Sick and Tired

I'm sick.  And it's totally unfair.  

Okay, so it's never fair to be sick.  But, usually when I get sick, I get a week of slight sniffles, maybe a few aches...some warning signs that sickness is soon to come.  This took me completely by surprise.

I was feeling great all last week.  Then, as I was sitting in a very long budget meeting on Friday afternoon, my throat started to feel sore.  I assumed I was just tired and didn't think much of it.  Then on the bus home, I could barely keep my eyes open.  Once again, I just thought I was tired.

My husband and I had dinner plans that night to celebrate Valentine's Day.   So I sucked it up and didn't let my "tiredness" get to me.

As the night wore on, I could feel myself getting worse.  Sure enough, when I woke up the next morning, I felt like crap.  I was still functional, but definitely sick.  I spent the day on the couch helping my husband play Zelda: Twilight Princess.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  Watch my husband play video games and help him figure out puzzles and where to go and what to do.  I get to nervous and anxious to actually play myself.

On Sunday, nothing much had changed.  I managed to make it out to my co-worker's kid's big metal show at a local bar.  And for a metal band full of 17 year olds, they were pretty good.  I was impressed.

Monday morning was another story.  I was completely out of commission.   Luckily, it was President's Day and my office was closed.  I spent the day lounging around and doing absolutely nothing.  I went to bed early prepared to go to work on Tuesday.

Tuesday ended up being the worse day (so far).   I got up with every intention of calling in and working from home.  Except, I couldn't log into my email from home because my password expired.  I had to go into the office to change my password.  I also gathered up some work to do at home and left.  I was at work a total of 30 minutes.

I worked for about an hour at home and then retired to the couch.  I watched a lot of daytime television and wondered why advertisers find this to be the prime time to sell laxatives.  Every other commercial revolved around bathroom activities.

The night was spent (lost) to American Idol.  I swore I was not going to watch this season.  I found my idol last season.  Every episode this year gets worse and worse.  The talent is greatly lacking.   The production value has gone way down and the new rules make no sense and seem really unfair.  I spent two hours on that show last night and hated every second of it.  And no matter what the Idol producers want, I will not root for this Danny - ImissmydeadwifebutIdon'twanttotalkaboutherbutwaititwillgetmevotessohereIgo - Gokey fellow.   It's disgusting.  He's not even that good of a singer, and he doesn't have the looks or charm to make up for it.  He sucks and I hope he goes home first because everyone else thinks so, too.   Anyway, I think I just watch so I have more to read about on the internet.  I'm addicted.  To the internet.

I managed to make it to work today.  I found out some really exciting news about my job.  I'll talk more of that in another post later.  But, I left a couple of hours early.   I'm still not feeling anywhere near 100%.  I think I'm hovering around 35-40%.   But there was a slight improvement from yesterday to today.  Hopefully I will feel better by the weekend and be able to enjoy it.  My three day weekend was completely robbed from me.

Sadly, I'm excited to be home right now because after watching Oprah yesterday, I got really excited to watch her today.  Oprah is so awesome.  She completely sucks you in.  

SoapNet also airs reruns of Beverly Hills, 90210.  They are on my favorite time period right now.  I highly enjoy the post college years when they are all out in the "real world".   Both Oprah and 90210 are starting in 10 minutes, so off to the couch I go!

Lost Episode 5 "This Place Is Death"

Okay...let's just start with the off island crap. I like to get it out of the way....

We start this episode in the car with Sun who is fondling her gun. She gets a call from her daughter (omg, when she said 'annyong' I had to say it back due to watching too much Arrested Development) and they chat. She gets out of the car and points the gun at Ben. Ben, as calm as ever, proceeds to tell her that Jin is still alive and he has proof if she will just join he and Jack and come to the church with them. She agrees.

Sayid and Kate decide to bail. Amazingly, Kate manages to remember to grab Aaron (HER SON!) as she leaves. Sun, Jack, and Ben head to the church to meet up with Eloise Hawkins (or is it Hawking? I forget. I'll just call her Eloise).

I just have to say that this opening scene was one of the worse pieces of combined acting I have ever seen on a major network television show. It seemed like they brought in the stunt doubles to do the scene. It was just awkward.

On the way to the church Jack tells Sun that if Ben is lying about Jin, he will kill him because he already made Kate upset and nobody likes it when Kate starts whining. This hurts Ben's feelings and he immediately pulls the car over and threatens to turn this thing around and go home if they don't start behaving. No, I'm kidding. Kind of. He does tell them that if they only knew everything he has been doing to protect them these last three years, they wouldn't be so quick to hurt him. But if they want to kill him, just get it over with. They keep going to the church.

When they arrive, Ben gives Sun Jin's wedding ring as proof that he is still alive. He tells her Locke gave it to him when he returned from the island. Because of this, Sun agrees to go back to the island with Ben.

As soon as I was starting to realize I can't watch one more scene that has to do with Sun or Jack, Desmond pops up to make everything better. Oh, Desmond...sigh.........................

I'm guessing the writer's realized they had to hook Desmond up with Jack, Sun, and Ben because Ben alone cannot combat the massive amount of suckage that spews off Jack. Add Sun to the mix, and Desmond was needed. Stat. And I used to like Sun.

Desmond is here looking for Faraday's mother and thinks they are all doing the same. He seemed to get to L.A. pretty quick. But whatever. He's Desmond, brotha.

They all go into the church and the music gets all mysterious as the writer's try to make it the big reveal at the end that Eloise is Faraday's mom...like we didn't guess that 3 episodes ago.

Cut. Scene. End of episode.

But wait, there's more!

On the island:
Jin is still hanging out with Rosseau and her French team. She tells him it is 1988. He tells them he must find his camp, which confuses them because he said his boat sank. Btw, Jin's English has progressed immensely while he was passed out and floating in the ocean.

They ask him to take them to the radio tower so they can see where the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42) are coming from. He agrees and they head into the jungle and run into an old friend. Smokey! The smoke monster arrives and starts it's attack. It manages to snag a member of the team and drag him into a hole. As the rest of the group tries to hang onto him, Smokey wins and pulls him into the hole. The rest of the team just get his arm. Yes, they pulled off his arm.

The team chooses to go into the hole after him. Jin convinces Rosseau to stay behind for the sake of the baby. She agrees, the sky blows up and Jin is sent to another time.

He makes it to another beach and finds two members of the French team dead on the beach. They appear to have been shot. He then sees Rosseau holding a gun to her babydaddy yelling at him about how he's changed and how that thing has made him sick. Now ladies, I know we have all had that argument before, am I right? The babydaddy begs for his life and just as she gives in, he points a gun at her. But she draws first and shoots him. She then sees Jin and starts yelling and shooting at him. He runs into the jungle and the sky blows up again.

(Now, is this going to be all of Rosseau's back story? Why does she think they are sick? She never mentioned Smokey before. She just kept talking about the sickness. I'm just confused about this.)

Jin hears a gun behind him and slowly turns around. It's Sawyer! And Juliette! And Locke and Miles and Charlotte and Faraday! Finally.

They explain the best they can about what is going on. Then Charlotte admits she can speak Korean and she finishes the job. Why does everyone think it's odd that she can speak Korean? Lots of people know different languages.

They continue on to the Orchid.

Meanwhile, the sky is blowing up like crazy. The flashes are much more constant. Everyone (besides Faraday and Locke) has a bloody nose. And then Charlotte passes out again. They revive her and she begins talking all crazy. She tells Jin to make sure that Sun never comes back because "this place is death!".

Locke gets sick of her shit and makes everyone leave her behind and head to the Orchid. But Faraday can't leave her and stays with her. Before they leave, Charlotte tells Locke to look for the well and that is how they will get to the frozen donkey wheel - in case time moves again and the Orchid isn't there...how did she know that?.......

As she goes in and out of making sense, she tells Faraday that she was born on the island and lived there throughout her childhood until she and her mother were let go. Her mother told her that the island never existed and it was all in her head. She has been trying to find it ever since.

She then remembers a crazy man from the island who told her to never come back to the island because she would die, and guess what? He looked an awful lot like Faraday. Duh duh duhhhhhhhhh. Then she dies. Goodbye, Charlotte. I thought you were cool.

Sawyer, Locke, Jin, Juliette, and Miles make it to the Orchid and it's there! (Woohoo!) But not for long. (Oh damn) Locke finds the well with a long rope leading into a very deep dark place. He's about to head down, but Jin stops him and makes him promise not to bring Sun back (oops) and gives him his wedding ring to give to her to prove that he is dead. Locke promises (what a liar) and heads down the hole. But not before everyone tells him that he's their hero. Seriously.

As he's making his way down the hole, the sky starts blowing up. Sawyer grabs hold of the rope to try to keep Locke with them. But Locke falls and breaks his leg really bad. We're talking bone sticking out of the leg bad. It was gross. What's up with this episode and gross body parts? Sawyer is left holding a rope that is stuck in the ground. The well is gone and is covered by earth. They are left thinking Locke is dead and buried.

But he's not. He's in serious serious pain, but he is not alone. From the cavern comes....Christian Shepard! Holy crap! He tells Locke that he's upset because he didn't listen when he told him that Locke had to move the island and not Ben. He tells him he can make it better now, though, by fixing the wheel which is off balance, by giving is a little push. This will cause his death, but the island will feel better. That's all Locke needs to hear. He gets up (he asks Christian if he will help him up, in which Christian replies, bitch,please) and makes his way to the wheel. It is wobbling around. He pushes it. There is a flash. The end.

Now, it was obvious the wheel was off balance. Could this be why the island was flashing like crazy? And if that is all it is, then why does everyone need to come back?

Will anyone tell the Losties that Locke is okay and made it off the island? Will the island keep flashing? Or are they in danger because they are now stuck in a dangerous time? Maybe around the time that the Dharma Initiative first took camp? Maybe around the time that the Orchid is first built? Maybe that's how Faraday gets there in that scene from the first episode? Maybe this is when he tells a young Charlotte not to come back? Maybe, maybe, maybe????

One more thing, I really hope Rosseau's babydaddy's synopsis of what the smoke monster is is not the answer that we have all been waiting for...because we've already figured that out. We don't need to know what it does or it's purpose, but what IS it? And does it eat people? Because it was acting like a hungry bear.

The Dishes Are Done, Man

I'm certain that if I was single and lived alone, I would lose a ton of weight because I wouldn't eat because I hate to do the dishes that much.   Dishes waiting at home in the sink for me can ruin my entire afternoon.  I dread them.  

I'm really meticulous with them, as well.  I spend a great amount of time just rinsing them before I even begin to actually wash.  

I hate the feeling and look of wet food.  When a pan of last night's dinner has been soaking and you dump the water out and all of this wet mush comes out....ugh....it makes me gag.   I also can't stand it when I'm washing them and I see little bits of floating food in the water.   This is why I rinse them so carefully.   If I do see floaters,  I have been known to drain the water and start over.

But, I have to do them.  My husband does them quite often.  He knows of my disdain.  But he does so much already, I feel like I should have at least one chore besides bill paying.   But every time I come home and he has already finished them, I remember how lucky I am to have him.

  

Monday Morning Wrap Up

It's rainy and it's Monday, but I am not down.

I had a lovely weekend. Nothing too exciting happened. It was just a pleasant weekend.

I spent Friday night doing one of my favorite things: singing karaoke. We were out with my husband's old coworkers, a reunion of sorts. These people always bring out the party atmosphere and I found myself doing shots, which I never do. We got a table right by the dj. I made friends quickly and it paid off. He let me sing all of my songs. Here is what I sang:

No Doubt: "Just A Girl"
Blondie: "One Way Or Another"
Prince: "When Doves Cry" (first time doing this one and I will never do it again - sucked)
Tina Turner: "Proud Mary" (I don't pretend I can actually sing this song, but it's fun to do)
Lita Ford: "Kiss Me Deadly"
Meatloaf: "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" (I sang this with some random bald old dude. It got kind of creepy)

I also sang "Islands in the Stream" briefly to fill in the gap for one of my cohorts who gave up after the first few lines.

...I feel like I sang more, but I don't remember....

It was a good night. I was just drunk enough. But not too drunk that I felt like shit the next day.

Saturday we did our taxes and we aren't getting anything back. Oh, well. I went out to see my dad who told me he is trying to prepay for his cremation. Though I appreciate him not wanting to leave his kids with the bill, it is a morbid topic for a sunny Saturday afternoon. My dad will be 68 this year. He is not that old. He has a bad case of diabetes (his right leg is amputated and he is legally blind from it), he is actually healthier than he has been in years. He doesn't drink anymore, he watches his diet, he excercises. I just think he's tired. Life hasn't been easy on the guy.

I was in bed early on Saturday. I didn't get much sleep the night before. I did pick up season 1 of Weeds from Target. I have yet to start watching it, but I'm looking forward to it.

Sunday I made soup! It's awesome. Cannellini bean and pasta soup. I was so proud of myself. I brought some in for lunch today and it was soooo goood. Mmmmm.....

I watched the Grammys last night. They were better than they have been in years, but still, I either don't know who half the people are anymore or I can't believe they are giving awards out to the people I have head of. And why was Miley Cyrus even there? I understand she has made some recordings, but so have the dogs singing "Jingle Bells" and they weren't invited. Do the Grammys not have any pride anymore? They did remind me of how awesome Jay-Z is. Damn that man is cool. How do you get to be so fucking cool? And big props to M.I.A. and her big belly for getting through the night.

Only 30 minutes left of my work day. As the Little Engine That Could (my favorite book as a kid) would say: I think I can...I think I can...I think I can....

Lost Episode 4, "The Little Prince"

This is going to be a difficult one for me today. Not only was my mind not as into it after our household finally fell victim to the recession (due to a paycut), but it just wasn't a very memorable episode. It proved to me that I am much more invested in what is happening on the island that off of it.

Where to begin....

So Kate is still freaking out because somebody wants to take "her baby" away from her. I agree with something I read somewhere online that I would really like to see the transistion of Kate becoming Aaron's mom and watching that relationship grow. I think they tried to do that tonight with the 5 minute opening scene on Penny's boat, but it didn't work. That would be an actual backstory of Kate's that I would be interested in.

Kate borrows a suit from Sun and heads to the lawyer's office to see if she can meet with the client who wants her baby. He says that won't happen. So she stalks him outside his office so she can follow him to his client's house.

Meanwhile, Jack and Ben and Sayid are all at the hospital. Some random dude tries to attack Sayid, but he gives him the smackdown that only Sayid or Jack Bauer can and finds Kate's address in his pocket. Odd, they think. Jack decides he needs to rescue Kate and Ben says to meet he and Sayid at the pier once he's done. There was also a great shot of Hurley in his prison orange jumpsuit when he calls Jack to tell him where he is.

Jack runs to Kate and ends up with her as she follows the lawyer. They both decline to tell each other anything, as usual. Kate finally fesses up once they get to the lawyer's destination. They see that his client is...duh duh duh...Claire's mom!

I hate Claire's mom. I hate the way she speaks. "Her name was Claaaaireah. She was yo sistahhhh." So lame.

But, Jack talks to her and she has no idea who Aaron and Kate are and we find out that the lawyer's real client is Ben. Who didn't see that coming? Honestly, I thought it would be either Ben or Sun. I am a bit sick of the misdirection this show has been doing this season. Why throw the crap in there with Claire's mom? What was the point? To chew up 5 minutes of air time? So lame.

Sun is back at the hotel babysitting and has a gun delivered and some spy photos of Jack with Ben. Oh Noes! Sun seeks revenge! So lame.

In the end, they all meet at the pier and Kate freaks out when Ben shows up with Sayid because, of course, Jack failed to mention that this is what is happening and why Sun and Aaron needed to meet them there.

Sun is seen lurking in the shadows fondeling her gun and drooling with anticipation of offing Ben (and maybe even Jack!).

Now for the better stuff (notice I didn't say good, because even the island stuff kind of blew last night)...

The Losties are trying to revive Charlotte after her seizure and Juliette is bugging Daniel for answers as to why this happenig while Sawyer freaks out and Miles whines that nobody cares about him. Locke has a revelation and demands they head to the Orchid station where all this happens so he can die and save the island. Do Locke's sudden ideas seem forced to anyone else? Where is he getting all of these ideas? He hasn't spoken to Jacob in forever and the sky keeps blowing up before Richard can tell him anything. It almost seems like the writer's are thinking maybe 2 more seasons isn't enough and now have to cram all of Locke's shit in, when really they could just kill of Kate and Jack and have plenty of time for Locke.

They decide to head to the beach and take the raft around the island to the Orchid for faster travels. On the way there, they see the light from the Swan hatch where OriginalLocke (that is how I'm going to explain the Losties who we see in the past on the island, okay?) was seen pounding on it after Boone dies in season 1. Locke says it's best to avoid it and move on.

Miles' nose starts bleeding. He informs Daniel.

They hear voices. Sawyer runs to investigate. OMG it is OriginalKate helping OriginalClaire give birth to OrginalAaron! Riveting. Do we really have to watch a scene from season 1 when there is much other shit to cover???? Sawyer stands there and drools over her for what seems like 30 minutes. Really. This is all it was. A scene from season 1 cutting back and forth from Sawyer standing there and drooling over his Precious Kate. Blah blah blah.

The only thing this scene did for me was help my theory that the whispers the Losties have continuously heard throughout the jungle is really the voices of the time travelling Losties.

Of course, the sky blows up again and he doesn't tell anyone what he saw, even after Locke begs him. He's just like Kate and Jack. They'd make a happy ignorant threesome.

They make it to the beach and it appears to be present time....or is it. The camp is there, but all of the food (and beer) is gone. It looks like everyone left in a hurry. The raft is gone, too...but there are two canoes on shore. Where did they come from? They weren't there in the Losties time. Could this be the future?

They take a canoe and head to the Orchid. While out at sea, the other canoe full of people we can't see start following them and shooting them. I was happy about this because it interrupted Sawyers rehashing of his sighting of OriginalKate to Juliette. The sky blows up in the nick of time again and they are saved from the bullets, only to be out in the ocean during a thunderstorm. They head back to the beach.

On shore, they see remenants of a boat crash. My first thought was Desmond. This must be from when his sailboat originally crashed. But Locke flips something over and there is french writing on it. Hooray! Danielle Rosseau!. Now we're getting somewhere. (Oh and Sawyer whines to Juliette some more about how wonderful Kate is and how he misses her and I'm left thinking, it's been like a day in your time since you last saw her.)

-This is what can make the time skipping fun. You get to see all of these things that happened before the Losties arrived. Everyone was so upset when Rosseau got killed because they thought it meant no backstory. But now we get to have it via time travel. Hooray!-

Cut to the middle of the ocean again and a young (and pregnant) Rosseau is drifting in a lifeboat with her team. They come across a body floating on a piece of wood in the ocean. They pull him aboard....it's Jin!!!! He's alive!!!! He was within the island's radius when it disappeared! He's been time skipping along with everyone! Except he doesn't know it because he's been unconsious. Boy, is he in for a suprise.

Rosseau, her team, and Jin land on the island. She revives Jin and introduces herself. Jin gets the best WTF face ever. Boom!Roasted. End.

So, yeah, it was a very dull episode capped with a great moment in the Jin revival. I love Jin. Hopefully next week gets off the I Love Kate train and heads back to weirdoville, because that's the Lost I love.

"Friends"

Where did the day go? To the internet again.

I spend way too much time online. I spend most of this time going between maybe 8 different websites. #1 being Facebook. I used to be a MySpace girl, but then was wooed after I started this job and most everyone I worked with was on Facebook. So I joined. I've been hooked ever since.

But now there is a problem. Now EVERYONE I work with is on Facebook. From VPs to admins. One VP "friended" me. I almost quit Facebook. But I accepted her "friendship". I spent the next two weeks concerned about every single thing my friends posted concerning me. Facebook is so open. Everyone knows everyone's business. That's part of the fun. But I don't need the VP of Communications seeing pictures of me at 19 years old drunk as hell wearing a studded collar and hanging out with tattooed goth dudes. And, unfortunately with Facebook, I have no control over that. If some friend of mine throws up some old picutres and tags me in one of them, all of my "friends" see that I have been tagged in a photo and can view that photo. I'm not ashamed of my past and I don't care what most of my co-workers see. But the VP does not need to see it and she should know better than to friend someone so low on the office totem pole. It puts me in a very uncomfortable spot. My boss is on Facebook and has been ever so kind and wise enough not to friend me and to allow me my privacy. This is not LinkedIn. That is where professionals go to congregate. This is Facebook. This is where I go to find out about my friends and peers. Stay away from it VP.

Thankfully, another co-worker showed me how to delete friends without them knowing, so I did some house cleaning. Goodbye, VP.

Burned After Viewing

My husband and I headed to Target on Friday night looking for a funny movie. We went for Role Models, which is not out yet, and left with Burn After Reading. We thought, Cohen Brothers, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, the reviews all over the box calling it hilarious were all good signs. How could it go wrong?

Oh, man did it go wrong.

What a horrible, boring movie. We did not watch it together. That's usually what happens. We buy a movie with every intention of sitting down and watching it together and then we get distracted and end up watching them alone on the computer, which is what I did on Sunday night.

I sat there in front of the computer staring for a very long time. I wanted to laugh. By the end, I wanted to feel something. But I felt nothing. Just boredom.

My biggest issue is that I am so sick of movie after movie filled with horrible people that do horrible things to other horrible people and you are supposed to care. It is the new hip way to make a movie and it's getting really old. There was not one character to root for in the whole movie. The closest one was John Malkovich, and I can't stand him, so that made me dislike the movie even more.

I'm not looking for some Rudy like underdog character. But just make someone likable. I live in the real world and generally hate most people, but there are likeable people out there, as well.

I have a feeling that's what Brad Pitt's character was supposed to be. But I just couldn't get over how awful he looked. I'm not a Brad Pitt fangirl and have not found him attractive for years now. What bothered me was his age. I'm not entirely sure if the character he was playing was supposed to be an old guy trying to be young. To me, it just seemed like they wanted Brad in the movie, gave him a part, botoxed the hell out of his face and told this 45 year old guy to play at 28 year old. It just didn't work. He looked ridiculous - and not in a funny way. And not in a Benjamin Button way, either.

It also felt like an excuse for a bunch of friends to get together and make a movie without any regard for story or entertainment.

It was not funny. It was not sad. It was not shocking. It was not entertaining. It barely barely held my attention. I kept waiting for the good part, and the next thing I knew it was over.

I will give this move .5 out of 5 stars, but it only goes to Richard Jenkins, who was the only character I actually cared for. Although I kept waiting for the big reveal that he was a recovering pedophile or something after it's revealed he used to be a priest. Luckily, that never happened. Maybe in the director's cut?