OK. Check this out:

Fifteen minutes ago I'm walking downstairs to check my email. The light is off and I see a dark blob on the carpet. 90% of the time in a Middle Kingdom* summer, these blobs are kid-dropped raisins. This time it was HUGE FREAKING SPIDER. FAT AS A BASEBALL. I scream for my sister, who arrived from the shower. We stare in horror. She fetches my boot. I hold the boot and we cringe for ten minutes. Finally, I hit the spider and it gets so. much. worse.

HUNDREDS OF THINGS SWARM OUT OF THE SPIDER CORPSE. SPIDER BABIES. AKIN TO THE LOST IN THE SPACE SPIDER CREATURES EXCEPT NO GARY OLDMAN SPIDER HYBRID TO KEEP ME FROM SCREAMING.

Oh yes, friends, it was fat with babies. And so I sprayed them all with hastily-fetched bleach spray. And lo, they are dead and the hall smells like bleach.

Now we have to wait for it to dry so we can vacuum up mother and baby hoards. Seriously, I thought I had landed in a sci-fi channel original movie and the spider was really dead but was being eaten from the inside by nefarious parasite spider killers. I don't know which was worse."

Sometimes at night I can still hear the screaming.

*This originates from a funny boy I call Coop. Story will follow at a future date.

Year of a Million Souvenirs

I went to Disneyland a week ago, and I was planning to write a big ol' blog about it. But I'd rather watch a Disney movie so I'm just going to make a few points and post some pictures. Easier for everyone, right?

Favorite ride: Indiana Jones, followed by Pirates...and Splash Mountain. And Space Mountain. And Tower of Terror. ANYWAY. Indiana Jones was a blast.

Least favorite ride: what?

Tastiest food: I actually hardly ate anything the whole time I was there, but I did enjoy some turkey leg (mmm). The Dole pineapple whip was also very delectable. I also really liked the Starbursts I put in my bag.

Favorite souvenir: I only bought one, a Pirates hoodie. It was inevitable, but a Nightmare shirt almost won out. Actually, all of my souvenirs are my favorites--I also got a "1st visit" pin and my lovely sister-in-law traded a pin of hers to get me a neato Davy Jones pin.

A few of my favorite things:
--the first Jack Sparrow on Pirates.
--the "how do you do" song from Splash Mountain, although I prefer my version of "mighty fine shootin'" to "mighty fine greetin'".
--seeing a real live Ariel. There's some thrilling about seeing an animated character in real life. You know?

This all makes me sound like I was a total Pirates spaz at Disneyland, and, well, I was but I loved everything. I squealed about the castle, I got starry eyed in the princess store, I was enthralled by the videos at Off the Page and I seriously loved that Splash mountain song. So, just for the record, my Disney love goes well beyond Pirates territory. OK, picture time!

Pretty!

This isn't the Jack I mentioned, but it was the only one I could take a picture of. Yes, that is my hand, and no, I did not swoon. Giggle? Perhaps.

You know how on What Not to Wear they talk about flared jeans making your legs look stumpy? Um. They do.

Look! Princesses! I never saw Belle, which was too bad, but...princesses!

I was waiting for a rendezvous at Autopia and liked the palm trees.

This is one of my favorites, and sadly it came out a bit blurry.

Did I mention that I like the castle?

So, final thoughts: I want to go again. Very soon. But I want to go in the fall next time so I can see the Haunted Mansion all decked out Nightmare style. I also want to go on a weekend so I can see Fantasmic. And of course I want to go again so I can do all the things I missed and do all the things I liked all over again. Disneyland? Fall? Anyone?

A Quick Recommendation

I know I have the "Things I Recommend" section for this purpose but when I have something this highly recommendable, I need a whole post. Behold!

This is the best ice cream flavor I have had for a long time. Maybe the best since Blue Ribbon Chocolate Cake. Let's examine the description: "Fleur de Sel caramels covered in a chocolaty coating blended into caramel ice cream with caramel ribbons and French sea salt accents. Crisp, salty nuances harmonize with rich, creamy caramel for the ultimate combination of sweet and salty."

Buy it. Eat it. Love it.

Why is Obi-Wan Wearing my Bathrobe?

Sometimes I'm accused of not liking funny things, but I do actually like funny things a lot. I like them a lot more than backrubs or corn tortillas. Here are a few of the funny things I like:

X-Men: Last Standing Ovation



Jeeves and Wooster: "Minne the Moocher"



Star Wars Episode 3 MTV Movie Award Spoof



See? Funny!

What Were They Thinking?

You know what happens when I have a digital camera? I take pictures of everything. Even totally random things like airplane propellers. Why would I ever keep a picture of an airplane propeller? But I can take a picture of an airplane propeller and that is apparently all the reason I need. It's a pretty funky propeller though. See?

So, I just came back from Washington, which was awesome. I took pictures of many random things, including about 30 different airplanes. Airplanes are pretty rad, but I don't think I'll be looking back on this trip and think, "Man, those airplanes were great. I'm so glad I have pictures of every single one of them."

In few weeks (!) when I go to Disneyland (!) for the first time (!!) I will try to remember that I don't need pictures of the Disneyland trash cans. But then, I've never seen the trash cans at Disneyland so we'll just have to wait and see. When I'm in Provo, seeing a movie at Towne Centre, I will have to repress the urge to photograph every inch of it. Is it wrong to miss a movie theater as much as a person?

Here's a smattering of some of the random pictures I took in Washington.


Ever wonder what a polar bear looks like when it's climbing off a rock? Now you know.
Oh yes, salmon spread from Ivar's. I waited all week for this, and it was almost the best thing about having to get up at 4:15 to go to the airport.
Like I said, the salmon spread was almost the best thing. No, who am I kidding, I love that salmon spread even more than Jacob.

Alas

Why is it that blogs are so much easier to write than papers, even papers that are mostly written? Or is that writing about conflict management is just inherently repellent? Somehow, it will get done, though it may take a few more hours before I start to feel the urgency. It'll get done. Right?

I picked up X-Men: the Last Stand at the library yesterday. Which is good for the following reasons 1) I will get to see the parts (or it is part? I guess there is more than one) I liked 2) I won't have to think about how I paid money for it during all the many parts that make me crazy. One day I will have to make a list of grievances, but it is not this day.

Every morning I walk past a bunch of different flowery trees and bushes, and I only know what two of them are. But there is one bush type in particular next to the BCC* that has little white flowers and it smells heavenly. One day I will get a book about Indiana foliage, but today is not the day for that either.

In other news...going to Seattle this weekend, hurray! Some small part of me wishes I could just hang around for the weekend and revel in my lack of homework and just veg out. But I know that small part of me is awesum** and will change its mind as soon as I get on the plane. Besides, I have a whole summer afterwards to revel in my lack of homework and just veg out. So take that, awesum small part!

*Is that the abbreviation? I don't even know but I know all those letters are in the building's name.

**Is not the same as awesome.

A Little Creativity

While working on a group paper today via email I decided to spice up my section and throw some haiku into the mix. Sadly, I actually had to look up the whole arrangement and syllable numbers for haiku, so I'm not going to promise that these are any good. But they were more fun than the paper.* Anyway, I was in a Jeeves and Wooster mood so I wrote some haiku for Jeeves.

"A Haiku for Jeeves"
Jeeves wears a nice coat
Jeeves is so very clever
I would like a Jeeves

"Another Haiku for Jeeves"
About some jackets
Jeeves is most particular
Who needs brass buttons?

*OK, so this paper is not so boring. It's about readers' advisory! Which is awesome. X-Men: the Last Stand is not awesome. So why am I still tempted to buy it?

Some stuff about some Stuff

It's been a long time since I blogged, and maybe now I'm just blogging because I've been in the pits of nostalgia lately. Whatever, the motivation isn't the important thing, right?

I'm back at school again, and, once again, motivation is hard to come by. Library stuff is cool but reading about library stuff is not so cool. If I had been thinking about working at an academic library, I would have changed my mind after reading about citation studies. Just let me read books and give other people books, okay? I don't need authority. I don't need to manage. I just need to be around books and get paid well for it. Or paid at any rate.

I have readers advisory this semester, which is all about how to suggest books for people, and I think I would like this skill in terms of movies as well. Not so much for other people as for myself because that would be handy. Naturally I would use these powers for good.

In other news, my desk chair is really cheap.

Quizlings

Uh...what?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast   Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
The Midland
The Inland North
Philadelphia
Boston
The South
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

GAH

I am so excited about this.

Chow down

Seriously now, why does nobody ever blog anything ever anymore? Is blogging soooo 2006 or what? I see myself returning to the old blog spots more often come late August 2007. I think then I might have things to blog about.

Until then I will just say that I predict some kind of HP#7 prediction post sometime around July 18th and possibly a movie review around the 12th. But we'll see.

Blargh

I need to go to bed.

I think we all knew this already

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Artistic Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Anime Nerd
Social Nerd
Drama Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Musician
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

I feel pretty good about this

Which OS are You?

I really don't know what HP-UX is. But it sounds nice.

A little more Vexed

My sketchbook brand changed its perforation type and now the pages don't tear out very well. Plus the oncoming humidity makes the pages soggy-ish and so they just tear in little jumps and spats. It's really annoying, especially when I have to tape them back in and there are little bits everywhere, not lining up. But I do enjoy the fact that I have been drawing so much lately. I just wish I could color stuff and had my own computer in general.

In other news, TMNT is still awesome. I had a dream there was a turtle in my closet (an actual turtle) and there were all these baby turtles the size of a golf ball (flat) and soon there were baby turtles all over. So there was a big question about raising the baby turtles or taking them all outside and letting them fend for themselves or raise them to full grown-hood and then putting them outside. Unfortunately the question was never resolved.

In other news, has anybody seen the Underdog teaser? I really, truly do not understand it. I hope it tanks as bad as Catwoman. In other movie news, I am kind of tired of hearing about 300. Shocking, I know, but I think it's run its course and needs to go away now.