Monday, March 30, 2009
Happy Birthday to Me...
I had my alarm set for 8:00 this morning to get up for church, but, as always, I hit the snooze a good two or three times. The third time, I noticed I could hear the rain...but I had been hearing the rain earlier -- just outside. This time it sounded like it was coming from inside. My mom and I had fallen asleep downstairs, so I (from the loveseat) called over to her on the couch: "Mom. Mom, wake up. Do you hear that?"
"Yeah, it's raining."
"No, I know. But something isn't right...it sounds like it's raining in here."
"Someone probably just left the window open; it's probably hitting the windowsill."
"No, Mom, you don't hear that? I'm saying it sounds like it's raining in the living room!"
*stops and listens* "Oh. Wow. Yeah..." *looks up* "OH MY GOSH, IT IS RAINING IN THE LIVING ROOM!"
And that's how the day started. I came downstairs to see my dad had stationed two buckets and a small pot under the three major drippy areas. He went outside later that morning and determined the leak to be a result of a bent-up shingle. ALL THAT FOR ONE FREAKING SHINGLE. So hopefully we'll get that fixed before the infamous "April showers" we're likely to be getting within the next couple days. [yikes]
Otherwise though, great birthday. Not one of those milestone ones like 16, 18, or (in the future) 21, but hey, I can't complain. After church I was able to take a nice nap, then headed out to get my free coffee that Caribou owed me. Turned out that I could make it ANY drink of ANY size. So naturally I got the biggest thing they offered, a large, of my favorite specialty drink - the white chocolate mocha. Ordinarily, I get it skim, but today I got it soy since it was free (HA! Cuz there's no way I'm spending an extra 35¢ on a drink just to make it soy). After that, we (my mom and I visited the Old Navy that was nearby. I, being the moron that I am at times, forgot to bring along the gift card that I got in the mail from my cousin, so all I could do was look around. Still, we had a good time. On the way back, we stopped at a local DQ to pick up my ice cream cake (my favorite). I told my mom that I wanted to pick what was written on the cake, and she agreed; but when I asked if I could get "Happy Birthday, you sexy thang," she said no. She also turned down "Happy One Year Away from Being Legal" and "Happy Birthday to the Awesome Daughter." Not sure why... :-)
So we had pizza for dinner, ice cream cake and coffee for dessert. I got (apart from some $) a green PINK tote, a pair of layered butterfly earrings, a v-neck Tink tshirt, and [GASP!] the first season DVD of my all-time favorite TV show. I also got this really cool homemade crown that said "Princess Sammi" on the front and "--> I'M AWESOME <--" on the back, but I gave myself that gift, so I guess that doesn't count. After gift opening, we played a few rounds of Catch Phrase, which is hilarious with my family. I've got two nearly deaf grandfathers and a grandma who can't help but spell the word out under her breath if you don't catch on fast enough - it's always so much fun. We walk away with so many inside jokes after every time we play it.
So now that I've walked Max, it's time to look for that episode of "Lie to Me" that I missed last-last Wednesday...thank God for Hulu.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Quote of the Day:
Ali: I hate them. They’re so dumb. And Harry Osbourne is so creepy!
Me: Uh, Al? Harry Osborn is from Spiderman. And he was played by James Franco who is so NOT creepy. I think you meant…
Ali: Oh, yeah, right. I meant Jimmy. Jimmy Osbourne.
Me: Ali? It’s OZZY.
Ali: Oh.
Close, Ali. Very close.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
T-SHIRTS!
check out this awesome tshirt site: Rethink Clothing.
I love t-shirts. In fact, I think I may have too many of them. There are just so many good ones out there though, you know? Band tees, funny tees, cute-tees (pun intended), team tees (especially Pitt!)...the list goes on and on.
It was only today that I realized just how many t-shirt websites I like to visit. Here's the short list:
Anyway, tees are awesome. This is the one I most recently would die for: the Three-Eyed Owl.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Dream a Little Dream of Me...
Since Friday, I've been having moderate to freaking-awful pain in my right ear (and some in my left ear). Consequently, I had been taking copious amounts of Ibuprofen and lots of naps (to take my mind off the ache). The combination of the two resulted in, I'm not gonna lie, some majorly trippy dreams, one of which involved me (as some kind of operative for a secret in-the-know organization) being assigned the job of disabling a giant machine designed by the Priceline Negotiator (aka, William Shatner). He was, apparently, planning on overthrowing the U.S. government with his negotiating skilz with his next step being to destroy other nations with this machine he had built (which was coincidentally being stored behind a stage on which he was giving a big pep rally for his cause). So I was given orders to scale the gigantic hunk of metal and you know, clip all the right wires and whatnot, but for whatever reason, in my dream, I accidentally knocked one of the pieces off? And it fell into what very much resembled the Reflecting Pool by the Lincoln Memorial in DC? And nobody there seemed to notice or hear it? Yeah, strange....either way though, I got the job done and looked really cool doing it.
There were other strange dreams, but it would take a long time to post them all. So instead, I wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day and enjoy this hilarious YouTube video done by one of my favorite "kid" stars, "Fred."
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Frog Prince
It reminded me of an old boyfriend for whom I assembled a scrapbook. Some of the themes included the whole frog prince/knight in shining armor plus princess concept, and I had the cutest sticker collection that I bought for it of these frog princes/knights/princesses portrayed by little cartoon kids. It was adorable. But when I think about it anymore, a feeling of anger follows a smile. Guess that's what happens.
An old fairytale told me
The simple heart will be prized again
A toad will be our king
And ugly ogres our heroesThen you'll shake
Your fist at the sky
"Oh why did I rely
On fashions and small fry?"All promises broken
Feed your people or lose your throne
And forfeit your whole kingdom
I'd sooner lose it than still live in it aloneYour prince's crown
Cracks and falls down
Your castle hollow and cold
You've wandered so far
From the person you are
Let go brother, let go
'Cause now we all knowSoon, someone will put a spell on you
Perfume, treasure, sorcery, every trick they know
You will lie in a deep sleep
That's when...Your prince's crown
Cracks and falls down
Your castle hollow and cold
You've wandered so far
From the person you are
Let go brother, let go
'Cause now we all know
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Happy Spring Break to me...
Lastly, I find a similarity in the use of evocative names by both authors, whether it be blatantly intentional (like Pynchon) or perhaps not intentional at all (like Hawthorne), though we don’t know. In Pynchon’s work, the mailing system “W.A.S.T.E” is in fact a “waste” of time since only a few people actually know of it and because its users are required to deliver mail once a week even if they have nothing to say. The main character’s name is “Oedipa,” which is strikingly similar to Sophocles’ character “Oedipus,” a Theban king whose curiosity got the best of him when he dug too deep trying to find answers to a crime which turned out to be one of his own. His unearthing of the information drives him mad; likewise, Oedipa feels as though she either is going insane or perhaps already is insane by the end of her story. Her doctor, Dr. Hilarious, lives up to his surname as he does, in fact, go insane by the end of the book. The Crying of Lot 49 is rife with sexual references, and Pynchon does not limit the boundaries of said references. Oedipa’s husband Mucho’s radio station, for example, is named “KCUF,” which if read backwards, spells out a vulgar word. Mike Fallopian’s last name is an obvious reference to a part of a woman’s anatomy. Professor Dribelette, whose last name resembles the word “dribble,” is a weak character that gives information to Oedipa in spurts, much like the meaning of “dribble,” a weak, unsteady stream of saliva. Stanley Koteks shares his last name with a brand of feminine supplies. John Nefastis’ last name is fairly close to the word “nefarious,” which means “extremely wicked” – a definition I think I would happily apply to the man after he tried to force Oedipa to have sex with him. The list could obviously go on and on; there is a trick to each character’s name. In The Scarlet Letter, however, I only found a few. Hester, I noticed, is very close to the name “Esther,” a Biblical heroin, if you merely move the “h” down between the “t” and the “e.” Since Hester is the heroin of this story, I feel this to be a possible play on the name. Her husband, who decided to take on the alias name “Chillingworth,” did do his share of “chilling” the other main characters of the book, and even the townspeople since they soon were fearful of him and thought he was the devil. Dimmesdale’s name – who, if you take the first three letters of his name, you get “dim” – seems to suggest his “dimness” or weakness (physically, emotionally, etc.). Finally, there is Hester’s daughter Pearl whose name we know to be intentionally symbolic from Hester who named her thus because she was her only treasure. I also see a subtle Biblical reference in Pearl’s name that evokes allegorical device—the “pearl of great price” used in relation to Christ purchasing us on the Cross, or salvation.
In conclusion, I would like to clarify that not everything I have stated is solid fact; much of it is opinion. Yet I feel that much of the purpose of symbolism is that the reader is to take it in and decide for himself whether or not there is more to it than just its surface meaning. In both stories cases, I believe the authors have done just that: wrote riveting works that serve as excellent works of literature for both audiences – those who take the text at face value, and those who like to read between the lines.
Pynchon, Thomas. Crying of Lot 49. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.
(PS: Posting this, I didn't feel like going through and re-italicizing everything, so you can just imagine it to be there since it didn't copy over.)