Butt Butt Game

So, today is my birthday. Happiness to begin with.

Andy let me open my bday presents this morning. One of the things that I got is Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. The First Video Game you can Play with your BUTT!!!! Yay!!! I am way super crazy excited.

Those little cars must not get good gas mileage.

On the corner of Briarcliff and Ponce, there was a circus clown, complete with shoes, painted face, and oversized red wig, calmly waiting for the bus.

A flock of seagulls

Right before sunset, when the sun is bright in the sky, low. They appear from behind a tan building like tossed confetti, scattered against the grey clouds. Their bellies are white and the sun illuminates their feathers, they shine sepia through my sunglasses, banking and diving toward the water.

Dirty

I have Internet again!

And so I share with you this:

Apparently, a picture in the paper featured a wrench and pen, positioned so that they looked as if they were... getting it on. A few co-workers were talking about it, and I asked to see the picture.

One of them responds:

"I don't think you should look at it, Arielle. I have an image of you as very wholesome."

So true. And yet... I was the one who passed around Forever at school in 5th grade, too. Which is way more explicit than Wikipedia would have you believe, for the record.

Because Rel.....

..... doesn't have internet right now, I'm channelling her essence (or something) to send this message.

There were mounties! In Cleveland! Ok, so not quite mounties because it IS just Cleveland, but they were policemen on horses. And that's close enough, right? Regardless, it was thrilling.

It must be a cultural thing.

While creating an account with the California State University San Bernardino so as to apply for their MA program, I encountered this mostly standard form:


Your Information

First Name: _______________________

____ Check here if you do not have a first name.

Middle Name: _________________________

Last Name: ____________________________

Best name ever

For a yoga studio: There's No Place Like OM.

Apparently, they specialize in yoga-in-the-nude. Which is also funny.

Parking tickets

Waiting for the trolley today, I saw the most awesome thing: a meter maid posse.

There were four of them (three women and a man, if I recall) all dressed in their pseudo-cop outfits complete with hats and badges. And they were all standing around one car, one at each corner. Only one of them was writing a ticket, though.

Then they strode down the street, two by two, daring anyone to mess with the meter maids.

You could almost see them snapping as they went.

Knit

This is a scarf:


I made it.


It's a little short, but awesome nonetheless. I have knitted!

Strong

There's something very satisfying about breaking up huge chunks of ice with a shovel and tossing them aside (even if by tossing, I really mean kicking a mere inch or two, since I can't lift the things). Also, it decreases the likelihood of my falling on my butt on the ice again -- and while ice is fun when the sliding on it is intentional, the unintentional sliding is a lot less entertaining.

I need to add that a second light bulb just exploded. These things are dangerous!

Luckily, I still have some potatoes.

You have permission to hit me

But I never had a livejournal! So I never got to do memes! And I was listening to my iPod when I saw this one on Facebook, and did it for fun... and most of the answers amused me. So I'm pasting it here. Snarky comments encouraged.

1. Put Your MP3 player on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds!
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.

What do your friends think of you?
All at Sea - Jamie Cullum (I'm amused. Oh, her? She's all at sea or something.)

If someone says, “Is this okay?” You say?
Point Breeze - Marah (I have no idea who this is or where it came from, but the phrase kind of works. And I'm liking the song.)

How would you describe yourself?
Over My Head - The Fray (That's sad!)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
When You're Smiling - Michael Buble (It's true.)

How do you feel today?
Still - Brian McKnight (I've got nothing.)

What is your life’s purpose?
See You in September - The Mamas and the Papas (I take this to mean travel.)

What is your motto?
Just Happy to Be Me - Sesame Street (Yes, you read that right.)

What do you think about very often?
If I had a Hammer - Peter, Paul and Mary (I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters...)

What is 2 + 2?
Do You Believe in Magic? - Lovin' Spoonful (aka, the only way to do math.)

What do you think of your best friend?
Beauty Mark - Rufus Wainwright (And gorgeous she is.)

What do you think of the person you like?
Gel - Collective Soul (I suppose in theory we would gel, yes.)

What is your life story?
Flinty Kind of Woman - Dar Williams (I can only wish.)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Wild Horses - Charlotte Martin (I'll take that.)

What do you think of when you see the person you like?
Only Wanna Be with You - Hootie and the Blowfish (Collectively... awww.)

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Tired of Being Alone - Starbucks Rock Steady 1971 (From a CD from my brother's coffee days. How depressing, though!)

What will be played at your funeral?
Wasted - Martin Sexton (Which is what all will be afterwards...)

What is your hobby/interest?
Things She Said - Toy Matinee (aka, eavesdropping.)

What is your biggest fear?
Paperweight - Josh Radin (Those things can be deadly...)

What is your biggest secret?
How Do You Talk to an Angel? - Jamie Walters (Seems pretty accurate.)

What do you think of your friends?
Since I've Been Loving You - Led Zepplin (Long time.)

What will you post this as?
Love Will Keep Us Alive - Eagles (Except I won't.)

The Craziest Thing Happened on the Way to the Library Today....

OK, OK... so it was AT the library, YESTERDAY. But you know how I love my catchy titles.

So, I have been spending more and more time at the previously dumped upon Durham Public Library. I am, in fact, there right now! I was here yesterday, as well, with one of my clients. It is a convenient place to meet, as it is not as distracting as the home, not as cold as the outside, has computers, and doesnt require a specific action (e.g.: going to the museum basically means we will be viewing the exhibits at the museum.)

Anyhow... My client and I were at the library, playing games on the computer. And the fire alarm went off!!! We all had to evacuate the library. Some people were pissed. We just braved the cold and went to the playground instead.

I don't know why this strikes me as so amusing, but it does. A loud, blinking, fear inducing alarm. At a LIBRARY. Who'd'a'thunkit?

Something else I find extrememly amusing? I am posting about this incident instead of writing my case note on said outing. Aye De Mi.

Teacher, teacher

Tonight, I had tea with one of my elementary/middle school teachers. And I got a chance to tell her just what an impact she had on me, and how the things she taught resonated in very broad ways. And unexpected ones.

For example, she unknowingly connected me to a friend in Georgia who I met when I was 12, then reconnected with years later. If not for this teacher, I never would have met this woman. But I also wouldn't have learned -- at least not for a long while -- that not everything I did was perfect from the start. And that's good knowledge to have.

That's just the start of it, too. (I really can't overstate her awesomeness. Just so you know.)

I was there!

While flipping through my 900-odd TV channels (can we pause for a moment to discuss why it's cheaper to get 900 channels than, say, fewer than that?), I discovered that several of the channels are music stations. After flipping through the '80s (Manic Monday) and the '90s (Sting), I landed on the "alternative" station. It had Shawn Mullins singing Rockabye... live at the Variety Playhouse!

And while I haven't seen Shawn Mullins there (though I saw him at the Lawerenceville gazebo), I have been to the Variety. And it made me smile that sitting here in Cleveland, I was listening to a local boy perform at a place I'd been while sitting on the couch watching the telly.

Super Bowl

So the ads were kind of lame. But the game was good. It would have been even better if Pittsburgh hadn't won.

I think my favorite ad may have been the Alec Baldwin Hulu one, with my mushy, squishy brains to be removed with a melon baller (apparently, you can see that and all other Super Bowl ads at hulu.com, conveniently, but I don't really think they're worth it).

I was also excited to learn that there's going to be another Witch Mountain movie.

But my favorite part? When I learned that Cardinals' quarterback Kurt Warner has a tendency to trip over his teammates' feet before he can throw the ball. That's just funny.

Google News isn't cooperating, so you'll just have to trust me on that one.

I'm a hero?

Tonight I saw Dar Williams perform at the Georgia Theater in Athens, GA. I was quite possibly her biggest fan there, with maaaaybe the exception of a couple of 19-ish-year old girls up front. But regardless, after playing a couple of songs from her latest album, the rest of the band departed from the stage, leaving her alone with her guitar and asking for requests. Someone shouted, "As Cool As I Am!" So she began. Midway through the first verse, she faltered, paused.... she forgot the lyrics. She laughed nervously and apologized, the audience laughed, she hummed/sang the first lines again in fast-forward, trying to pick it back up.... Still couldn't.... so I shouted them to her, "So I watched the way." She perked up and threw her hands towards me, fingers outstretched, and said, "Yes! Thank you!" And continued with the song, flawless.
After the performance, I met her by the merchandise stand. As I approached, she saw me and shouted, "You!" She said I saved her up there: she said she was completely blanking on the words, getting HORRIBLY embarrassed, and the aforementioned girls were trying to help but giving her the wrong lyrics (which I guess doesn't make them the biggest fans after all?)..... and then she heard me call out above them, and.... Yup. So anyway, we chatted some, she said "thank you" several more times and made sure I got a free t-shirt, I got a photograph taken with her, she signed a CD I had purchased, and I left. Grinning. Ecstatically.
Coolest. Concert. Ever.

Schadenfreude

It's a fun song that speaks to the occasional joyful bitterness in all of us :)

The rest of Avenue Q is pretty amazing, too. I still want a Bad Idea Bear, if anyone knows where to find them.

Snow day!

It's hard to show lots of snow. But my 20-minute commute took more than an hour and a half and the interview that I drove to near my parents' house took twice the time it should have to arrive at.

So imagine my joy when I got a phone call around noon telling me not to come back! Adults don't get snow days nearly often enough. But with weather like this... sweet.

Pictures that are probably better than mine. (And to be fair, this is my sister's picture. My plan to have lunch with my mom since I was near home turned into sharing my sister's snow day. And of the two of us, she's the photographer.)

More Josh Lyman

This article about new chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has an awesome picture of him making a face (I think at the Inauguration). But my favorite part is this passage:

He is not accustomed to fading discreetly into the background. As a staff member in the Clinton White House, a three-term House member from Chicago and the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he was viewed by many as a consummate purveyor of a crass, kneecapping brand of politics.

Mr. Obama acknowledged as much at a 2005 roast for Mr. Emanuel, who is a former ballet dancer, during which Mr. Obama credited him with being “the first to adopt Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ for dance” (a number that included “a lot of kicks below the waist”). When Mr. Emanuel lost part of his middle finger while cutting meat at an Arby’s as a teenager, Mr. Obama joked, the accident “rendered him practically mute.”

It's a spitting image

Over Christmas, I played this awesome game called Pop5 (it's a Cranium game!) with Chrys and her parents. This, her mother's creation, was the winning move. You do know who it is, right?

As she sculpted it, we were all laughing uproariously.

(Apologies for the time lapse. I'm notoriously bad at getting to pictures in a timely fashion.)

Side note: This was on the Cranium Web site and gave me pause --

Recall of Cadoo die. Click here for more information about the recall of the die in certain copies of Cadoo.