re: mindless eating machines.

Some videos for you today.

Last night I watched this movie, which I think, in combination with the TLC show I watched afterwards on primordial dwarfism and the fried zucchini I had at the Independent, was responsible for my extensive and complicated nightmares last night. At one point, my stepmom slaughtered a rooster in the kitchen sink, admonishing, "Well, where do you think my delicious chicken salad comes from??" This was after I was stung by a miniature hammerhead shark/rattlesnake prowling around my living room along with other poisonous reptilian fish. Ick.

Regardless of all that, I thought the movie was awesome, plain and simple, and anyone who says otherwise is a HATER, and is thus NOT invited to help me bring sexy back.

"pour it into the sink..."

They compare it with Jaws, which oddly enough, is coming in the mail today from Netflix!


"As if God created the devil--and gave him jaws."

I will let you know what I think. I can only hope, but doubt, that it will be as entertaining as the following:


"It's ok, I been swimmin' a lot lately. Mmm, yummy. Mmm."

Also, I'm finally going to the Vortex tonight after weeks of craving it!! I'm not supposed to eat the french fries, but they are so good, and I am, at times, a "mindless eating machine" so I'm not even going to pretend I'll get a salad instead. Sorry, Weight Watchers...

Of course, this means I'll probably have nightmares about Jaws wandering my apartment forlornly, but oh well...

charity :)

for those of you who don't know...

i've decided to go ahead and bring sexy back. i take my inspiration from stacie, who like so many brave others, has taken inspiration from justin.



and disney.

and in other news, don't sleep naked with bears, no matter how drunk you are (story here).

and if you want to leash train your cat, you can find directions at this website. I'm trying, but I can't find a harness big enough for Max and Sam is afraid of the outdoors. It's been frustrating.


(picture from above website)

charity :)

freaks and business: coney island.

blue skies and tan sands: coney island.

Harry Potter the Fifth movie.

I forgot to mention that Susanna and I went to see it last night. I had heard bad things about it, from pretty much everybody, but I thought it was great. I'm not nerdy enough to be upset about all the stuff they cut out or changed. I'm actually glad that the book is better, since I feel like "It serves you [other movie-goers] right for NOT reading the book first." Those of us who have read it get to enjoy seeing some of the more CGI-amenable aspects of the story in "real life" as well as having loved the book while we read it. But honestly, I must admit that anyway, this was by far my least favorite book. I won't tell you why, but I will tell you that the part that made me not like it was still large as life in the movie. It is just very sad and seemingly unnecessary. But I think interestingly, it is successful at making even the already more committed fans even more committed and sympathetic to Harry.

I overheard a woman in my yoga class explaining a few weeks ago that her son was quite taken with the effectiveness of the ways adolescence was portrayed, and the intense emotions, including anger, that often accompanies this stage in human development, and that is quite right. It's interesting to think of it: that period of time was psychologically, emotionally, physically, and intellectually insane and stressful and I would hate to go back. Plus, think about if you were also going through what Harry is going through. Any movie about that is going to be dark. Period. If you're surprised, you're not thinking about it.

What?! I'm a fan!

(Although sometimes I would think of Daniel Radcliffe on Extras and smile to myself...)

charity :)

ps - can you wait for the photos of the mystery place!?!?
(You'll have to, I'm afraid)

In the interest of full disclosure...

I just got back yesterday from a conference in New York: the ASA annual meetings. I had a pretty good time in the city, except for the fact that my brother and his wife left after the first two days. I can't fault them for it, though, since they had plans to go to the beach in NC for their first wedding anniversary. It was pretty empowering to walk around the city by myself, and find my own ways to the things I needed and wanted to do.* And I'm always down for some New York pizza. I'd rather share it, but I'm not above eating by myself. :)

My brother and his wife's absence did mean, however, that I spent a lot more time in the Rockefeller Center/Broadway/Times Square/Radio City part of the city* than I would have liked, since that was the part of town the conference was in.

Actually, the first two days I went to a conference at Hofstra University, on Long Island. I'd never been there, and was pleasantly surprised at the view from the train at least. That's my kind of suburbia. I knew there was a reason people lived in the suburbs, and it's because not all suburbs look like Cobb County, GA or Cary, NC. If I were going to live in that area, though, I'd want to live in Brooklyn* or Queens I think. Anyway...

The conference itself (not the one at Hofstra, but the one that followed) was quite dreary in fact. I am trying to get a job, and this trip made me think that despite my best efforts, I would not be getting a job this year. It's nice because I'll have more time to get myself looking and feeling competitive, but it's bad because I WANT TO GET OUT OF ATLANTA.*

Oh, and I met another really great guy, who told me 6 days after we met that "in the interest of full disclosure, Charity, I really feel I ought to tell you I have a partner." Lovely. Why do I bother, really?

On the good side, I met a lovely young lady from Vancouver, and now I have someone to go visit up there. :)

Anyway, about the duck (above): Michelle and Carrie and I were sitting in Central Park one afternoon, and this duck wouldn't leave us alone. I was making fun, telling Carrie she better get used to it, seeing as how she's getting married in a month (2 days after my 30th, but that's a mental breakdown of a different color) at the PEABODY and how was she going to avoid the ducks there? Then this crazy duck attacked. We are only lucky no one was hurt.

On the way out I took a picture of this lamp post, which I found quite charming:*



* I will be speaking more about things I wanted to do and finally did, Brooklyn, charming places and things, where I want to get out of Atlanta TO, and escapes from the Rockefeller Center/Broadway/Times Square/Radio City part of the city in my next entry. Can you hardly wait?!?!

Here's a hint:



PS-Although I hate the smell of poops (human, dog, horse) and urine and body odor and cigar and cigarette smoke and traffic exhaust that follows me around in NYC, it STILL smells like donuts every once in a while (and pizza, but mostly donuts). And despite the other rancidness, I still always want one. Yum.

this week

This week.

-- I spent $20 mailing a package to my friend's daughter in Las Vegas. Which is funny, since the package consists of two box sets of "young adult" novels that cost me a pretty penny initially, but were just sitting on my shelves. I wrapped them in the most interesting paper I had to make them look more gift-like, but unfortunately the most interesting paper I had was a realtor's mailer. Then I forgot the card so I wrote a note on a request for certified mail I picked up in the Post Office and stuffed it in the box. The lady chided me, once I finally got to the front of the line about 30 minutes after beginning my wait, "Why didn't you just use the flat rate boxes? It would have been so much cheaper." Beyond my control, I swear, I glared at her. This was after she kindly offered me priority mail tape since I had forgotten mine and didn't want to pay $3.50 for a roll of tape exactly like the one I had at home. This, I realized when she rang it up, was exactly why I had to pay so much to ship it as well. Glare. Glare. Glare. Incidentally, this is also why Olivia should have her package today instead of next week. Of course, she's visiting her grandparents until three weeks from now. In North Carolina. Whatever. Glare.

-- I hit the 10 pounds down mark yesterday. Then for various reasons I pigged out on Robert's American Gourmet "Pirate's Booty" so I gained a pound back. That still leaves me 8 and a half pounds down, though, so I won't complain about an unfortunate binge that was the result of a painful conflation of several unfortunate turns of events (explained below).

-- Friday I finally finished transcribing my first interview! Now I just have 8 more to transcribe, 3 more to schedule, and 15 more to find out where and how the hell I'm going to get these physicians to talk to me.

-- My advisor advised me to send out a paper for publication (I guess it was my idea, but he's behind it). He's supportive and thinks that although I'll have to do another version of it, I shouldn't have to change much. The good news is that once I get that publication out, I'll be a much stronger candidate for getting a job. The bad news is that until I get that out, I won't be such a strong candidate for getting a job. That is unfortunate, since there are several jobs right now that I'd really like to be qualified for.

-- I got my hair cut (see blog posting below). I like the salon, but it was too pricey for it's own good. The reason I went there is because every time I go to Key Lime Pie, the people I saw before aren't there anymore. The girl who did my hair did a good job, but I feel like, and I know this might sound snobby, but if I'm paying top dollar (to me) for hair-doing, I want to be pampered a little. At Key Lime Pie, they bring you tea, and everything is very nice and stylish, and comfy. Plus they use Aveda color. The place I went yesterday would have been nice if it was significantly cheaper. As it was, I felt like I wasted my money a little, since it was kind of a "no frills" type of place but I was paying "frills" prices. I was also really nervous about it, since I wanted a really good hair cut for my job interviews (at the ASA meetings in NYC next week) and my portrait (end of August). I remembered too late that I wanted to try this place called "Fresche" in Grant Park. Next time. When I'm 30.

-- I am glad I went there yesterday, though, even though I was so nervous towards the end (I feel like she took so long on the color that she rushed the cut a little). The reason I'm glad is because the lady who did my hair is 9 months pregnant. Now why would that matter? She used IUI (intrauterine insemination) to get pregnant, because things just didn't work out. I was excited to hear that (she volunteered the information, obviously, which was actually kind of strange; she must talk about it all the time). I asked her all about it, since I've often thought that's what I'll have to do someday. I'll round 36 and still be single with no prospects, and start really worrying; hopefully by then I'll have a job so can afford to pursue alternatives. So she's telling me all about it and I'm listening, fascinated. She mentions how she lost most of her friends because they're still in the "party all the time" mindset (which intrigues me, considering she's 38). I think for a minute about how that's totally the opposite of my situation. I want to party all the time but all my friends have babies. Anyway, then she says, "but don't worry; 6 weeks and I'm back doing hair." 6 weeks?

"What are you going to do with your tiny baby?"

"My dad is going to keep him."

"6 weeks old babies are awfully tiny! How are you going to be able to leave him?"

"Hey, single mom here. I don't have many options."

Oh yeah. I remembered all the reasons I don't want to have a baby by myself and all of a sudden all the sadness of all the plans I had came rushing back. It's sad to plan a life with someone and then have it ripped out of your hands. At that point, all my excitement melted away and I was totally depressed again.

"So what are you doing tonight?" She asked as she finished styling my hair.

"Nothing," I responded, bleakly in my mind, but hopefully coming across as nonchalant.

"Well, you have to go out! You just got your hair done! Call up some friends and just go out to dinner or something."

"Yeah," I replied, again trying to sound not-pathetic.

I drove away from the salon in a funk. I called my friends in Atlanta and of course my friends in Atlanta consist of two small families, who for obvious reasons (one three and a half years old and one seven and a half months old) couldn't drop everything and go out with me to show off my new haircut.

Luckily, USA was showing a marathon of Law and Order: SVU, as usual, so I watched that. I think I was too depressed to watch the movie I rented: Days of Being Wild, an early Wong Kar-Wai film.

[Hence, the pirate's booty.]

-- Last night I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. At the risk of sounding too dorky, it was super-awesome. I can't wait to go read the series again. I put off seeing the Order of the Phoenix because I was reading the last book and I heard the movie wasn't that good. Maybe I'll go see a matinee showing of it today with all the other little children.

-- This next week I'm going to try to get a couple of interviews scheduled (if not done), and at least work on more transcriptions. I have to go to school today and print stuff out for class, which thankfully ends this week. I also have to get my teaching stuff ready for the ASA interviews that will probably not happen ("Be prepared!"). I need to take syllabi, assignments, copies of my CV, etc.

I also need to go through my dissertation and my tiny amount of data, so I can have something to say when asked that dreaded (by me) question: "So what is your data showing so far?"

Let me tell you. So far, it's seeming pretty bleak.

my new haircut. again.

ruddy

I am calling retired professors as part of my job today; asking them if they have any items to add to our Writers' Display Case. I just got off the phone with a man who stopped me when I introduced myself, and thoughtfully and carefully and enthusiastically told me:

Charity (my last name here).... No novelist, however clever, could begin to come up with a name as wonderful as yours.

That was pretty nice.

Another good thing about today is that I found out that I lost a pound and a half this week, bringing me halfway to my initial weight loss goal, and a third of the way to my total goal.

Also, I'm getting close on Harry Potter. With excitement, anticipation, anxiety, and melancholy (the last book ever!) I continue, one or two chapters a night closer to finding out the answers.


Which reminds me (Daniel Radcliffe was great), I saw Extras, Series 2: Extra Fabulous, I should say. I pretty much have loved every episode. I'll have to buy the lot of them, I suppose.


Are you having a laugh?