SNL - The Last Gasp?

It's not a regular occurance for me to watch SNL, but Dane Cook was on. I decided I could set aside a small portion of time to put a little more oomph into my worship of the man. His monologue was awesome - as could only be expected. Unfortunately, his monologue was probably the best part of the show. Amy Poehler does an excellent job for the majority of the time, and the others have their moments, but I'm sad to say the show isn't funny. It's been in decline for years now, everyone speaks of it, we all just seem to wait for it to die. It's an institution though, and I'm not sure if it ever will. But will it ever get back the funny? Sigh. Who knows. I wish it luck though. And don't think that if I live in New York I'll be anything but joyous to go to a show. Anywho, laters.

Theatre Pictures

This summer I watched Taming of the Shrew multiple times. Now, the pictures Mrs. Bond took are up online. There's an exciting number of Patrick photos! Ahh the memories evoked, good show.
You too can see them! Click here.

In other theatre news, the show's illustrious director was in a show at his university. A picture for you and also a "review".

Cycle

Why am I not asleep?
Because I'm not really tired.
Why am I not tired?
Because I didn't really do anything today.
Why didn't you do anything?
Because I wasn't really awake.
Why weren't you awake?
Because I didn't really sleep.
Why didn't you sleep?........

Vicious? Certainly

Countdown...

I'd like to draw your attention to the sidebar on the right. Okay, now down a little. A little more. Almost there. Good. That's my official countdown clock, just like it says.
I'd really like that clock to go a bit faster, skip some days too every once in a while perhaps.

If I altered it technically to do such a thing, would I start to believe it was correct? Would I bail on reality for fantasy out of my sheer overwhelming desire to do so?

Update: It seems that the last two years of Bush torture might not be quite so torturous and depressing as the could be.

Pictures Galore

Yes I have many pictures. I even have many other people's pictures. I've burnt a DVD to back them all up, and now I'm posting them all over the web because putting them all up on my blog is... just too much I think.
So, I give you links to many pictures. Here.
On Flickr
Or you may alternately Google it, then search people for ~allie
On Picasa

I'm not done, there will be more.
Enjoy!

Article - Librarian vs. Internet

A good article on the current role of librarians in a Google world.
Most reliable search tool could be your librarian

I was actually addressing this issue in my Statement of Purpose (which is so far still highly disorganized and not nearly coherent enough to send in) and I'm thrilled to find this supporting info around.

Also, if anyone was pondering deeply whether or not to read The Conspiracy Club by Jonathan Kellerman, I'd like to tip you over the fence in favor of it. Even if it did keep me up far too late last night.

Spaceballs

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mel Brooks, whose comedy hits include "The Producers" and "Blazing Saddles," is bringing his sci-fi spoof "Spaceballs" to television in cartoon form.

"Spaceballs: The Animated Series" will air on the G4 television network beginning next fall, it was announced Wednesday.

The 1987 film, which starred Brooks, Rick Moranis and John Candy, parodied "Star Wars" and other sci-fi movies. The new animated version will poke fun at blockbuster movies, reality TV, politics and pop culture.

Brooks, 80, will write the pilot episode and voice two of the
show's characters.

First of all - YAY! Second - Mel Brooks is 80?!? Good for him! Third - I used to be very out of it, and certainly I wasn't a Star Wars fan, so for a very long time, I thought I liked Star Wars, when really I liked Spaceballs. Still a Spaceballs fan, still not quite a Star Wars fan in the sense that the movie would be watched repeatedly (though Harrison Ford was quite sexy), and especially not the new ones. Star Trek can just forget it.

Happy Birthday Mummy!!

My mom is 52 today! She still has some sexy legs.
Later we'll go out to Austin for dinner and music, plus a little shopping.

Today is also the rebirth of my blog. I was tinkering with it... and then I decided it needed a very big change. Sorry about the colors of my past blog entries, I haven't been able to change them all yet so many clash. Enjoy!

Weird Al

Oh, it's been a while since Weird Al has shown up on my radar, but he's back again.
White and Nerdy is his new song/video. Click. Watch.

I really appreciate the Segway and the truly geeky internet legend Star Wars practice.

Applications Progress

I know nobody's really interested in all the details of this stuff, but I keep hoping if I write it down, my mind will stop its overdrive and angst and let me sleep.
So! I've submitted two online applications - Pratt Institute and San Jose State University - which need to be completed with mailed packets containing my transcripts, letters of reference, statement of purpose, and resume. All of my letters of reference (thank you to some very kind and wonderful people) and my transcripts are on their way, my statement of purpose is my main focus currently, and I need some slight editing to my CV.
So I'll complete these two soon, and go on to contemplate if I want to apply to the other two schools still on my list - Rhode Island University and Queens College. They have later application dates, so I can dither a while longer.
Mmm writing it down hasn't really shared but I'm not going to delete it either. I'm still in need of sleep, so I'm off to try again.
Laters.

Decisions and Some Humour

I've made a final decision of going to grad school. I'm busy getting all my application materials together now. A bit stressful and encourages a constantly recurring checklist to pop up in my thoughts.
As for the humour, a while back in pursuit of the PATRIOT Act, the FBI used the phrase "radical militant librarians" - i.e. the ones who maintained the privacy of the patrons and refused to give the FBI lists of what everyone was reading.
There are several sites offering shirts, mugs, bags, pins, etc. - my favorites are here and here, featuring the images shown above.

Update on My Neighbor

Mrs. Davidson is okay. We didn't get around to breaking into her house either.
Sometime yesterday Sally the neighbor called for my mother and passed on the information that Mrs. D was still alive. She confused the issue by saying something along the lines her having some trouble and getting tangled up and maybe falling down in her garage. I just assume I'll get a more complete story on it later.
Just in case anyone was concerned...

Fast-Forwarding iPod

After almost 10 months of iPod ownership, I've finally learned how to fast-forward through songs.
About time.
Now I can love my iPod even more!
:)

For those of you still in the dark - Hit the middle button while a song is playing and your volume bar will switch to a diamond and you can circle-scroll through the song - fast forward or rewind. Hit the middle button again to go back to volume. *Special bonus: Hit the middle button twice and you can rate the song (1 to 5 stars).

City of Jello

One of the random things I have found on the internet that brightens my day.
The rest of the pictures are here.
Don't forget to watch the earthquake simulation!

Git Up Barn!

Today I went to a barn raising.
Ok, not quite, I went to the party with the food and music after the barn was completed.
Ok, the barn the wasn't quite finished.
But there was food and music and a half-built barn!
A quintet with two banjos, a guitar, a fiddle, and a mandolin.
Loads of food. I think they'll have leftovers for the next day of working on the barn.
A pretty nice barn outline. Solidly built, it had cross beams for support and lots of nice window spaces.
Sadly, no barn equated to no barn dance.
With eye contact and a smile across the food area, I encouraged the most awkward of introductions ever.
An odd collection of people, part hippie, part hick. Most of them seemed a bit off to me.

Though the days are still in the 90s, a front came through and brought storms (hence the unfinished barn) and chilly weather.
Some very threatening lightning gave us an excuse to leave.

Old People

There comes a time in every small village that closely resembles a retirement community due to the overwhelming number of old people when you must walk across the street with your mother to check and see that your neighbor hasn't fallen down and broken something and needs your help. For me, today was that day.
My long-time neighbor Mrs. Davidson hasn't contacted anyone for a few days and didn't leave notice with any of the neighbors that she would be out of town. Yesterday we got a call from Sally, the barely mobile woman next door, who was concerned that she couldn't contact Mrs. Davidson. So my mother watched the house and noticed the total lack of movement and decided to check out the house. Not alone of course, she took me with her.
We circled the house, found her car was there, everything locked up tight. We even toured the house next door, curious to find it utterly open (my mother says she hopes for a cleaning crew because it's badly in need of one). The car worries my mother but somehow it came out that Mrs. Davidson's mail is being picked up, so we figured that meant she was away. She does have a sliding glass door that we could use to break into the house. She also may have an alarm system. We're thinking about it.

100th Post

This shall be my 100th post. How exciting!

In other non-news, I'm going through my toy chest and getting rid of stuff. Toy chests are dangerous things - you can spend hours sorting, playing, getting reacquainted. Also, your cat can take your old toys as his new toys. The joy of ripping to shreds an old pom-pom by the cat should not be underestimated, nor the endless hours of entertainment by attacking a gooey ball. The majority of the space is taken up by my collection of American Girl dolls and accessories, which I plan to sell on ebay.
Wave bye-bye to the tea sets, the recorders, and anything the cat takes a fancy to.

Yet a did find an old paint-by number, a useless and shunned pasttime.....
Perhaps I'll do another soon. I recall nothing but joy while doing it, only sadness that everyone laughed at me. Well, I'm grown-up now, and I'm going to enjoy my paint-by-numbers, and you can all just be quiet about it. :P

:D Laters

Blurbs

If you wrote a book, why would you have someone else write the blurb? It seems to me that you would wish it to be strictly done by yourself. What if someone likes the style of the blurb, which is so very far from your style that the reader doesn't enjoy it? (This has happened to me of course.) Wouldn't you wish the blurb to be in the style of the book, and wouldn't you wish to talk about the main points of your book yourself?
Oh well, I suppose they rarely have a choice these days with the publishing industry.

Any of you who have free time and are a bit (or very) creepy can check out the accidentally posted searches of AOL users.
This link has some funny ones compiled for you already -

http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=4016

And this link lets you search all of them -

http://www.aolstalker.com/

Enjoy!

My New Task

So, back in Wimberley, still trying to decide what to do with my life, my mother has given me a task to do. She has a box of records, formerly in the attic, that she now wishes destroyed, by shredding in particular. There are bank statements, credit card statements, receipts, old checks (lots of these), medical records, tax records, anything and everything which my mother thought to save and most with personal information. These records go back to the beginning of 1988, when we lived in Oklahoma.
I accepted my mission actually glad to have something to do, and then my mother started to tell me all the guidelines. Oops.
The box was in the attic and there is no telling what it contains, so she doesn't want it in the house. The shredder is almost worthless, overheating after 10 minutes and making this an ongoing project instead of a day of shredding frenzy.
So I'm in and out of the garage all day, sorting through 18 years of paper stuffed into the overcrowded box, finding spiders, unnamed bugs, mud nests.
But I have my ipod, and occasionally a cat or two. Meh. I would have preferred a fire, though I still have dreams of a shredding frenzy.....

Update: I cannot believe this woman kept all her receipts. It's interesting that for the moment I think about stores in a different way - for example, I'm liking the stores that do NOT use staples and also insist on putting credit card numbers on everything.

Just Think About It....

So if you live in cold climes, you get to have a lot of body fat to survive - like the Inuits (or Eskimos for the unintiated). Is the reverse true? If you live in a hot climate will your body type be skinny?
Looking at Africans (and ignoring many other correlations and important data), I say YES!
Therefore, yay global warming.
Duchess of Windsor - "One can never be too thin or too rich."
I think Republicans should tap into this. Judging by the gazillion dollar diet industry, you can be assured they'd have lots of fans. Add in the business and environmental practices that enhance global warming, more support (well, continued support). Plus all the fans of the Left Behind series waiting for the Apocolypse. I don't see how it could go wrong.
So my message to Republicans - Acknowledge global warming, take credit for it, tell people the benefits, and assure them you'll do everything in your power to increase it. Call it open government if you will. :)

Story?

For some reason, twelve hours of travelling followed by twelve hours of sleep make my mind insist I write down the stories that develop in my head. As I wrote it down, I'll go ahead and let you read it. :)

The wives of the late Sultan sat chattering at one another and themselves. Communication between them had never been optimal because one was always jealous of the others, and they had often been kept separated in their own quarters unless there was a grand party, ceremony, or public event where the Sultan enjoying showing his many wives.
They were convened in the great feasting hall, called to a meeting by the Prince. The Sultan had been dead for less than 24 hours and the women were desparate to know what would happen next and what to do.
The Prince breezed into the room, his power complete and on a mission to make the women cough up the information he needed. "Good evening ladies" he shmoozed," I'm glad to see you could all make it."
Several of the women squirmed in their seats and a few seemed charmed. The Prince had looked them directly in the eye. Some were still uncertain of whether to divert their eyes in respect or meet his gaze.
"Now," he continued, "I have some information here that states you should all gather and discuss the send-off of your Sultan. Apparently he gave each of you part of the plan, and upon his death, wished you all to get together and discover what his full plan was and prepare for it."
Each of the women knew this was true, except one, the youngest. "Excuse me," piped up Flora, looking so childlike when forced to speak up in front of all the women she feared and the demanding presence of the Prince, "but the only instructions he gave me were not to ever speak with all the wives together. He became more and more insistent on this near the end, and I fear though you have ordered it, I must still respect his instructions for me and leave." She rose tentatively from her chair, still looking for permisssion for her stated mission and wondering what she would do if challenged.
The Prince acquiesced easily, soothing her by stating "Well, if he did not give you a piece of the plan, then we shall not miss it. I am glad you take the orders of the Sultan even in death my child."
The wives, who had started to murmer midway through his response in a disgruntled fashion, looked ready to voice their dissent. But the task of speaking lay upon the first wife, who knew the importance of following all the Sultan's orders. "Indeed my dear," she said coldly,"perhaps the Sultan did not want you involved with his last ceremony at all", cutting Flora deeply to the core with shame and dismissing her.
The first wife looked around at the others after Flora had managed to stumble out the door. She had also burst into tears, the sobs of which could still be heard as they echoed down the halls of the palace to the feasting hall. Over these echoes, the first wife - steel in her voice - politely inquired whether any of the other wives had had such instructions. The denials were prompt, and included all.
"Good," said the Prince, taking control again of the meeting. "Now why don't we go one by one, in the order of wives, of what his wishes were for his final ceremony. I'll write it all down and we'll figure out exactly what he wanted."

"He wants us to wear the outfits from the day we married him."
"He wants there to be no red eyes from crying."
"He doesn't want any children or heirs there, only wives."
"He wants a great fete in the ballroom."
"He says we should dance and feast through the night until dawn."
"At dawn, he wants us to remove to the ballroom balcony."
"He wants us to leap in joy."
"And fall in mourning."
"He wants us to end in the royal garden beneath the ballroom balcony."
"He wants us to be as one with him."
"He wants us to be at peace."

A silence fell as the wives took in the information. None of them were dim-witted and they all knew what the sultan wanted from his last hurrah; he wanted the lives of his wives.
A small voice from the far end of the table asked "Do you think he told Flora his whole plan and she lied to get out of it?"
The first wife, knowing no other way but intimidation and hurt to deal with subsequent wives after all these years, crushed into their emotions by stating, "No, certainly, perhaps he just loved her best and didn't want her to die."
The silence returned to the room.
They had many preparations to make.

Happenings

Several things are starting to happen right now, and I'm pretty excited about them.

I'm beginning to study and read my French books because you need to have mastered at least one foreign language for your grad school to be happy. I do enjoy la langue francais.

I went shopping yesterday and am hopefully on the way to replacing my wardrobe. My most notable purchase was some spiffy shoes that make me feel like I'm walking in a bouncy castle. They are however, very white, with some very bright pink. This might be changed.

I'm going to be in New York from September 6th to 13th to visit two schools, visit my friend, and play in the big city to see if it's where I want to be. I need to pack and I'm certainly excited.

Labor Day weekend is coming and with it the Triple A act! It will be good to see them again, even though I must also attend a meal at the Riverhouse with the in-laws. It can't be that bad, right? The things that must be done for peaceful family relations. Since they're coming, I must clean and organize my room though, as it's the guest room. To that end, I must go now.

If I don't update, Happy Labor Day everyone!