It was a very eventful Halloween this year. Pictures from various activities can be found here. The Tuesday before Halloween was the 24th Annual High Heel Race in DC. What seemed to be ~100 drag queens in various fantastic costumes raced down four blocks in ridiculous heels. ell and temve were great company for such an excursion. On Thursday we went to see Up for a dollar at the cinema drafthouse near my apartment. They serve really delicious fried mac&cheese bites. It was a cute movie, but I think I would have liked it a lot more if Ellie instead of Russell had been on the trip.

Brooke and I went to stay with Natalie and Judith in New York for Halloween. We saw The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. It was pretty awesome. I'd never seen the movie before and enjoyed many of the songs. After we, along with a group of Natalie and Judith's friends, went to the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Unfortunately, it started raining just before the parade started and didn't let up the whole night. We didn't stay for all the parade, but the part we did see was fun. They had large skeleton puppets and zombies doing the "Thriller" dance and someone dressed as the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The trip back was also fun because we got the upstairs front seat of the bus. Great views through the upper windshield.

For the election this year, I worked in the absentee voter office counting, sorting, and verifying absentee ballots. I think I liked it better than working at a precinct because we didn't have any set-up or take-down work, and we didn't have people in and out all the time. We did have a lot of downtime though. I will be sure to bring cross-stitch and/or a really big book if I get assigned the absentee office again.

Sunday, Brooke and I went hiking in Great Falls National Park. Pictures here. The weather was fantastic, and the views along the River Trail are really nice. The trail we took wasn't too strenuous, but it also wasn't boringly easy (except for one section). I think we'll try to go back there in the spring to see everything in bloom.

Now for the future exciting stuff. Mom and Dad will be here in a few hours to commence my birthday celebrations. Woooo! Tomorrow night we're going out to Chef Geoff's in DC before heading to the Kennedy Center for A Streetcar Named Desire starring Cate Blanchett. My life is so awesome! I'm not sure what else we're going to do while they're here, but we're going to try to hit the National Archives and Arlington House.

Thursday of next week is Amanda Palmer's show in Falls Church. I already have my ticket and am super excited. Does anyone else want to go with me?

Now for the part where I ask for advice. I am thinking about auditioning for a V-Day performance of The Vagina Monologues next Wednesday. All audition materials are provided at the audition, so I can put off making a decision until about 15 minutes before the auditions start whether or not to drive out there. It's been over 5 years since I've done any acting, and I do miss it. But it's been even longer since I've done any acting with complete strangers. Any thoughts yay or nay?

My cousin was successfully married on Saturday. The event was fun and a bit weird, totally their style though. I still need someone to explain to me why "Benny and the Jets" was their exit wedding/enter reception song. My favorite part of the reception was the milk fountain surrounded by plates of cookies. The cups for the milk were wide and short enough to dunk the cookies, too.

It was nice to be home and see various family and friends. For anyone in the Baton Rouge area, I highly recommend The Strand downtown for delicious pastries, chocolates, and teas. I understand the coffees are also amazing. My family and I did a high tea there, and everything they served was delicious. Ru and her uncle were also there, so I got to visit with them between courses. We have made plans to visit The Strand again when I am home for Christmas to sample more delicious items.

I met up with Ru and her boyfriend, Stelly, the next day to see Where the Wild Things Are. It was a really great movie. I especially enjoyed how they did the scene when Max leaves the island. (Note: I don't consider this a spoiler since the book has been out for decades.) There were less than 10 kids in the theater which I understand since the movie was marketed to adults. However, I think kids would enjoy it.

Comment and get five questions of your very own to hug and squeeze and call them George.

Courtesy of the lovely modillian:

1. Have you ever dyed your hair pink? Ever wanted to dye your hair some unnatural color?
I had hot pink streaks in grad school. I didn't maintain them because I didn't feel like spending the money, but I loved how they looked. Every now and then I think about doing something in blue or purple though.

2. What is the best restaurant in your city? How is it the best?
It really depends on what kind of food you want. Italian Cafe is the best for Italian food. Their tomato sauce is amazing. Matuba's is my favorite for sushi. They have awesome Alaska rolls. Old Ebbitt's is more expensive, thus reserved for when parents are around to pay for it, but it has the best upscale Americana food.

3. If a knick-knack-paddywhacked, would you give a dog a bone or send him rolling home?
I don't take that kind of sass. That dog is rolling home.

4. When you're sporting a red hat and wearing purple and sitting in a rocking chair at the ripe age of 80, what do you want to look back on your life and feel proud to have accomplished?
I don't want to have ever stopped going and moving and doing.

5. Let's say next year there will be another Star Trek movie with the same cast as this year's movie and they're rooting about in the universe in the 23rd century. Who would you most like to see in a role/cameo and why?
I want Shatner and Patrick Stewart to both have ~1 second, uncredited crowd cameos to watch the internet explode with fanboys trying to figure out whether they're actually in it or not.

This has been quite a weekend for awesome stuff. Friday night, I saw Arcadia at the Folger Theater, a Shakespearean theater in DC, and it was amazing. Despite having studied Arcadia in undergrad and written my huge honors paper on chaos theory and Arcadia, I had never actually seen it performed. The Folger cast made up for it tremendously with their show. The woman who played Thomasina (aged 13 for most of the play and 17 for the last bit) was fantastic at convincing the audience she was a good 20 years younger than her real age. It was so much fun to watch with a smart and engaged audience as well. I had a great time chatting with the couple behind me during intermission about how we came to see Arcadia. I think I will make a point to try and see more shows at the Folger because the atmosphere is really nice there.

Saturday, Brooke and I saw Star Trek with ell, and it was hilarious and full of awesome. I met up with ell for a very tasty dinner at a pub in her apartment building. They had double chocolate bread pudding. This has inspired me to search for chocolate bread recipes. I think it would taste quite good with honey or peanut butter. So everyone totally needs to see this movie. It really doesn't matter if you don't know anything about the tv series (any of them) because the movie is really funny and accessible. Yes, you will get more jokes the more familiar you are with i>Star Trek</i>, but I think the concept of a switch blade axe should be pretty hilarious to the general public. Also, freaking everybody is in this movie. You will see actors you never expected around every turn. Paul McGillion (aka Carson Beckett from SGA) has a 10 second cameo. (PS. Sorry to everyone in my theater that heard me shout "Oh man, that was totally Paul McGillion in that scene." right after his cameo was over.) Also, I am all about Kirk/Bones their love is so exasperated.

Sunday, I bought a new bathing suit. I realized when we went to Disney that my main suit didn't really fit me right any more. The suit I got from Fashion Bug, it was the first one I tried on, and it was on sale. This does not happen to me when it comes to swim suits, so I will strongly encourage any other women who wear plus sizes to check out Fashion Bug if you are looking for a swim suit.

Today, we went to Rachel's for a Wii Party. Lots of fun, lots of everyone swearing at each other in Mario Kart. I played one round to be a good sport and screwed up tremendously which was fun. There was also delicious ice cream cake.

Yay for long weekends full of awesome!

I had my first hula fusion belly dance class. So much fun! For the August show, we are dancing to "Rock a Hula" and "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Elvis. I'm sure I will be very sick of both songs by August, but "Can't Help" is one of my favorite Elvis songs.

Zoo work is going well. They ordered me an official name tag, so I can get discounts at the gift shops and concession stands. Yay, perks! I also get free parking, but driving up there isn't worth the hassle with the metro so close.

Last night, Brooke and I watched Twilight with the RiffTrax (guys who did MST3K), and it was hilarious. I was near tears a couple times from laughing so hard. Now I'm tempted to go through the website and buy RiffTrax for any movie I own. I am also tempted to watch the movie again with Robert Pattinson's commentary because I know how completely off track he can get in interviews.

In upcoming travels, I'll be in Seattle around Labor Day for the LSU-Washington game. Mom, Dad, and I (and maybe my sister, too) are going to meet up there and stay with friends of the family. I haven't seen them in years, but Mom and Dad have visited more recently. This will mark my 2nd ever trip to the Pacific Northwest after my trip to Portland in June.

While my birthday is many months away, I already know what I'm getting from my parents - tickets to see A Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center with Cate Blanchett playing Blanche DuBois. EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! It's running end of October through November, and tickets go on sale in August. I'm currently debating between trying to get tickets as close to opening night as I can or getting them on my birthday. Mom and Dad are going to fly up for the occasion, whenever it is, so they are going to the show as well.

1. Ell's awesome Un-Valentine party.
I met some of shrieking_ell's awesome friends and their awesome kid. We had a great time drinking while watching Empire Strikes Back, The Big Lebowski, and Buckaroo Bonzai. I think I need repeated viewings to get what the hell was going on with Buckaroo Bonzai owing to the effects of Jeff Goldblum in chaps and lots of rum.

2. Coraline in 3D.
Unfortunately you can't see it in 3D anymore because the stupid Jonas Brothers concert movie took over all the 3D screens a couple weeks ago. The movie was very awesome with an appropriately creepy soundtrack. There were some large differences from the book, but they added to the story.

3. NSO's Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky concert.
The National Symphony Orchestra periodically has ticket specials for only $20. I was thinking about going to their Prokofiev, Ravel, and Stravinsky concert but wasn't sure if it would be worth the effort. Then I read an interview with the composer for Coraline. He mentioned Prokofiev and Stravinsky as being two of his favorite composers. This totally sealed the deal for me as I loved the Coraline soundtrack. The concert was incredible. The audience gave a standing ovation after each piece, and the piano soloist for the Prokofiev concerto had 3 curtain calls. She was really amazing. I need to make a point of going to the theater more often.

4. Mom's visit.
Mom and I started the sightseeing with a visit to the newly restored American History Museum. It was not as awesome as I remembered the previous incarnation being. Needs more First Ladies and pop culture stuff. Then we went next door to the Natural History Museum. They have recently opened a new section called the Ocean Hall which has many interesting specimens (by that I mean totally freaking creepy looking) from various ocean depths. The large replica of a whale that hangs from the ceiling is especially impressive. We went through the Butterfly Garden after, and Mom had a butterfly land on her pant leg. Now Mom, Dad, and I have each had a butterfly land on us. Last we enjoyed a special exhibit on orchids. The exhibit room was full of hundreds of flowers and smelled wonderful. Unfortunately we had come too late to hear the Smithsonian’s horticulturist speak (I didn't even know the Smithsonian had a horticulturist. I can't imagine there was much competition for the job.), but it was really cool seeing all the different colors orchids come in. Pretty much anything in the purple-red-orange-yellow-green spectrum was an option.

The next day we spent 5 hours at the Newseum, and we would have stayed longer if we’d sat through all the different films they show. They have newspaper front pages from as far back as the 1200s all the way through a daily changing display of current front pages from newspapers around the country. After the Newseum, we went to the Wax Museum. They have several figures of presidential figures, including President Obama in a mock Oval Office. The most interesting part was the video about how the figures are created. Over 200 measurements of the subject are taken while the subject is in the pose the figure will be displayed in. They use make up artists and hair stylists to match the subject’s skin and hair colors as closely as possible. When the final figure is assembled, each strand of hair is inserted one at a time. It takes weeks to create each figure in the museum.

We had a pretty heavy snow here which kept Mom an extra day. We didn’t mind since we played board games and baked cookies. The only annoying part was getting through to the airline to change Mom's flight. We were on the phone for over two hours, most of the time spent on hold passing the phone back and forth so no one's arm went numb.

5. Hafla.
My belly dance school has a hafla (party) mid way through the session to give the students a chance to perform for each other in a casual environment. No one is required to go (except the teachers), and you don't have to perform even if you do go. Each teacher choreographs a short dance for each of her classes, so there were about 20 performances total. It was fun, but our performance was so short that it almost seemed pointless. I know they wanted all the classes to have time for a short dance while also having time for open dancing, but I think we could have danced for a little more than 1 minute. My teacher said I did a really good job and that I have great control over my hip movements.

6. Pi Day Party March 14.
As some of you already know, Brooke and I are hosting a Pi Day party on Saturday, March 14 at our apartment. There will be wii gaming, pies, and costumes. I promise I will not make anyone do math! Costumes are encouraged but not required. If you do wear a costume, it should be of the geek/nerd/dorktastic variety. I will be dressed as Hypatia, the first female mathematician, which basically means I will have a bed sheet awkwardly wrapped around my person to simulate a toga. Please feel free to bring guests, but please let me know. I don't want to run out of food and/or drinks. Email me at jrho.jrho at gmail dot com if you need my address and/or phone number.

ETA: I uploaded pictures from Mom's trip here.

Sunday, Brooke and I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which we both enjoyed. I want to be as awesome as Cate Blanchett some day.

Monday, I got pointed in the right direction on a problem I was having with a program at work. It's going to take me a while to make all the changes I need, but I at least know how to start on them now.

Tuesday, I got yet another pair of free underpants from Victoria's Secret. I get at least one coupon for them every 6 weeks. This particular coupon was for a special limited edition underpant not described on the coupon. As it turns out, the special underpant is a pink thong. So now I have a pair of delicate pink buttfloss (seriously, it's a string thong) underpants. Nothing I would have ever bought for myself, but an interesting thing to get for free.

Wednesday, I had my first belly dancing class at Sahara Studios which has a location conveniently on my way home from work. The class went well, and the teacher seems nice. She suggested that everyone have hip scarves for class and let us borrow some extra scarves for the first class. I used a coin scarf which was not as much fun as I had hoped. The hip shimmies really make the coins swing back and forth, and my butt got sore from getting constantly hit by all the coins on my scarf. I told the teacher that after class, and she laughed and said at least I know what kind not to get now. I'm thinking I'll try one with beads or maybe just fringe for class.

Thursday, I went to bed at 7.30 and slept until my alarm went off this morning. Really good night's sleep.

Please take a moment to note how well my week has been going.

Today, I feel like Alexander, he of the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. I telecommuted on a computer that decided today was the day to be slow as molasses. It's freezing cold outside. When I left my apartment for an eye doctor appointment, I found that someone had hit my car, knocking off a hubcap and the driver-side mirror, and didn't leave a note. I froze my hands taking pictures of the damage. I was late to my eye doctor appointment (which actually went pretty well). I called the insurance company after I got back and listened to crappy hold music. Then I found out my car is technically "undrivable" because it's illegal to drive without a driver-side mirror (I did not know this). I do get a rental car while repairs are done on the Jetta though. However work will not start on the Jetta until tomorrow or maybe Monday because they have to tow it to the shop a mile down the street from my apartment what with it being undrivable and all. I was given a Nissan Altima for a rental car, with a keyless ignition, that no one told me how to use. I had to go back in the rental car place to get the woman to show me how to start the car. The car started to make strange noises after I drove off. I realized the engine wasn't shifting gears because Altimas can be switched from automatic to manual, and this car is set on manual. I had no idea how to change it back, and I could exactly read the instruction manual while I was driving. I'm going to look up how to do it tomorrow. I did figure out how to shift gears, but it's awkward. For dinner we got Lebanese take out. They had run out of my favorite dish (stromboli), so I had to settle for lamb gyro which isn't nearly as good.

So that was my Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. And there's not even a new Stargate: Atlantis tonight to cheer me up because the very last episode aired last week.

We finally got around to scooping out the pumpkin on Sunday, so Brooke could roast the seeds. After we put both pumpkins out on our tiny porch. Someone stole the larger pumpkin sometime Sunday night/Monday morning. The smaller pumpkin is still there which I don't understand. Why not take both? Well, why take either of them, but you're going to go to the trouble of stealing one, so why not take the other? Lame.

Also on Sunday we rented Persepolis which was nominated for an Oscar this year. It's an animated movie (in French) about a girl born in Iran then living in Austria and moving back to Iran. Both Brooke and I enjoyed it. It's not exactly an uplifting movie, and I felt very pensive watching it.

I've been playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, and it's just as much fun as I remembered. I'm pleased that my knowledge of geographic trivia has not faded very much. I always wanted to be on the game show when it was running. I just knew I could win and get the trip to anywhere in the Continental US I wanted. I think I'll go check YouTube for show clips.

I really haven't felt like going any where or talking to anyone recently, probably a combination of having been sick and dealing with people last weekend.

My friend's wedding was nice. It was weird for me to see the service officiated by a woman as I was raised Catholic and have not attended very many services of other religions. I liked the vows and what the reverend said as advice to the couple more than what I've heard at the other weddings I've been to. I don't know if they were standard vows for Presbyterians. I don't think the couple wrote them themselves. The reception was nice because there were several other people from work (that I like) there, and we had a table together. I didn't get any good pictures though, probably a combination of being sick and having my batteries die early in the reception.

Seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX was a completely awesome experience. If I see it again in theaters, it will definitely be in IMAX. The big sweeping panoramic shots scattered throughout the film are so amazing on the extra big screen. We did end up going to the late showing because the earlier one was sold out. Brooke and I ate dinner and hung out at Barnes & Noble while we waited. As we ignored one of the beggars we walked past, he shouted "Thanks for being modest." after us. I don't know what word he meant to say or if he thought modest was a bad thing, but he sounded like he meant it as an insult. We were both very o_O. At the theater, the usher had to yell at people to shift seats so that 3 deaf guys could sit together with their close caption filters. They have these screens that attach to the seat arms that let a person read the close caption on the bottom of the screen. It's a very clever way to allow everyone to watch the movie without having some tool complain about the words on the screen getting in the way of his movie.

Work was hectic when I was there this week. I missed more time due to sickness. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to debug a problem with my code, only to find out the problem was with the data set I was given. Rar. I did have other things I needed to work on, too. They won't all get done this week either because Mom and Dad are coming in on Wednesday; I'm taking Thursday and Friday off. We have a list of stuff we're going to try and do, including getting my new car.

I did put some new pics up on flickr, all of the cats though.

In less than awesome news, SGA is being cancelled at the end of this season, a season which has so far contained some of the best episodes of the series. I understand they're doing it for financial reasons, but I don't have to like it. They are going to make a movie after this season and start up a new Stargate series. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get behind a whole new cast of space adventurers with such an abrupt transition.

Wretched sore throat plus earache kept me home from work today. I couldn't get a doctor's appointment until 6 pm though, and I called when they opened this morning! They did a strep test which came back negative, so they did a mono test as well. Apparently sore throat with swollen lymph nodes is a symptom of mono. I'm not any more tired than usual, so I doubt that test will come back positive. Usually I would just wait this out with tylenol and juice, but my friend is getting married tomorrow, and I'm going to see Batman in IMAX on Sunday with Brooke and Toni. Thank goodness for prescription drugs.

Otakon last Sunday was fun. It was great seeing Natalie and Judith. I spent way more money than I should have, of course, but I'm very pleased with my purchases. Particularly pleasing is my new red shirt. It has a drawing of a strawberry dressed as a ninja and reads "Berry Ninja for Great Justice." Awesome.

The latest news from work about telecommuting computers is interesting. I can have a tower, keyboard, and mouse right now. However, there are no available monitors until October when the new fiscal year starts. Whatever. I went ahead and bought a desk from IKEA because I wanted to do that while I still had the truck. It has been assembled and will, presumably, sit empty until I can take a complete computer home from work. The office area of our apartment looks much more office-like now though. The desk comes with a whiteboard section. Once I buy some dry erase markers and an eraser, I'm sure the board will quickly fill up with drawings of dicks, boobs, and stick people in inappropriate positions.

I know it's been over a month since I posted. I went on family vacation, and I wanted to wait until I'd put my pictures up on flickr before I wrote about it. Still haven't gotten the pictures on flickr yet. Maybe that'll happen later this week.

( Vacation )

( Work )

( Anonymous )

( Fangirling )

( Family )

The Friday night Mystics game was fun. Like with all his season tickets, Stewart had the best possible seats, right behind the opposing team's bench. May I just say that both the Atlanta Dream and the Washington Mystics are comprised of very attractive ladies. The first half was badly played by both teams, but the second half was really good. The Mystics won, mainly by being more proficient at free throws. Now I have been to at least one game of each professional sports league in the US. I'm quite proud of myself for this.

This afternoon I went to a Can't Stop the Serenity showing at the Arlington Cinema 'n Drafthouse a few blocks down the street from my apartment. I didn't get to see Serenity when it came out in theaters because I was in Germany, so I was happy to get the chance to see it on the big screen. The Drafthouse is pretty cool and in walking distance. They show a small number of movies after they've stopped running in regular theaters, tickets $5, and they have live shows, usually comedians. The seating is at staggered bars and tables throughout the theater, and the waiters serve food and drink throughout the shows. I had the mozzerella sticks, and they were quite good. On my way into the show, I noticed a street festival which I explored after the movie. It was a blues festival with a live band playing. Many of the area restaurants had booths. One place was selling quarts of fruit salad for $1! That's an awesome deal for a mixed quart of grapes, strawberries, and pineapple. I stayed until the festival ended at 8 then came home to tell you all about my awesome day.

I so needed this past weekend. I slept so much and was generally lazy when awake.

Friday I went directly from work to meet Brooke for Indiana Jones. It was fun and awesome. Karen Allen and Cate Blanchett totally made the movie for me. There was an unfortunate incident involving grape Fanta and my jacket. The jacket is currently in the wash. It took me this long to build up a full load of clothes. If it's still stained, I'll bring it to the cleaners tomorrow when I pick up a couple pairs of pants that got grease stains from the metro escalators.

Saturday morning I drove out to the nearest Mini dealership because I wanted to test drive either the Cooper or the Cooper S. I drove the Cooper S and was generally unimpressed. It wasn't bad, except for the slow pick-up, but it wasn't better than any other car I've driven. What really threw me was that the RPM gauge is right above the steering wheel, but the speedometer is in the middle of the dash above the radio. As cute as the car is, I don't think it's worth the extra money over an Accord or something. I think I'll start checking out the Toyota and Honda dealerships in the area and see what kinds of deals they're running this summer. It would be nice to get the car before my parents visit at the end of August since driving around guests is the main reason I want something other than the truck. We shall see.

Saturday night was Rachel's birthday party. It was very fun. We played Apples to Apples for over an hour. Brooke and I won all the games. There was delicious food, and we finally got to meet Rachel's boyfriend. He seemed like a pretty decent guy.

Sunday and Monday were made of naps and laziness. Tuesday I took off work and went to King's Dominion, an amusement park outside Richmond, with some friends. There was hardly a wait for anything, so we got to ride all the cool rollercoasters (some twice). Owing to my diligent application of SPF 50, I did not burn at all. I actually don't think I even tanned, but I'm ok with that. One of the guys brought his camera, so he has pictures and video of everyone looking like big dorks. When (if) he shares the pics, I will post the extremely ridiculous ones for your enjoyment.

Awesome fun will continue this weekend as I get to meet temve on Friday!!! She's visiting shrieking_ell, and they have invited their flists to a party. I will probably bake cookies. Am very much looking forward to fangirl awesomeness. Also, one of my friends is possibly having a pool party on Saturday, so I could be partying all weekend long. Woo!

I really haven't. It's not that life's been dull or tragic; it's just that I didn't feel like typing up the minutae. It happens from time to time with the worst being that March a few years back when I didn't post for over a month.

Anyway, I went to the Around the World Open House last weekend. It was awesome seeing more of the embassies. Pics are here. I really enjoyed Trinidad and Tobago's embassy. They had a steel drum band, a dj, delicious food, and a really nice art exhibit. There were alpaca at the Peruvian embassy. So cute! The Australian embassy had a really nice display on the Australian armed forces in WWII as well as an Aborigine in full tribal regalia playing a digeridoo. The Pakistani embassy had a bazaar set up outside with food, clothes, henna tattoos, music, jewelry, and furniture. I bought a new lilac pashmina. The Ghanan embassy had the best staircase. It's a sort of free standing spiral staircase. They had the inside all decked out with flags and red, green, and yellow drapes. I did manage to catch the cultural performance at the Bangladeshi embassy. A group of women sang while one played an instrument I've never seen before. It had a keyboard like a piano as well as other buttons, and she moved the back panel in and out as she played. They also had delicious chicken biryani to sample. Yummm. A woman demonstrated how to roast and prepare coffee beans at the Ethiopian embassy. The inside of the embassy was very nice and open with one wall decorated with panels of different kinds of wood. Mexico did not have their embassy open; they had their open house at the Mexican Cultural Institute. The interior decor was quite varied. The wall along the main staircase is painted with a mural done in the Mexican folk art style. The room with the flamenco demonstration had dark wood paneled walls while the room next to it would not have been out of place in a French chateau. Another room had an intricately painted pipe organ and light green walls. I wish I could have seen more of the building because I bet the other rooms wouldn't have matched the ones I did see.

Sunday night, Brooke and I saw Prince Caspian. I've read the book, but I don't remember any of it. We both enjoyed the movie a great deal. Indiana Jones wil come tomorrow night.

I went to an alumni event for my undergrad Monday night. I regret going a bit because the people there were mostly the clique-ish, snobby type that I avoided when at Spring Hill, but the food was really good, and the money went to the scholarship fund. I don't think I'll go to the next event unless it's an activity I'd do on my own anyway.


Also, a big happy 3rd anniversary to Chip and Kerry yesterday!!! I was going to call, but I didn't want to interrupt anything.

I did laundry, cleaned the apartment, and cooked. Three day weekends are great for cooking extra stuff. I made a delicious chicken pasta salad which I will have to eat all by myself since Brooke doesn't like mayo. I hope I don't get tired of it before it goes bad. If so, I'll know to halve the recipe next time. I also made a delicious cheesecake, not as delicious as ru_debega's super secret family recipe cheesecake, but still quite delicious. For dinner this evening, I made orange-glazed halibut. It was very meh. I'll certainly eat the leftovers, but I don't think I'll make it again. This is quite unfortunate as it's really easy to make (15 minutes start to finish) and low fat. The search for new recipes to add into my regular repertoire will continue whenever I get the urge to go on a cooking binge again. While looking through the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook I did come across a recipe for oven-fried pork chops that I had forgotten I enjoyed. Once I get through all the leftovers in the fridge, I'll probably make that next. Yay food!

Also this weekend, we tried out a different pizza delivery called Pizza Movers. Good pizza, ok breadsticks, delivery person who seemed a bit touched. I'd be willing to order from them again. For our movie viewing pleasure, we watched Young Frankenstein, a fine comedy by Mel Brooks. I wish he would do more movies instead of converting his existing movies into Broadway musicals.

Tomorrow morning I have a dentist appointment, so my weekend gets to last another half day. Hopefully she won't find any cavities, but I haven't been to the dentist in a while, so I'm not really confident of that outcome.

I made cookies for work yesterday, Chocolate Chip Allspice. That's not the name they have in the cookbook, but it's a much more descriptive term. They're pretty tasty, but I don't know that I'll make them again. People at work appreciated them; all the cookies were gone before lunch. I made awesome progress on one of my surveys and actually finished all the work I need to do for this year's cycle. Woot! Next week I'll start work on another annual survey which promises to be much more complicated and will take me the full six weeks I have to get everything done. I am becoming the go-to person for editing around the office because I volunteered to fix papers a few times. It's good because some people in the office really don't understand the concept of grammar check, and typos really, really bother me. I got several free drinks at the work happy hour last night for editing an 80 page manual. Bonus! Work happy hour was a lot of fun last night because we had a number of employees from the field offices in headquarters for orientation this week, and they came out with us. I ended up with a group that did some bar hopping, so I stayed out a good bit later than I intended to (got home at 11 instead of 7 or 8). It turns out that I kick ass at darts when I'm drunk. This came as a complete surprise to me as I've never played darts before and assumed I would suck immensely. The guys I played against kept insisting that I had hustled them. If I'd been hustling, we would have actually been betting on the game. I chatted with a random guy at the last bar we went to for about an hour and ended up getting his number...which I have since realized that I threw away when I was cleaning out my pockets before I left the bar. Clearly I fail at picking up guys. I did give him my number, but he said he wouldn't call me unless I called him first. I'm not really expecting to talk the guy again. Oh well.

I'm going to see "How She Move" this afternoon as I have an unholy love for dance movies. Brooke's staying home because she is more sane. Laundry will have to happen later today as everything I wore yesterday smells like smoke from the bars. Bleh. My exciting weekend, I have shown you it.




Get your own valentinr

Life has not exactly been a dramatic thrill ride this week. It's nice to have a week like that every now and again; I get to catch up on my reading. Wednesday I went to the eye doctor. The prescription on my glasses didn't change enough to merit new lenses, and my eyes are healthy. Yay! I also made lasagna Wednesday for dinner. I had forgotten how long it takes to assemble, but it's totally worth the time as the recipe yields more than a week's worth of meals. I am a huge fan of leftovers. Saturday was a big errand day which meant lots of people, not my favorite situation. However the stresses of the day were alleviated by a delicious Vietnamese dinner and watching Hot Fuzz with bakanaonna. The outtakes were hilarious.

Next weekend we plan to brave IKEA for a bookcase. I figure a three-day weekend is good for big projects like this. We're also going to frame the Harley Quin poster I got in December for helping a friend move. The rest of the weekend is reserved for lounging around in my pjs.

I get to go to one. For my very first Mardi Gras ball, bakanaonna and I are going to the Washington DC Mardi Gras ball hosted by the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians. YAY! We asked Dad if he could get us tickets as they are not generally available, and he knows tons of people in LA politics. He not only found some he paid for both of our tickets. Dad's awesome like that. The ball is formal dress, so I get to wear my bridesmaid's dress again! How many people actually do that, hmm? I did go to the mall today to see about possibly getting a new dress because I was feeling restless. Now is not the time to shop for formal dresses as it is too late for homecoming and too early for prom. I did get a new pair of shoes to wear with my dress because the pair I wore at the wedding were $12 shoes from Wal-Mart, and I wanted something a bit classier.

Work has been generally busy of late. I have finally been hit with the realization that I have a real grown-up job with responsibilities and everything. For the first six or so months, I had only been working on small, short term projects. No one thing lasted longer than a month. Now I have several long-term projects which will take months to complete. I'm going to meetings and making useful contributions. I update people on my progress. I have to send polite, grown-up emails telling people I needed their information last week when I asked for it. It's just weird for a while. That's all. I'm sure I'll get used to being a responsible member of society in no time.

Brooke and I have started watching my new MST3K movies. I highly recommend Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. The guy in the polar bear costume is especially hilarious. It comes in MST3K: The Essentials with Manos: Hands of Fate, another fine sci-fi affair.

Hurrah for a week of work where I only had to take 3 days of leave! Being home for the first time since I moved to DC was nice. Family was not too overwhelming. I flew in Saturday the 22nd for my uncle Jim's big Christmas party. Tons of people show up, and the food is always great. I learned the urban dictionary definition of an 'ambush Paddington' from one of Jim's coworkers. (Look it up; you'll hate me later.) Sunday was low-key hanging out with parents and sister and finishing Christmas preparations. I had to wrap all my presents as I didn't want to wrap them before I left only to have some overeager TSA agent destroy my efforts. Christmas Eve is traditionally spent with Mom's family. I got to see my favorite cousins on Mom's side and hang out with my favorite recently acquired cousin, Doug. He and I were in marching band together in high school and had remained casual friends until his mom married my uncle about 4 years ago. It's pretty cool to suddenly acquire a cousin you've already liked for years. After the family Christmas, Karen and I hung out at Doug's for a while before going 4-wheeling through the back fields of Port Allen. Then we went out drinking with some of Karen's people. Christmas day brought awesome presents from my immediate family (MST3K! Chocolate! B&N gift card!). Then we did Christmas with Dad's family. Karen unfortunately had to drive back to Dallas that afternoon for work. Lame! Christmas night I hung out with Doug again, and we watched Transformers and Hot Fuzz which are both awesome movies. Day after Christmas involved capitalism! Yay new corduroys! Thursday I drove to Mobile to stay with Chip and Kerry who have cruelly gotten me addicted to Carcassone, a strategy game similar to Risk. Bastards! It was awesome to spend time with them and their cats. I only got to see a few of my other Mobile-based friends due to various scheduling conflicts, but the time I did get to spend with everyone was completely awesome. As was the 7 person, 4 phone speakerphone conversation which left several of us in tears of laughter. Saturday I returned to Baton Rouge to see more family and get together with BR-based friends forbakanaonna's birthday. Tempura ice cream is a thing which is totally better in execution than in concept. Sunday I flew back to DC where Brooke was conveniently available to get me from the airport.

I totally need a vacation from my vacation.

Not that this should be news to anyone, but I just wanted to say it. I have uploaded all my Vegas pictures as well as pictures of the National Christmas tree from this weekend to my flickr page.

Friday I didn't manage to get together with Toni, so I guess we'll try again this week. I did break up with Jim though. No one particular reason, I just didn't want to date him any more. I wait with dark glee in my heart for all the awkward conversations that will happen at Christmas when everyone asks about my boyfriend.

Saturday Brooke and I went over to Rachel's for a wii party. I binged a bit on all the candy she had out to decorate her gingerbread house. We played several games. I liked the rhythm game even though Brooke kicked my butt every time. Rachel's younger brother, Tony, was also there, sporting a '70s style pornstache. He gave some lame excuse about it being for a costume, but I think he was just trying to get skeezy gay guys to hit on him. Sunday Brooke and I went to see the National Christmas tree in front of the White House. It's a huge, living tree that is decorated every year at Christmas time. Smaller trees are set up around the main tree for each state and territory. There was a Nativity with a creepily Aryan Holy Family. The Baby Jesus was especially wrong to me. There was a large fire, fenced in for safety, to huddle around for warmth and model trains running around the main tree. After we were sufficiently frozen and had seen the trees in daylight and lit up, we saw The Golden Compass. There were some changes from the book, but they worked fairly well for the movie. The movie does end before the book does. I think they wanted to have it end on less of a cliffhanger in case they didn't get to make the next movie. Nicole Kidman was perfect as Mrs. Coulter, and the girl who played Lyra did an excellent job as well.

I had previously received several Christmas cards from various coworkers, but today Boss gave out his presents (same for everyone). To start, there was a Bible quote on the wrapping paper. (You should be feeling a sense of foreboding now.) The book inside is titled "Creation: Facts of Life," tagline "How Real Science Reveals the Hand of God." It's written by a guy with a phd in biology. Apparently his studies have led him to the belief that the universe is too complex to have developed on its own; God must have had something to do with things. Putting aside the idiocy of the book itself, how can anyone think it's appropriate to give such a strongly religious-themed gifts to employees? I have known since I started work that Boss is a very religious man, but it has always been a quiet, low-key knowledge. This was very unexpected. I know he gave this book with good intentions, but it makes me extremely uncomfortable. I don't want to file a complaint with HR (or whoever deals with these things) because he's a great boss, and I don't want to turn a really great work situation sour. I'm still a bit stunned that he thought his gift an acceptable one. As much as it pains me to do this to a book, I'm going to throw it away. Usually I donate unwanted books to the library, but I want to limit access to such gross stupidity.

This marks the third incident at work where I have felt discomfort due to a religious issue. The other two times involved group prayer. Before the office Thanksgiving potluck and again before the division pizza party, one of the higher ups lead everyone in a prayer that used the words "Dear Lord" and "Jesus Christ". These were not the nondenominational blessings that I had become used to at large gatherings. They were very obviously Christian prayers. I know when the prayer started before the potluck my jaw dropped. I just couldn't believe they were doing this at an official work event. I still can't believe one of the non-Christian employees hasn't filed a complaint about it before now. I spoke about it with the other Jennifer R. in the office. She said someone had filed a complaint. Apparently it used to be more extreme. I think I'm just going to let it go for right now. However if anyone says anything to me about not participating in the prayers, I will absolutely make my discomfort known to HR (or whoever).