Tired

I can't believe how seldom I post now. Ever since I took up this job I am in, I have expended all my energy on it. A very demanding clientele that is seldom pleased with anything, techs with poor habits resistant to change, management that is less than helpful...
I have spent many hours of unpaid overtime cleaning, clearing, organizing and bringing the site into-well I wouldn't call it compliance but a reasonable facsimile.
Days off have been medical appointments (certainly not for me), visits to ill relatives,and keeping up with the house. Shoveling is a pastime. Kitty litter (we average 30 lbs per week) is another.
My fun activities- well, the jewelry-making is pleasant and those I have gifted seem pretty pleased with my results. I had dinner with some former co-workers & that made me happier than I have been in a long time. I took the nieces to the theatre in an eventful and delightful, magical night. And I have been precepting a practical lab at my college, which is surprisingly re-energizing.
Taking on another work commitment may seem crazy, but the interaction with students has been very very stimulating. I remember being so nervous in school but not so clueless-although I am sure I must have been.:)
I have a membership to Netflix and find I hold onto movies an average of 3 weeks before getting to watch it-not really cost-effective, but I don't have the heart to stop the service quite yet.:P
Anyway-my days off aren't always restful, but when I feel the immune system kicking in, I have no choice but to lay very low. There's been quite a run of nice weather & I got a good portion of my garden weeded, mulched & neatened.
Today was icky & rainy & I was extremely tired from a bad week. I am watching movies today, snuggling with the kitties & laying low. Not good meat for a post, but there it is.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

A week in between jobs. I thought of visiting a friend in the Caribbean-she got sick and came back to the states. I thought of accompanying Kate to California and sght-seeing a few days before her new job started=but my mom booked a trip to Atlantic City and asked Kate to Grampy-sit (he's been falling a lot).
So I decided to just stay home and maybe hit the beach a few days- the only days the sun came out were the days I had previous appointments.
But I did have a nice week. My sick friend came to recuperate in some peace & quiet, so I hung around and puttered and watched movies and so on.
The dutiful things I accomplished:
*Oil change and tuneup
*Eye exam and picked out new glasses
*Car inspection
*Banking
*Cleaned the kitchen really well
*Took old clothes to St Vincent dePaul
*Set up new computer
*Bought new tv (the girls set it up)
*Shopping trip with son for items for his new apartment
*Two trips to the transfer station
*Shopped for dress to wear to wedding
*Engraved 2 jobs & delivered both
*Cleaned the clothes closet & gave away a lot of stuff
*Scrubbed the bathrooms sterile
The fun things I accomplished:
*Went out to eat with Son, GF & friend
*Went to dinner w sister & friend after dress shopping
*Visited a friend for a jewelry consult
*Had an ice cream soda at Friendly's
*Took friend to visit some of her cousins, who were delightful to meet
*Played Bejeweled so much my hands ache
*Saw Star Trek again n the big screen with son & fiance & friend
*Cooked a spinach lasagna
*Made a vat of chili with rice & corn bread
*Made a vat of pasta
We watched a real lot of HGTV, but also saw lots of movies, both on TV and DVD, including:
*My Big Fat Greek Wedding (again)
*Pursuit of Happyness
*Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
*The Color Purple (again)
*Night at the Museum (again)
*Harold and Maude (after many many years!)
*Young Frankenstein (after many many years!)
*Intolerable Cruelty
It doesn't look very restful, does it? And I still didn't finish vaccuming.
Tomorrow I start a new chapter in life. I look forward to it!

Expecto Finalum!

We saw the new Harry Potter movie at the IMAX the other night- the last 15 minutes were in 3-D. Nothing like a Voldemort spell heading right for your face to make you feel like you're truly living the high life. It was everything it was cracked up to be. My only disappointment; to save time, they change the plot slightly. It wasn't necessary, and could have been avoided. I dislike when they take license and change a plot point just because they can. Also- the Weasley's fireworks should have been 3-D. They were awesome!
I've been happy thinking Harry thoughts and matching up the pictures in my head with the pictures on the screen. My head is usually better, but the HP movies have done great justice.
I posted some thoughts about discussions Kate and I have had about the coming book and Kate has been very insistent that Harry is himself a Horcrux.

If you enjoy these speculations, you MUST visit this blogsite and read this excellent monologue (or rant if you will) on what will happen in Deathly Hallows. This guy is an acquaintance of Kate's from college, and he apparently majored in philosophy. He puts the hero saga dynamics into words much more glibly than my feeble keyboard (with no letters except q and z because I have typed all the rest of them off) could ever do. This guy John is an excellent writer (I have mentally corrected his grammar and wonder why "snuck" bothers me so much less than "pled" and "dived") and I look forward to reading more of his rants in future. ENJOY!!! I know I did!

http://thisisby.us/index.php/content/expecto_finalum

MEMES

The Most Random Questions Ever:
1) What side of the heart do you draw first? Left
2) Can you dive without plugging your nose? I can dive without plugging it but cannot swim without plugging it.
3) What color is your razor? Blue
4) What is your blood-type? O+
5) Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours? Nobody.
7) How do you feel about carrots? Have you ever seen a rabbit with glasses?
8) How many chairs at the dining room table? I have six at the one I keep set up but I also have a mahogany table; the chairs need refinishing/re-glueing.
9) Which is the best Spice Girl? They sucked.
10) Do you know what time it is? Apparently 1:49 EST In my world, it’s Sunday afternoon and that is good enough for me.
12) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator? Push the button, yell and settle in to play Bejeweled on my PDA.
13) What's your favorite kind of gum? I don’t chew gum. I have too many fillings. I like Beechies tho.
14) T or F: All's fair in love and war? Nothings fair and both suck.
15) Do you have a crush on anyone? I am too old for crushes. Who made this up, some kid in 6th grade?
16) Do you use words that you don't know the meaning to? There are very few words I don’t know the meaning to. In English at any rate. I can also spell them correctly most of the time.
17) Do you like to sleep? Sleeping is my favourite hobby. I almost can’t wait til I’m dead so I can sleep a real lot.
18) Do you know which US states don't use Daylight Savings? I’m cheating because I saw this but HI and AZ. Personally I don’t understand why they don’t just leave things on DST. I hate switching.
19) Do you know the song Total Eclipse of the Heart? OK make that a sixth grader in 1985.
20) Do you want a bright yellow '06 mustang? No. I want a sturdy dependable car that goes in all kinds of weather, never breaks down and is a dull color so no one wants to steal it. And gets 100 miles to a gallon. And runs on leftovers.
21) What's something you've always wanted? To live in Ireland.
23) What does "Semper Fidelis" stand for? Always faithful. Strikes me as an odd military motto for people they call “jarheads”.
24) Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake? Ocean. But I hate jellyfish. I love waves. And the smell. Except Fort Point Channel, especially at low tide.
25) Do you wear a lot of black? Yes. I am trying to improve that, but I feel it minimizes and goes with everything. It’s always in fashion. But I hate looking like I am perpetually going to a wake. Especially since, the older I get, the amount of wakes I go to increases yearly.
26) Describe your hair. Dark brown with a few silver streaks. Bangs I cut myself and long enough to put into a pony tail. Still gets wavy in humidity. I used to have blonde curls when I was little. I could still have blonde curls, but I don’t want to pay for them and maintain them.
27) Do you have Entomophobia? Well, not a phobia- I can kill a nasty bug if I have to. But I prefer to scream and get one of my kids to kill it for me. I do hate bugs tho, especially spiders. And mosquitoes. But fireflies and ladybugs are cool. Never did like dragonflies tho.
28) Are you an adult? When it suits my purposes.
29) Who is/are your best friend(s)? My sister first and foremost. My daughter and my niece. Ros, Melissa, Joan, Gail, Sue, Heidi, Lynne, Thelma, Bonnie, Dorry, Melissa.
30) Do you have a tan? No. Haven’t had a tan in ages. Need to rectify that.
32) Do you enjoy spending time with your mother? Not in hospital waiting rooms listening to her fart.
33) Are you a sugar freak? I am a jellybeanoholoc.
34) Do you like orange juice? Yes and I should drink it more.
35) What sign are you? Clearance, followed by 75% off, 60% off and 50% off. (I love the thrill of the hunt.) Also Virgo with Gemini rising, moon in Gemini.
36) Where do you wish you were right now? Being handed my perfect NAPLEX results on a beach in Ireland. How’s that for a fantasy?
37) Who did you copy this from? Kate- who else does these things?
38) How do you know them? I gave birth to her about 28 years ago. It was a good move on my part.
39) Have you kissed anyone in the past week? All three of my cats. Two of them seemed to enjoy it.
40) What are your plans for the weekend? Well, I had planned to file all my therapeutics notes, do my taxes, engrave some stuff and rake the garden. Basically I watched some old movies on tv and ate jellybeans and ice cream because my last school break ever ends tomorrow. *Sigh*

MOVIE MEME
1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times. Braveheart, Princess Bride, Dogma, Rocky Horror and all the Harry Potters and LOTR.
2. Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. Harry Potter and Chamber of Fire. Oh and ALL the Marx Brothers movies- they used to do marathon shows for five bucks and we’d watch them all day. And Rocky Horror.
3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. Mel Gibson. Brendan Fraser- cute and funny. Kevin Smith- clever and twisty.
4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. John Waters- creepy nasty. Sylvester Stallone- duuuh. Jerry Stiller- whiny. Bruce Willis- macho movies with shooting and explosions- eh.
5. Name a movie you can and do quote from. Princess Bride. “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
6. Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Let’s start at the very beginning…OK seriously? Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Annie, My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The list of plays is longer- Phantom, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Godspell, Les Miserables, Tommy, Cats, Hair: many more. My family worked in theatre. So did I, in college. I got to see opera for nuthin AND I got time and a half.:)
6. Name a movie you have been known to sing along with. This is a redundant question, n’est-ce pas? Sound of Music. Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Annie, My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
7. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see. Sound of Music. Everyone can find something in it I guess. Adults- Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Quest For Fire. Those two teach us things about how we communicate.
8. Name a movie you own. All the LOTR, Harry Potters and Quest For Fire, Young Frankenstein. And a huge cabinet of pre-DVD VCR tapes too.
9. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. LL Cool J. Toys with Robin Williams and Joan Cusack blew me away.

10. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? Oh yeah, lots- Neponset Drive-In was a big hit for huge Irish families with one car. My fave- as a teen, we saw Blazing Saddles.
11. Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet. Clerks. I went to watch Dan’s DVD of it over my spring break, and he had inadvertently put a porn DVD in the jewel case. I think Kevin Smith would have enjoyed that. (“Mom, where’s my porn?”)
12. Ever walked out of a movie? No. Then again, I didn’t pay for most of the movies I have seen (helps to have family working in theatre chains!).
13. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. The Rose. Bette Midler rocks.
14. Popcorn? Nope. Bring my own JellyBellys.
15. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? Once a year or so. Whenever a LOTR or Harry Potter comes out.
16. What's the last movie you saw in a movie theater? Well we were supposed to be seeing Prairie Home Companion but the newspaper lied and it was Devil Wears Prada.
17. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? I like comedy but not too stupid. I like drama as well.
18. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? I dunno.
19. What movie do you wish you had never seen? Poltergeist. I had nightmares for weeks about the bodies popping up in the pool.
20. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? Rocky Horror. You just can’t explain it, you have to see it. And you either love it or hate it, no in-between.
21. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen? Poltergeist. Sixth Sense scared me the first time but I found it so incredibly intriguing and poignant.
22. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen? History of the World Part 1. I adore Mel Brooks.