He Must Be Stopped

"Who?" you ask. "Leonardo di Caprio," I answer.
He must be stopped from making movies. If he continues, I stand the grave risk of actually liking him as an actor, AND thinking that he's good-looking. He might even get a place on my column of fame. See what I mean?! He has to be stopped! First I saw him in The Departed, and he rocked. And then last night, I saw him in Blood Diamond, and I seriously digged the whole accent thing. Actually, I liked the entire package. And that's why he must be stopped. Capiche?

Sweeney Todd: Revisited

Not that I have anything new to say this time around. This weekend, Sweeney Todd was playing at the Campus Cinema, so Rebecca and I decided to go see it again. Still loved it. Who knew Johnny Depp could sing...and sing well he does. Very well. Very, very well. He's got a sort of soulful, hard-rock intensity in his voice - it's amazing. Normally, when I hear good music, I have the strong urge to sing along (although I can't carry a tune), but when Johnny Depp sings, I listen. He definitely stole the show from his co-stars, and I think he deserved his Oscar nod, if not the Oscar itself. But apart from the stellar singing, the gore made me cringe. Me. I think I have a pretty strong stomach. I could study images of cadavers while I eat lunch (and I have), but even I had to turn my head at some of those scenes. Sweeney's cup runneth over, and it runneth over with blood. Not that my appetite was affected. Right now, I've just finished a delightful, microwave chicken pot pie. Mmmm.

New Chapter

I finally updated my story...Chapter 20 is up, and it's now almost 70,000 words long! And I've almost got 10,000 hits!

Charleston Pics!

2AM and I'm awake!

It's 2-frickin'-AM and I'm still working on my Biotech Lab Report. Still! I've been at it for hours. Well, only two hours thus far tonight - I spent a lot of time on my French paper, and then I spent even more time on some fun things I wanted to do, like wrapping a birthday present creatively. I loooooove scotch tape. I love packaging tape too. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Back to work, maybe I'll be done by 4AM...

Woohoo - I love Easter Break!

I'm going to Charleston on Thursday! Yay!

I'm proud of myself for working a fine bit of finagling today; I managed to reschedule all of my tutees so that I don't have to tutor Thursday night or Friday. I bought candy for my tutees to sweeten the deal, and it worked. So now, Becca and I can leave on Thursday just as soon as I get out of my Anatomy Lab, which should be close to 4pm. I'm excited to be making such a big trip, especially two weeks after I got my license. I've already burned a new CD, this one with an eclectic combination of Elton John, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, and some other popular songs by lesser known artists. I'd burn another, but I'm out of CDs. No matter. I can't wait for Thursday!

Now, let me finish my beer and get into my new book while the special on John Adams airs in the background. Nighty night!

Oh, and what do you think of this? "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."

A movie-filled weekend

Hmm...I haven't posted anything of note in a while, but thanks for reading anyway! What have I been up to? Well, I had an exam last Thursday in my human anatomy class. I was in the library until 2AM the night before the exam, but I think I did fine. On Friday, I went to blockbuster and rented three movies I've wanted to see for a while: The Queen, The Fountain, and Becoming Jane. All three were very good. I think I liked The Queen the best, although Becoming Jane would have been much better if I hadn't known how it ended simply by having been acquainted with Jane Austen's works and history beforehand. The Fountain was strange, but visually and emotionally stirring. After I rented those movies, I went to Old Navy and bought a few shirts, and then I went to Barnes and Nobles and spent a while there. You have to understand - when I walk into a bookstore, I don't ever want to leave. Ever. I bought several books, and then went back to school. That night, I saw No Country For Old Men at the Campus Cinema, and I have to say that that movie deserved the Best Picture Oscar. It was amazing, especially Javier Bardem...mmmmm, he was something special. The next day, I went to Crossroads Plaza to go shopping at the Target there, and then to see Penelope at 5:40. I found the cinema first, and then I found Target, but I could not find the way to get to Target. I must have driven in a loop around Cary three times before I finally made it to Target. I only had a few minutes to look at the clothes before the movie started, so I found a few things and set them aside somewhere where no one would disturb them, and then found my way back to the cinema. I got a front row parking space and made it to the movie with a large Coca-cola slushie, which lasted me about ten minutes, which is a record for me and coca-cola slushies. Penelope was awesome! It has a stellar cast and a wonderful story; it's a fairy tale, so it's got a sort of moral at the end, and I have to say that this moral is perfect for today's generation; for any generation for that matter. Anyway, James McAvoy was seriously HOT in that movie; really really hot. He was good in Becoming Jane, but he was HOT in Penelope. Get the point? Anyway, after the movie, I went back to Target, in the pouring, storming rain and made a dozen or so illegal maneuvers, but I made it to Target, got my clothes, and then went to cookout, got some dinner, and then came back to the room to watch Becoming Jane, and then Twelfth Night, and then Emma, and then The Good Shepherd. That's a lot of movies, and I didn't finish them until about 6:30 this morning, but it was worth it. I woke up around three this afternoon, did some homework, and then got to work on my story. I just reached 3,ooo words on this latest chapter, so I'm about halfway done. The meat of the chapter is still to come, so I've still got work to do, but now, I'm going to sleep. Night!

Pictures!

Spring Break Blues

It's been a wonderful week and I'm sad to see it end. Tomorrow, Becca and I have to go back to Raleigh, and I've got a ton of homework to do. Ick. I've done nothing here - no school work. The only thing I've worked on is the next chapter of my story (which is coming along nicely). I did get to cook a lot - I made italian pork chops one night and chicken cordon bleu the other night, and I made a lot of bread, and a key lime pie, and a pitcher of ice tea, which I'm pretty sure sat out all night on the counter and isn't any good anymore. Dang it. But I did win at dominoes last night; that was fun. What else is new? Nothing really. I got my drivers license, but it really wasn't a big deal. Becca took me to the DMV (I drove), we waited a bit, I took the test, did fine, and got my license. End of story. I've since driven to Walmart and the Commissary by myself. It's not really all it's cracked up to be, unfortunately. I think I might go down to Charleston, but Kim said there might be a problem with the sleeping arrangements...we'll see. I got sort-of a job offer from AlphaVax - but it's a temporary (6-months) position in development, 40 hours a week, which would be great, but it's temporary, and I need more than that. Besides, I haven't fleshed out my options and I'd rather work in Charleston than Raleigh. Other than that, nothing's new. Still coughing, but I think Becca's sicker than me...not sure if that's a good thing. We've been watching BBC America non-stop - I just love How Clean Is Your House, You Are What You Eat, Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, My Family, and Coupling. I absolutely love Changing Rooms, but that only comes on at 3AM, and I'm not staying up that late, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen or not.

Cough cough ick

Well, I gave in and finally went to the hospital to get over this illness. I coughed so much yesterday that I think I sprained or maybe just strained a muscle in my side, so coughing now is quite painful. But at 5 this morning, cue the coughing. Talk about a rude awakening. So I went to the urgent care clinic on base and waited a while to hear that my cough could last for any number of weeks more. Yay! Not. But I did get three prescriptions - one for an oral antibiotic, one for a daytime cough suppressant, and one for a night-time cough suppressant. I've taken two so far, and one of them made me throw up, so I'm feeling just peachy about them. I haven't thrown up in perhaps ten years - I absolutely hate the feeling - ick!

But hopefully this will all be over soon. Or maybe not. Becca's coughing now!

Viva Spring Break

Yay! Spring break is here! It started later than normal, but that was my fault. I had an appointment with one of the heads of AlphaVax in Research Triangle Park in Durham, so we didn't leave Raleigh until well after six. It wasn't a job interview - it's just the person I met with had a copy of my resume, and he wanted to meet me and to answer any questions I had about job hunts and graduate school. All in all it went well, except for the time when I started coughing and he went and brought me some water, and then the time when I really started coughing and his receptionist brought me several cough drops. But I got a tour of the labs, I learned a lot, and he forwarded my resume on, so we'll see what comes of it.

Becca made me drive to Durham and back, but I was going to drive home anyway, so I can't say she made me drive home. Anyway, we didn't get back until after 9:30, but Dad had made turkey soup for me because I was still sick, and that was wonderful. I am still sick, and it really sucks. I only get sick maybe once every couple of years, so I'm hoping that I'm cashing in for the next ten years or so. We just took a trip down east for a peaceful Sunday drive, but I coughed for most of it, and felt like I was trying to hack up a lung while doing so. But except for the cough and the stuff it produces and the associated sore throat, I'm fine.

I'll update soon, hopefully.