Some Twilight Babbling

I have come to the sad realization that I am an incredibly slow reader.

I didn't post yesterday, as you can tell, because I was reading New Moon! No, my Borders shipment didn't come >.< but I was tired of waiting. I'm not going to have time once school starts next week, so I went to the supermarket and bought the whole series, 25% off each. If I was any less of a lady, I would say, "Screw you, Borders!" but it's really me who's getting screwed over: I'm out 12 bucks and I have less than a week left to read three books. At my rate, I'll be lucky to get through eclipse.

So far, I love the series. It's superficial fluff, which is so much fun to read. There is no depth to Edward or Bella's characters (or their love, for that matter) but I still love reading about them, and I still love Edward. If this was real life, I would think Edward to be arrogant. Oh, well. How many times do you get to use the phrase "sexy vampire" in the real world?

My friend M. and I were talking about how Stephenie Meyer lives vicariously through Bella, uses her as a vehicle to convey her romantic fantasies. Can you picture this coming up in a fight between her and her husband? They get a little angry with each other, and he impulsively blurts out, "Well, I guess I'm no vampire!" I can totally picture this. I'm sure he's considered this theory of "the Bella vehicle" at least once.

I feel like an obnoxious Twilight fangirl for posting this, but I have a comment. =] I don't picture Bella looking like that. The actress, Kristin Stewart, definitely pulls off the contemplative thing, but she doesn't look like the kind of person who spends an exorbitant amount of time wallowing in self-pity. Bella wallows.



I shouldn't get sucked into this cult, but whatever. I gave up on my attempts to be a non-conformist long ago. It took to much energy.

I don't want to end with Twilight, so...
We went to this diner for breakfast this morning after my optometrist appointment (my left eye has gotten worse, gah), and our waitress looked exactly like Cynthia Nixon! I was fighting the urge to tell her. Well, that and snap a picture, but I didn't think she would have appreciated it much.

Clouds, Cats, and Clam Chowder

Who saw the Olympics opening last night? I thought that was AMAZING! I actually don't remember ever watching the opening to the Olympics before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but that was still really cool. The people in green light up costumes who made the bird and those guys in the boxes...I can't imagine how much work they put into getting it that perfect.

I had this dream last night where I was at this guy's house, and he had a river in his backyard made out of Manhattan clam chowder. It was a serious river; there was a waterfall of clam chowder, too. He was trying to convince me to jump in it with him, and my response to that was, "I'm sorry, but I have a strict rule about not swimming in tomato-based soups." He understood.

Remember that beach I talked about on Thursday? I went back today, and since it's like monsoon season here, I should have foreseen this:

Cloudy doesn't even begin to cover it. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture the effect of the hurricane-like wind, torrential rain, steel-drum thunder, and lightning that cracks through the smoke-gray clouds in pictures. These pictures that I did get are from the parking lot; I wasn't about to whip out my metal camera on the beach in a lightning storm. It would have looked so cool, though.

My friend and I decided to run a marathon of Disney movies yesterday/today. I love Aladdin, he's amazing. We watched The Aristocats, and I had forgotten how adorable that movie is. I used to love it when I was little--my favorite sweatshirt had Marie on it--but watching it again and understanding the plot more, it's soo cute.



Isn't that adorable? I love Toulouse (the one with the paint). I'm so excited to share these classic Disney movies with my daughter one day. I spend way too much time thinking about the kids I don't have, but being a "mommy" is the one thing I know I want for sure. I remember this conversation I had at lunch in second grade. I was talking about how I wanted to have kids, and all my friends were saying I was crazy, giving birth hurts too much. I remember saying I'd have an elective C-section if I couldn't take it. Looking back on it, it seems like an unusual conversation for a group of 7-year-olds.

Still no sign of mail. Coming home from the beach today, I thought I saw a box by the front door. I'm having hallucinations in the form of cardboard boxes. See what you've put me through, Borders?

A Little Rory/Logan Humor

Whoa, the party store is already stocking Halloween costumes. With all the emphasis they put on Halloween, you'd think they'd sell costumes for women that are not just colored underwear. We were trying on the Obama and McCain rubber masks. There was one of the Burger King king. I wish I'd had my camera with me.

It's been a slow day, topic-wise, so enjoy yet another "Gilmore Girls" clip, this one all Rory and Logan. I liked Dean so much better than Logan, and I probably wouldn't like Logan at all in real life, but as far as characters go, he's entertaining.



Oh, and happy Olympics!

"Greek girls do not lose their pants!"

I saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 today and IT IS SO CUTE!! I knew it would be good when our local newspaper's movie critic ripped it apart. Their critic is such a cynic. I can't trust anything he says.

Anyway, they said Traveling Pants 2 was too reliant on adult themes and star-power to sell the story, and they said the pants didn't appear enough. I totally disagree there. This movie was a good sequel because it was different from the first one. The movie represented the books well, though I do have minor issues with the way they handled the Bridget-visiting-her-grandmother thing. Sequels aren't meant to be as good as the originals anyway. They're meant to be follow-ups.

The first one was much more emotionally involving. I mean who didn't cry when *possible spoiler* Bailey died? This one was more "fluffy," more fun. I think that's the way it should be. One review I read compared it to "Sex and the City" where the characters don't talk as much. Nothing against SATC, but no. Just, no.

I could relate to the sequel more than the first, being one who has sort of lost touch with my three best friends once we went to different schools. In the beginning scene in the fitness studio where Lena and Bridget talk about the archeological dig, and Carmen's like "why didn't you tell me?"...I know that feeling well. I empathize with Carmen, and I totally understand her hating e-mail relationships.

Changing the subject momentarily, I went to the beach this morning! So pretty, the water was like turquiose-colored and there were all these cute little black-and-yellow striped fish everywhere. I saw this one fish about a foot long that was green-blue with a yellow tail.


Some people just shouldn't wear bikinis, especially these older women you see who just can't pull it off anymore. When you get to a certain age, you really need to think about covering it up a little. If they insist on it, I advise them them to at least get one in the correct size. I can't figure out which looks worse: too big or too small.



Interview with the cast of Traveling Pants. It looks much better in high-definition, here. Click on "watch in high-quality" under the view count. I love the cast. I mean, I TiVo "Gossip Girl" and "Ugly Betty" every week. Alexis Bledel's show "Gilmore Girls" is my all-time favorite TV show (if you never noticed, I post a lot of "Gilmore Girls" clips on here), and Amber Tamblyn looks exactly like my school best friend, which I've always thought was cool.

Oops, long post. Well, I have been waiting for this movie since May. =]

How many cheerleaders does it take to fill an elevator?

In Austin, Texas around 12 today, a group of cheerleaders in cheerleading camp decided to see how many people they could cram into an elevator. They managed to get 26 in there, but they were so tightly packed, the door wouldn't open. After nearly 30minutes, the fire department had to cut them out. If cheerleaders don't want to be stereotyped, they really should stop doing stupid things. You can read the article here.

So I'm a loser because I don't know what arsenic is. My best friend and I were talking about whether detox pills work on arsenic, and I wasn't totally sure what arsenic was. I'd heard it before, but I was thinking some kind of chemical weapon. She made fun of me for not knowing what she says is common knowledge. She says that when people think poison, they think arsenic. Okay...when I think poison, I think cyanide. I guess I have an insufficient knowledge of common poisons. Which leads me to my thought for the day, a question she actually brought up in this conversation:

What would happen if you dissolved a detox tablet with arsenic in a glass of water?

Since I know nothing about chemistry, and I obviously know nothing abut arsenic, I will leave you with that thought, plus an unrelated You Tube video.



What's more happy than the Spice Girls' "Wannabe?" I can never remember all their Spice Girl names. Baby Spice, Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, Posh Spice, and there's one more I always forget...oh, Ginger Spice. I just looked it up ^^

Where were you in '62?

I watched the first 30 minutes of American Graffiti this morning, and I honestly have no idea what it's about. It's set in 1962, and there's this group of friends who graduated from high school and are just hangin out around their cars, I guess. Every scene in this movie either has somebody in a car, standing next to a car, or offering someone a ride in their car. They're constantly talking about cars, and there's this one guy who's been driving since the opening credits ran, but he doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular. Watch the trailer below--you'll see what I mean.

The 60's slang makes it even funnier. "We're heading to the hop" and "If you're brains were dynamite, you wouldn't be able to blow your nose!" My absolute favorite line that had me laughing out loud was "Go kiss a duck, marblehead!" The guy he said it to took great offense. This might have been a good topic for my retro blog.

I went to the grocery store this morning and we got Fudgees! I'm going to do an article on them when I get a chance to take pictures. I passed the Banana Split Oreos today and they are now on sale. The tag said, "surprisingly low price!" Not kidding.

I went to a party that the library staff threw for the teen volunteers. It was nice of them to do that. I got community service and everything. Anyway, I have no social skills, so I either people-watch or eavesdrop on other conversations. I found this group of three girls who looked intriguing, so I sat near them and listened, all the while pretending to be watching the kids playing DDR. This one girl wearing all black was talking about how she keeps dead rats in her freezer. I was not disappointed that I picked them.



American Graffiti Trailer. See what I mean about the cars?

Thought for the day: The big toe doesn't like flip-flops because it separates him from his friends.
--indirect quote from this morning's "Family Circus" comic

The DMV is an Unholy Place

I got my permit this morning! Around 10:20, to be exact. I can legally drive a car now! I'll tell you, though, those people at the DMV don't represent driving proudly at all. They all talk in this monotone and i think they actually make a special attempt to mispronounce names. They called me Gillian about four times. Not that I care, but "Juliana" doesn't even look like "Gillian." There's a very obvious "u" sound in there. So funny.

My dad said the building looks exactly the same as it did when he went for his licence in the 70's, with the exception of the computers. I didn't like sticking my head into the eye test machine. I couldn't help but think how many sweaty people put their heads in there. Ick.

I am very happy to say that I wrote a scene for my book that I had been avoiding forever, too afraid to write it. The story needed it there, and I couldn't work around it anymore, so I made myself write it down. It turned out decent! (Don't worry, it's nothing bad. As you can tell from my blog, I like to keep things light and happy, avoiding tragedy and intense emotion. That stuff's hard for me to write.) I was actually happy with it and had fun writing it. Amazing what happens when I just write what's in my head without second guessing myself. Now I've gotta work up the courage to let someone read it. As of now, the whole story is going to the grave with me.

Besides my permit this morning, another uninspiring day, so I will share with you the view from my dorm room at newspaper camp last week:


A cemetery. The picture is skewed because I was afraid that if I walked onto the balcony thing to take the picture, it would collapse and I would fall seven stories to my death in the cemetery below. The balcony didn't strike me as stable. Ironically, the name of my building was "Oceanview Hall."


To conclude, here's a picture of a goat my sister took, because goats always lighten the mood. I can't exactly end with a picture of a cemetery. =]