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Saturday, November 28th, 2009
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12:00 pm - Tales of my rockstar life, Vol. 1
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| Sunday, November 1st, 2009
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9:08 am - OH NO IT IS NOVEMBER
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Which is generally the cruelest busiest month of the year. This month, I've got
-Two weddings to attend
-Planning a wedding
-Submitting a proposal for my final exam for my online class
-Administering finals to my students
-GRADING OMG [dies]
-Making up TWO new classes & teaching AP [dies again]
-Thanksgiving, which is fun but involves Negotiation about visitation rights for two families
-my favorite professional development of the year, the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) convention, in Philly, where I'll get to stay with my cousin Rich and get a million free books, OH WAIT WE HAVE NO MONEY FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THIS YEAR
-my grandmother's 80th birthday party (which I am excited about going to, even if it is the same weekend as [sniffle] NCTE)
-ETA: How could I forget? 11/10 is Lizz R's birthday!!!! Not her 80th, though.
Oh, and let's not forget NaNoWriMo!!!
...and how I told the kids I'd host a National Novel Writing Month CLUB, from 3:30-5:00, every day in November. What was I thinking?!?!?!?!
Oh, right: I was thinking that someday I'd like to write a novel. I'M SURE THIS WILL BE THE RIGHT TIME.
Seriously, putting NaNoWriMo in November has always seemed like kind of a dumb idea to me. I mean, who isn't insanely busy in November?? I have NEVER not been insanely busy in November. I guess most adults don't have November finals anymore, but STILL.
________
OK, went to the NaNo site, signed up as an educator, and got a free NaNo pack for the kids (buttons!!!). And a tshirt. GRADING AVOISION: GO!
Anyway, I'm not sure if regular NaNo people can be friends with me, since I'm in the Youth Writing Project as an educator rather than in the regular NaNo, but my username is ms_larkin if you want to try to find out.
Time to go make breakfast in case Courtney & Marla & Cameron ever wake up. I am cursed with an inability to sleep in... it's ok, it's better if I'm actually tired by the time 10 pm rolls around.
current mood:  awake
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| Saturday, October 31st, 2009
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7:14 pm - Are you ready for HALLOWEEN!?!?!?
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Me'n'English Teacher 2 are excited about our costumes! Which are literary! From a book that many of our kids have read!!
woooooooooooooooooooo!
Right now I'm being Thing 1 for trick-or-treaters while Cameron plays Phantom Hero (aka off-brand Batman). We are AWESOME.
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| Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
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9:42 pm - i can't WAIT for these
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Brent: so, wedding photos, twilight theme, perhaps?
I AM HERE TO SERVE YOU
but YOU and edward and CAMERON as BELLA
what do you think?
me: ahahahaha
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I will bring the glitter paint
current mood:  amused
current music: Cam & Jorr watching LOST (season 3!)
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| Monday, October 12th, 2009
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8:44 pm - wedding update! NUMBAR ONE!!
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Next one will be filtered. Just wanted to give y'all one last heads up before you MISS IT!!!
( wedddddddinggggggg )
Hints? Suggestions? Etc?
current mood:  typety typety typety
current music: Cam & Jorr watching LOST (season 3!)
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| Thursday, September 10th, 2009
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10:26 pm - awesome/hilarious things I heard at school today
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1. I have taken away several cell phones.
RickyBobby*: Oh man, look, it's MS LARKIN. She's the CELL PHONE NINJA!!!!!1 You'll just be, like, sitting there, with your back to her, thinking it's all safe, but the SECOND you get out your phone, she is just ON YOU! And she TAKES IT!!!!!!!11BBQ!! It's NUTS!!!!!1
Me: [feels exceptionally pleased with myself]
One of the other teachers suggested that I get a CELL PHONE NINJA tshirt. I think this plan is STELLAR.
2. I was hanging out in a room full of freshman girls, all of whom are totally ignorant about everything politics.
[last week]
White Girl**: JUST BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE BARACK OBAMA DOESN'T MEAN I'M RACIST.
Black Girl***: OMG YES IT DOES. WHY ARE YOU SO RACIST? ALL REPUBLICANS ARE RACIST.
Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa! HUSH. BG, come here.
BG: WG is so racist!! She says she likes REPUBLICANS.
Me: BG. Not all Republicans are racist.
BG: Yes they are! Because like HALF the Democrats are black!!!
Me: Name two.
BG: What?
Me: Name two black Democrats.
BG: ...Obama... and... [some name I forgot]
Other Teacher: [that other guy]? The Colts player?
BG: ...yeah.
OT: How do you know he's a Democrat?
BG: HE IS BLACK!!!
Me: BG... let me introduce you to the concept of Michael Steele.
BG: Huh?
[this conversation continues for like ten more minutes, involving me explaining with a Venn Diagram that not all racists are Republicans, and not all Republicans are racists, but there's some overlap, just like there is with Democrats]
BG: [returns to seat]
WG: So, you still think I'm RACIST???
BG: Not all Republicans are racist. Ms. Larkin made me understand it.
[today]
WG and some other white girls are presenting something about something for Civics class. Don't ask me; they weren't very clear. ANYWAY, end result was this gold nugget:
WG: And I'm NOT racist, because you don't HAVE to be racist to not like the President.
Other White Girl: Yeah! We're not racist because we don't like the President. We're racist because--NO WAIT NO
Me: [dies inside... of laughing]
SO ANYWAY: school is going well, I'm (still) not dead (yet), and teenagers are HILARIOUS. In other news, I now have a Teaching Assistant (LOL) to grade papers for me, one of my other students referred to Obama as "the spawn of Satan" while we were watching his speech to schoolchildren (two days late, b/c some parents called and complained that if we showed it they would keep their kids home (good riddance)) and I told her that she could be quiet and take her makeup vocabulary quiz or she could take a zero and keep talking, and that reminds me I need to go write up some other kid for generalized asshattery before I forget (again).
OH! And I am in GRAD SCHOOL! Uh, sort of. I'm taking an online class for graduate credit (woohoo!) from the Harvard University Extension School. EL OH EL Y'ALL I AM A HARVARD STUDENT. Kind of. Except not really. I would like to point out that their admission requirements are as follows:
*Have a credit card.
*Give us lots of money.
And you're in!! The class is called "American Protest Litareture from Tom Paine to Tupac," and I am STOKED. Also, on a student's recommendation, I just ordered Jay-Z's new album (Marla and Clare clutch their pearls at the memory of how much I played the Black Album (they banned it from the apartment after like a week)). LOOK I AM BONDING WITH KIDS.
Finally, tomorrow night is the ANIME CLUB LOCK-IN, which I have once again foolishly agreed to chaperone once again. HA. So we'll see how that goes. Now I have to a)find my tiny booklight, so I can keep reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for class while they watch Dragonballz or Sailor Moon (one of the kids actually said she's getting into it, and trying to get people to cosplay it with her at the next con, and I may or may not have told her she could borrow my Sailor Mars costume... HA), and b)get to bed at a (semi)reasonable hour so that I don't DIE tomorrow.
Also IMPORTANT TV ANNOUNCEMENT TIME if you haven't watched "Glee" yet, you really NEED to get on that. STAT!
I love you all. Mostly. <3
*Not (technically) his real name.
**Also not her real name.
***Totally her actual name guys! See above.
current mood:  chipper
current music: Cameron washing dishes b/c he's the bomb-diggety
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| Sunday, September 6th, 2009
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11:45 pm - Oh yeah and...
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11:40 pm - Oh hey there
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| Monday, August 24th, 2009
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7:13 am - swap party---anybody interested?
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So far I've mostly gotten a bunch of "Oh, I can't be there, but I have stuff for you!"
And since "getting stuff OUT of that apartment" is my actual goal, I think that I might have to postpone if nobody's coming to take things away. :)
Sat. 8/29 1pm. Anybody in?
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| Monday, August 10th, 2009
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3:05 pm - swap party -- Farewell to The Marott style!
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I'm thinking about swapping all the stuff that I don't want to move some of the things I'd forgotten I had and turned up while packing to move. Who's down for Sat. 8/29?
I was thinking that would be the Housewarming Party at my new place, but it's also my lastest chance to toss a fete at the Marott (my lease is up 8/31, so let's not party toooooo hard). This way I'll have moved stuff to the new place and have a whole empty bedroom for swapping in!!
Everyone's invited -- tell your friends -- if I get enough (any?) male interest, we could have a boys' section too??
FYI for newbies:
1. Bring stuff you don't need anymore (clothes, accessories, random things).
2. Go through other people's stuff. Take what you like!
3. Leftovers will be donated to Thrifty Threads, the thrift-store arm of The Julian Center, an Indy shelter for battered women and children. They get first dibs on donations, and what they don't need is sold to raise money for the Center.
Let me know if you're interested! (or lobby for another date, but your options are this coming weekend and the weekend of the 28th/29th/30th, because I'm having a CAKE TASTING AND VENUE SCOUTING EXPEDITION in Cincy on the 22nd).
current music: alicia keys
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| Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
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8:53 pm - things about stuff
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1. My first day of Real Classes went well.
2. Much more smoothly than yesterday, when during orientation the front-desk lady (aka secretary, nurse, mom, and general Runner of All Things) saw A FUNNEL CLOUD OMG, forcing us to take 150+ students down into the bowels of the school (currently under construction, including wet plaster, exposed wiring, and *probably* not asbestos (anymore)?). AWESOME.
3. Notes from students to teachers about what they Need to Succeed include variations on the usual (help me, don't give up on me, answer my questions, care about me, don't let me quit) and also one hilarious "AND PROTECT ME FROM STORMS" (clearly added post-tornado).
4. LOTS of trees and branches down, some power still out in the neighborhood (12+ hours later), and nobody got hurt and not even our cars got damaged, despite the tree next to the parking lot losing like half of its limbs. o_O
5. The building is totally almost big enough for all the students we enrolled! SO CLOSE! One more classroom and two more offices to go! Also, heating/cooling/power. WHATEVER.
6. I am sick. :(
7. Caffiene + pseudophedrine + adrenaline = I MADE IT THROUGH TODAY ANYWAY AND DID A TOTALLY PASSABLE JOB.
BossPerson: Well, you at 50% is still better than most people at 100%.
Me: [stuffy and ungrateful] Yeah, bud whud if I'b ondy at, like, twendy bercend?
(But that was before the MONSTER M-80 kicked in...)
And on THAT note, I'm going to go try to Get Things Done for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll also need to write up some sub plans, since I'm going to LOLLAPALOOZA WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
<3
current mood:  alive (mostly)
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| Monday, July 20th, 2009
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10:05 pm - I have done a lot of talking lately, so...
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OK PEOPLE! Time for Important Questions From Me.
I assume that most of my beloved readers have been to a wedding or two in their time. I even go so far as to assume that some of them have been awesome and some have sucked.
As you know, I am planning on having one of those in the not-so-distant future (probably next October, but that's not set in stone yet).
SO, like any good teacher, I hope to steal all of your ideas and run away cackling, then make them into my own Frankenstein of a plan.
If you would be so kind, please...
1. Tell me about a wedding or an element of a wedding that you either really liked or strongly disliked. What did you love? Hate? Why?
2. If you're married yourself, what did you enjoy the most? What was the best part? What would you change?
3. Which of these will look better on my bridesmaids? (Keep in mind that I've asked ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mitchco to be one and plan to ask my brother to be one as well.) ( cut for images! )
4. General comments or suggestions? Other dress options for the Poor Unfortunate Souls in my wedding party? Etc?
KTHXBAAAAI
Feel free to comment anonymously or email me instead. THANKS GUYS! WOO!
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12:25 am - addendum
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Also as it turns out I can't work the key to Cameron's house (?!?!?!?! IT IS SO HARD WTF) and after like 10 minutes of messing with it gave up and came back to my apt and built myself A FORT.
By which I mean, here is where I'm sleeping tonight:
( cut for size )
I'm glad I decided making that awesome image (note that I included both my new bangs AND my new highlights) was a better idea than going to bed anywhere near a reasonable hour. Sigh.
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| Sunday, July 19th, 2009
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7:15 pm - you don't have to live like a refugee
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You know that Tom Petty song "Refugee"? The one where the refrain is "You don't have to live like a refugee (don't have to live like a ref-u-geeeEEee)"?
Yeah. I have just learned that it is, at least in my case, A LIE.
You know how happy I have always been with The Marott over the last three years? Yeah. Consider that canceled. I haven't been able to sleep at my apartment since SUNDAY and not, as is usual, because I am a crazy jetsetter (although last night I was in Ann Arbor, helping with Courtney's Last Hurrah/move-out). It's because of THE MILDEW.
I told the staff about THE MILDEW
a)before I went to Miami (I thought it was a bathtub leak),
b)when I got back from Miami, before I went to South Bend (it was more clearly a larger problem then),
c)Sunday when I got back from South Bend, and the stench was overwhelming, and I went to stay at Cameron's because it couldn't possibly be healthy,
d)Monday when I came back to see if there was any change, and
e)Tuesday, when it was clear that the only change was STILL that it was smelling worse and getting larger.
And I'm pretty sure they STILL didn't do anything until Katie also went down there, and demanded that it be done IMMEDIATELY because she is ASTHMATIC (which makes two of us, incidentally).
I also spent Wednesday moving everything I own, as documented earlier. Meaning that I have been unable to sleep in my own apartment for A WEEK, because yesterday before I left for Ann Arbor I was still looking at a billow of carpets with fans under them. And they promised me my room would be re-inhabitable by 2pm. And I went to Ann Arbor, and returned at SIX PEE EM ON SUNDAY, to discover (after moving my bed back in there, with Courtney and Marla's gracious help) that the spot was STILL DAMP and STILL SMELLED LIKE MILDEW. Also that the open windows had led to rain on my (luckily waterproof) CD collection, since it rained. ALSO THAT THERE WAS NO CARPET PAD AND THERE WERE CARPET TACKS EVERYWHERE, which Tim says he'll come and clean up tomorrow. TOMORROW? What part of "TOMORROW" is located before 2PM ON SATURDAY?!?!?!
Which has resulted in these things:
1) me being increasingly frustrated and angry;
2) several phone calls to Maintenance Guy, who, like many awesome people in my life who are not at all frustrating, condescending asshats, is named [REDACTED]; and
3) several increasingly terse voicemails to Manager Lady after each conversation with Maintenance Guy, ending with the following: "Hi, it's Peggy again, and THIS IS NOT OK." (slightly truncated for LJ purposes).
Oh right, and ME BEING SO FRUSTRATED THAT I HAVE TO UPDATE MY LIVEJOURNAL INSTEAD OF GOING STRAIGHT TO BLOOMINGTON FOR MBL'S PARTY. (SORRY MBL.) AND ALSO STILL NOT BEING ABLE TO SLEEP IN MY ROOM EVEN IF I WASN'T.
I wish I were better at being angry at people over the phone, but I mostly get so frustrated that I want to cry and then hang up because I don't want to be That Crying Girl On The Phone. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to be That Crying Girl In The Office tomorrow, though. AWESOME. At least it will ALSO be Really Embarrassing for them, since anyone else who wants anything will get to see That Crying Girl In The Office when they come in.
(Don't worry. I will make a list of What I'm Going To Say so that I don't forget it. I've come up with lots of good points already! For example, Maintenance Guy told me the leak was coming from the apartment above us, therefore it is SUPER CLEARLY not my fault that the problem started!)
Luckily Cameron's given me a key to his place, so I have somewhere to sleep. NO THANKS TO MY OVERPRICED APARTMENT COMPANY. UGH.
current music: loud, loud fans
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| Friday, July 17th, 2009
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8:27 am - HIGHLIGHTS, Part II!
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Should've gone backwards, since the best part's at the end! Oh well.
5. I love Will Smith
While visiting Courtney I read a couple of issues of Men's Health, including an interview with Tyrese Gibson about turning his life around how much he loves Will Smith.
Will Smith to Tavis Smiley: "I will not be outworked. Period. You might have more talent than me, be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things--you got it on me in nine categories--but if we get on a treadmill together, there's two things. You're getting off first, or I'm gonna die. It's really that simple."
Me to Courtney: "Oh man! Listen to what Will Smith says: 'You're getting of first, or I'm gonna die.'"
Courtney: ???
Clearly I need an icon of this.
6. Fran Health Update
My brother's been through his first 2 chemos and seems to be doing pretty well. He shaved off his Big Stupid DudeHair and now looks like this:
Pretty sweet, right?? (Also note the COLLINS TSHIRT. :D )
7. Home again, home again (jiggety jig)
So anyway, I came home from Ann Arbor and Teacher Camp and visiting the fam, only to find that... THERE IS A GIANT SPREADING STINKY STAIN IN MY BEDROOM, OMGWTF. So I got to spend all day yesterday NOT updating my livejournal in order to move everything I own out of my bedroom into the living room. Which now looks like ( this! )
8. HARRY POTTER
I dressed up like Snape (sort of) for the midnight showing in Bloomington with MBL, Natalie, Cameron, Ian, Marie, and Some Dude Marie Works With. It was AWESOME. There were lots of other dressed-up people (I think... also there were nerds, and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference...?). Then, after sleeping badly for not-long on couches, having delicious pho, and heading home, I decided to have a nap at Cameron's because of the TERRIBLE SMELL at my apartment. When I woke up, I was ambushed! With:
9. JEWELRY ...woodelry?
Cameron asking me to marry him! While I was napping, he'd lit some candles and put on some jazz and made a picnic (wine, chocolate-covered strawberries, fancy cheese & crackers, pesto) and also MADE ME AN ENGAGEMENT RING. As he'll do.
( pretty! )
10. No Previous Engagements
Matthew: I put forth the possibility that his most marry-able quality is his potential for rocking sideburns. Agree or disagree?
me: hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
tough call
they're SUCH good sideburns
Matthew: I know!
me: but he has other good qualities too
Matthew: Court was listing his good qualities.
"e.g., he's supportive and warm and funny and laid back and respectful"
And I said, "WHAT ABOUT SIDEBURNS? HMMMM?"
me: ahahahahahahahhahaha
thx for having my back
Matthew: Yeah, I am all over that.
I am really sad that I don't have a moving .gif of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (of the U.S.S. ENT.ER.PRISE) saying "ENGAGE!" to add to this entry. Other than that, though? Life is pretty awesome. :)
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| Thursday, July 16th, 2009
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4:20 pm - In this issue of HIGHLIGHTS, I will be playing both Goofus AND Gallant
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So many things have happened lately, livejournal, that I cannot explain (no, no, there is too much;). I will sum up. I will try to use LJ cuts judiciously!
1. BENVENIDO A MIAMI
Got purple highlights in my hair to celebrate summer, then went to Miami for a week and washed them out so that now I have hilarious blond highlights. I'm trying to pretend I'm Rogue I meant to do that. Clare, Courtney, and Marla were there, and we've discussed making it an annual treat, because it was AWESOME. If anybody else wants to go to South Beach and needs a great place to stay at a reasonable price, hit me up. I know a guy.
2. TALK NERDY TO ME
( Teacher camp! )
3. Katie & Rob's wedding
( on the road again... )
4. Can't stop going to AA
After driving to and from South Bend twice in two days, I gave myself a four-day break before heading up to Ann Arbor to see Courtney and take a carload of her stuff down to Cincinnati. It was fun! We made tshirts. I can't talk about them here b/c they're SEKRIT.
OK TIME TO GO TO PERSONAL TRAINING. SECOND HALF TO COME. <3
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| Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
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11:10 pm - today was a very exciting day.
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| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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10:05 pm - sorry for double post!
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...but in the grand tradition of my LJ, it is Important Making Fun Of Twilight Time!
Also, I'm going to Miami for a week tomorrow. It's going to be AWESOME. Expect me to be tanned and exhausted when I return. [blows kisses]
If you miss me, just watch this:
it's what I'll be singing the whole time I'm gone. :D
current music: shorties half dressed, fully equipped!
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9:55 pm - my family is hotter than your family.
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| Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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10:34 pm - amusements
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1. Clare commented on my last post that my mother "gives good email." WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THIS ONE FROM DAD!
Peggy,
If you're still looking for some offering to bring your father on Sunday, a
bottle of Huy Fong's Tuong Ot Sriracha (Sriracha Chili Sauce), the stuff in
the clear plastic bottle with a white rooster strutting on the label that's
full of red sauce and topped off by a green cap), would be great. I
understand this may be available in Indianapolis grocery stores (or so
Cameron indicated) despite concerted efforts by the Republican Party to
prevent it. If it's easy to find, I would appreciate it. Neither the Delhi
Kroger nor the Delhi and Crookshank bigg's has it -- although I'm sure it's
a hot seller in Hyde Park!
Can't wait to see you .
Love,
Dad
LULZ.
2. SPEAKING OF LULZ. Are you guys aware of "book trailers"? Little commercials for books? Like movie trailers, only with a book instead of a movie?
Yeah.
Are you FURTHERMORE aware that Amy, dear friend that she is, has been squirreling away ARCs of "paranormal romance" novels that are sent to the Indy Star in order to give them to me last birthday. NOW one of the guys who handles these things professionally has decided they're for a "friend" of Amy's, AKA Amy herself. Which is hilarious! For me. Apparently SHE's just embarrassed, since she keeps getting books with notes on them that say things like "mermaids and vampires? This one's for Amy!"
BUT.
We are not YET to the LOLERSKATES for this evening, which is the fact that I have been READING one of these books (much to the dismay of anyone I talk to, because I insist on reading them excerpts like "Although he rarely spoke, he gave off the impression of being the strong, silent type, which made him mysterious to Susan." (Yeah, usually people who DO speak a lot are considered the strong, silent type...???).
YOU GUYS DID YOU FIGURE IT OUT YET? THERE IS A TRAILER FOR THIS BOOK.
IT IS ALMOST AS HILARIOUSLY CRAPPY AS THE BOOK ITSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111
I mostly started reading it because I thought Amy da Tigger (vs Amy who got me the books in the first place) might like it, but DAMN. It is TERRIBLE. Tig, if you want it, you can totally still have it... once I find out WHAT WILL HAPPPPEN.
Sure, the book's terrible... but I've read over 300 pages of it and I'm NOT going to give up now!!!!
Comment with the worst book you've read lately, and/or its trailer??
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