Working on my dissertation!

Hello! I'm looking forward to finishing my dissertation! Too bad it's too late to include veterinary acupuncturists!!

Charity :)


(source)

Sharks and Zombies

My favorite scene, possibly from any movie of all time.



I've started reading Everything is Illuminated. Pretty good so far. Tonight I'm watching Genghis Khan. Also, in the video store I snagged tickets for a free advanced screening of Star Trek! Sweeeeeet.

Also, zombies.



And finally, los dos!!

Update. And If this were the soundtrack to a movie, I'm pretty sure I'd like it.

Hello. My name is Charity. Do you remember me? It has been a long time. I have been very busy. Doing what, you may ask? What HAVEN'T I been doing?

It's funny; I don't think I've written in my blog regularly since before I started improv. It's like improv satisfied my need to ... whatever blogging does. Express?

Anyway, last night I got an email from my girl Nikki and it hit me that I needed to write. I love you girl. I don't know if you'll read this, but I do.

I finished 6 months of improv class and loved every minute of it. Well, there were a few scenes I didn't love so much I guess, but mostly it was awesome. I made a lot of neat swell friends, and went to some parties, and flirted with a lot of boys. :) Recently I've been seeing one special boy, but I don't want to write about him here. Just trust me, he's special!

I'm starting improv again next Monday. It's the advanced class, so I'm a bit nervous, but overall I think it will be good--the teacher is tough, and the games are harder, but I think that will be good for me.

I'm not teaching this semester, and it's been really nice to have some time off from that. I'm finishing my dissertation in the next two months (SWEET!) so I will be walking next May. You better save that date, bitches!! I just got some good news about my job, too. They're going to try to hook up a post-doc for me. Yay! That way I will have a job and benefits, but I will also not have to start a new job in this crappy economic climate. Hopefully by next year the economy will be better so I can start a new job making more money than I would this year.

My confirmation to Episcopalian went through and I love my church. Oh, and I'm learning Hindi. So things are good.

Love,
Charity :)
___________________________________________

Opening Credits: State of Clarity (Guru ft. Common and Bob James)

Waking Up: Paper Planes (M.I.A.)

Average Day: I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Kay Starr, Stuhr Remix)

First Date: Down Home Girl (Old Crow Medicine Show)

Falling In Love: I Can't Get Next to You (Al Green)

Love Scene: Colors (Amos Lee)

Fight Scene: Dangerous Type (The Cars)

Breaking Up: Basketball Jones (Cheech and Chong)

Getting Back Together: Mutha'uckas (Flight of the Conchords)

Secret Love: Do You Love Me? (The Contours)

Life's Okay: Feeling Good (Nina Simone)

Mental Breakdown: Lush Life (Sammy Davis, Jr.)

Driving: What Am I Going to Do With Myself (Al Green)

Learning A Lesson: It's Been a Year (Greg Laswell)

Deep Thought: My Best Friend's Girl (The Cars)

Flashback: I'll Be There (Jackson 5)

Happy Dance: The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda (The Pogues)

Regretting: Cruisin' (Smokey Robinson)

Long Night Alone: Sailin' (Harry Nilsson)

Death Scene: And Then You (Greg Laswell)

Closing Credits: The Race is On (George Jones)

two things you do with your fingers.

Namely, vote:

"I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

- Author David Sedaris, on undecided voters

...and play the piano:



I'm having a posting struggle lately. I'll post something interesting and personal again soon.

Probably.

Charity :)

Oakland Cemetary, early October 2008

Photos coming soon. I made a slideshow with iPhoto but the image quality was terrible so now I have to do it in Picasa. And frankly, I'm in the middle of watching Lost, so it will have to wait.

(See how I've started prioritizing my needs? Motto bene.)

Charity :)

i was never a fan of the rocky movies.

here's why:


"i mean...come on." (a la cartman. i was a fan of south park.)

oh, and speaking of south park... i mean, sponge bob square pants... oh, and foul language...

oh, wait, is it the weekend??

This week has been crazy busy. Luckily I've been productive (other than the slip up on Monday--but I only missed it since I was working so hard!!), but I haven't been able to do anything fun!! Well, that's not true. I went to a friend's birthday dinner last night. Now that was fun--more Indian food (yay!), board games, a little baby that cried as soon as I picked her up (but even then, she was SOO CUTE!!!!).

Now I'm going to be at school all day doing my applications, which it will feel MARVELOUS to finish, then probably all night, too.

Tomorrow I have a lunch date, and then IMPROV day one, and then Les Mis!!! This week will definitely pay off this weekend. :) It will actually pay off Saturday, and then Sunday will be icing on the cake! Church, where I'm moving one Sunday at a time from "Inquirer" to "Episcopalian." Then, I'm going to visit my friend in Alpharetta, using my NEW GPS (!!!), whom I have never yet visited!

I can't wait! Just a few short hours! Maybe I'll even watch a Doctor Who on You tube when I get home tonight.

Charity :)

By the way (I had to add this):

did you ever have one of those days?

I had such a great weekend! Then today, I was supposed to give a quiz in my friend's class and meet with one of my own students. I remembered this morning, and thought about it all morning, and then just didn't go. An hour later, my friend emailed, and I still can't figure out how I forgot. It's like I've been in a black hole since 11 am.

How embarassing. What is the matter with me?

Charity :)

best birthday ever!

I had such a wonderful birthday! Thanks for all the birthday greetings and wishes and cards and gifts and meals. And the flowers! I got flowers from Nikki and Olivia.

I went to the pool with Katie in the morning (her birthday is today--happy birthday, Katie!), my friend Mike took me out for a late lunch, Katie and I got mani/pedis, I went out to dinner at Cafe Bombay (yum!) with many wonderful people from school, and then I went to Borders by myself and wondered around, collecting an armful of books to peruse while drinking my decaf soy latte (yummy!). I ended up buying The Shadow of the Wind, which I've been wanting to read for a long time, Flight of the Concords DVDs (the funniest show ever), and The Golden Notebook which I will read later.

Big hugs and kisses all around. I hope everyone's 31st was/is that pleasant.

Now I'm going to go to church and learn more about the Anglican Communion! Too bad I know where it is, so I don't have to use my new GPS (YAY!). Maybe I'll use it anyway.

"...Recalculating..."

charity :)

salute to companions.

This is a nice tribute to the companions of Dr. Who over the years, although it stops at 2006 so Martha's not in it. I am posting it in honor of my dad, who instilled in me my love of Doctor Who from a young age (although at first the love could be more accurately described as terror) and also in honor of all of my companions over the years. Maybe that's why I like Doctor Who so much--he is always reinventing himself, and he can't stay with only one companion, since he never ages, but they do. In the same way, my life takes me around to different companions, and over the years they have all been crucial in making me who I am and keeping me alive and well. Like Doctor Who, I can win out over the scary monsters I face, but like Doctor Who, I usually can't do it without my companions. So maybe that's why I like him.

That and the sonic screwdriver.

charity :)



PS: I heard that David Tennant might not be in the next season, which won't come out until 2010. I hope I am wrong on both counts, since 1) I don't know how I'll wait that long and 2) David Tennant's Doctor Who is sooooooooooo delightfully yummy.

another funny way of looking at it.

speaking of sexism...


charity :)

reality is crazy enough.

Today my mom sent me the now-famous (infamous) picture of Sarah Palin supposedly in a bikini with a gun (below) and it took me forever (well, a few minutes) to find out that it is photoshopped. Quite well, it is true, but nonetheless, it is a fake.

I agree with many others, who argue that instead of making stuff up about her, all we have to do is look at the scary facts, none of which have to do with flag bikinis. That's just a bizarre, and in my opinion cheesy, fashion choice. And the gun, well that's just weird.

To me, it's like making a joke of the real danger she poses (to women in and) to America. Really, I find her nomination terrifying, but hopefully it will at least be the nail on the coffin of John McCain's Republican presidential campaign.

I was not surprised to find that the original was taken in Georgia, by the way. Good old Georgia. I love it here. No, I'm serious!

I mean, dang. How could you not?

charity :)

Carolina Beach pictures.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

family feud of sorts.

I am spending two days with my parents in Asheboro. I love them. They are nice people. But I am stir-crazy. I want to be at the beach, and instead I am spending the afternoon going through Christian thrift stores (I forgot to bring my dress-up clothes for COURT) and watching movies.

We just watched Blame It On Fidel (see below) which was awesome and I highly recommend it. Richard wanted to go straight into Nacho Libre, but I need a break. I played the piano for a while, enjoying the barely recognizable (and not-frequently practiced) songs of Tori Amos and Coldplay. Now I'm doing this while they watch Family Feud. It's hard to compete with John O'Hurley I guess. Maybe it's the hair.



We're heading off to the beach tomorrow--FINALLY--so until then, I guess I'll rummage through all my junk that I've left in storage here.

I might be able to post an entry at the beach, but probably not. Either way, I'll definitely post some pictures when I get back.

Love, Charity ;)

ps-oh, and my mom is paying for me to go to Improv classes for my birthday! This will be the best birthday present ever, I think!!! Yay, 31! (God, I'm old.)

overthinking.

Overthinking is a bad habit of mine. It always has been. The drive home to Asheboro today was a long one. For some reason I was listening to my "bad-ass lady" music: Ani DiFranco (Not a Pretty Girl), PJ Harvey (Rid of Me), and the Breeders (Last Splash). And I was thinking. Dwelling in decisions I have to make, decisions I want to make but can't, decisions I know I should make but won't, and the like.

Driving down Highway 49 through the outskirts of Charlotte, I hit traffic. I found myself behind a car with personalized tags. I struggled to figure out what their tag meant: 4ARESON, and then I realized it was "for a reason" and I felt so silly because of what I had said the other day, and yet here I was, so easily slipping into the familiar pattern of worrying over every little thing.

I don't want to do that any more. I guess I'll just have to keep reminding myself. It was nice to get some help today.

I'm off to the beach tomorrow. I'll post some pictures afterwards.

Peace and love to you if you find yourself reading this,
Charity :)

whoa! what was that?

I will say this: when you honestly give something to God, or fate, or whatever--when you honestly let control of something go and quit trying to bend reality to your will, amazing things happen. It's pretty great!

Here's why:

1) you don't have to worry about the outcome anymore, and can relax knowing that the outcome is predetermined and will be the same whether you stress about it or not.

2) amazing things might happen--things you never expected. You will be surprised by good things that come into your life.

3) bad things that happen don't seem so bad anymore. The Avett Brothers describe their past loves:

"And I've known others,And I've loved others too
But I loved them cause they were stepping stones
On a staircase to you"

Everything that happens, even if it seems yucky, is just a step to something else. It's just a matter of seeing the eventual outcome as positive, rather than negative. Everything is temporary, and if you try desperately to stay on that happy step rather than moving forward, you'll just make yourself unhappy in the long run. Because you can't stay there. And who would want to, since the step beyond is better than you can even imagine!

Charity :)

PS-Um, 30 is really old. I'm feeling it today. It's ok, but I'm just saying. It's old.

i guess i'm just on a video-posting kick.

love these guys!

charity :)

transcribing.

I know I should be... I'm just SO INCREDIBLY BORED with it. I think I'll move on to analysis first, and come back to this interview. I think I conducted it summer of 2007. Yes, over a year ago. Surely that's a record. Over a year to transcribe an interview? That's like one word a day.

Hmm, meaning if I had only done just one word a day, I would be done by now. Missed opportunities...

I've been listening to The Wailin' Jennys lately. I really like them. The video below isn't my favorite song by them, but it's good, and it's the only one I can find that's not recorded live and weird sounding. Plus, it's kind of fitting. I hope you like it!



charity :)

six flags photos.

That's that, Mattress man.

charity :)

simply the best...

...musical ever.



I saw Curse of the Golden Flower yesterday; very good. Very lush (luscious?), just like they said. I also saw The Dark Knight again yesterday. It's still as good as I remembered. I really like the new series, and I'm sad about Heath Ledger again. His performance is top notch.

I miss church. My cousin's in town so we didn't go. :( Hopefully I'll be able to go next weekend, although chances of getting my little brother to go with me are pretty slim. But oh, yeah, SIX FLAGS here we come!

Last week saw Nights of Cabiria recently ("the Fellini film"), and my oh my was it heartbreaking. I don't know why I read that movies are described as "heartbreaking" and yet every time I'm surprised. It was amazing, though. It is now my favorite of Fellini's I think. The lead, Giulietta Masina, is AMAZING. Cute and gives a very touching and convincing performance as the prostitute who can't find happiness (I wonder why?). It's better than Pretty Woman, at least, although that's really not saying much. I worry about people who like that movie. Very much I worry.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the clip. Liza Minelli is no joke. Love her.

(source)
Charity :)

PS-I got Wicked tickets for October! Unfortunately I couldn't get them for the weekend that my mom could come with us, but Rich and I will surely have a blast!