December 2008: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, White Elephants, and Xmas

December 7th, Sunday - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. This year's feel-good movie. It was engaging and emotionally riveting and at the end you just want to dance. It was a very, very good movie about a kid from the slums who get to be on an Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" The child actors were fabulous and the hustle and bustle of the Mumbai was mesmerizing.

December 8th, Monday - White Elephant lunch at work. Seriously, who thought this game up?

December 12th, Friday - Susan's birthday party at Don Cucos. I finally get to see the SoCal TWOP crowd again. They told me all about their trip to England to see David Tennant as Hamlet and how he gave them a good look, in the middle of the performance! Fun! They met up with some of the TWOP crowd in the UK and had a great time. One day, Daryl and I will get to go to England, too. Maybe we will soon, now that we've gotten rid of our credit card debt. Who knows?
Here's the birthday girl. The picture was taken with my iPhone.

Here's Sharon. Also an iPhone photo.


December 13th, Saturday - The Parker/Wheeler Xmas party in the old Victorian house on El Mio. This was a fun party.


There was another White Elephant trade and Daryl and I scored a nerf Clone Wars rifle. Booyah! It was a heavily themed Star Wars party, I have to say. And then we got a lovely tour of the house, which I had never heard before. It was all fascinating and from now on when I go to the house, I will be studying the ornate hinges on the doors. The Parkers really did a lot of work getting the house together and liveable. And they did a great job fixing it up after part of it got burned up. Oh and we also watched the movie, EINSTEIN & EDDINGTON, with Andy Serkis and David Tennant. Good fun. Who knew Einstein was such a loon? and a raunchy one at that?

December 24th, Wednesday - Daryl left for Indiana. Boo.

December 25th, Thursday, Christmas Day - Susan and her mother took me up on my offer of a Christmas dinner and I once again disbelieved my thermometer. At least I could entertain my guests with my brand new DVD of DR HORRIBLE. I brined the turkey this time so the breast remained moist and tender while the rest of the legs cooked. I made the gravy the same way as I usually do and boy was it salty. I guess I didn't think that so much of the salt from the brine would get into the gravy. Whoops. It was nice to entertain someone on Christmas, especially since Daryl was gone. And it gave me something to do, too. Although I had so many leftovers I had to freeze most of it for when Daryl got back. I think I had the same Christmas dinner for breakfast lunch and dinner for three days straight. At least I got to eat pumpkin pie while I was at it.
This time I brined the turkey. It felt weird not chopping it up to cook separately. It had a crusty, salty outside and a moist, tender inside.

Here's most of the other food I cooked. It included Cornbread Sausage Stuffing, Green beans, Candied Yams, Pumpkin Pie, and Giblet Gravy. Look, I actually have place settings and nice napkins!

I just have to add this picture of Daryl's cousin's daughter, Marryn. Isn't she adorable?


December 30th, Tuesday - Daryl is back in LA. Yay!

December 31st, Wednesday, New Year's Eve - Robb and Kellee came to town! They just got back from a wedding in Columbia and were excited to show us their pictures. Columbia looked lovely and it looked like they had a great time. We hung out and celebrated New Years, by writing stuff we wanted for the new year on origami paper and throwing them into the ocean, and then writing stuff we didn't want for the new year on paper and burning it at midnight. We'll see if that worked.
Robb & Kellee in our tiny office.

Robb, Maurissa, Kellee, Me, & Daryl at Swingers for a New Year's Eve dinner.

Goodbye 2008! I shall always remember you as the year we got of credit card debt right when the financial markets went haywire.

November 2008: Elections, Turkeys, and BOLT

November 4th, Tuesday - Daryl and I left early to vote. There was a long line at our polling place. It took 90 minutes. A woman brought her two kids with her and they would jump up and down saying "O-Ba-Ma! O-Ba-Ma!" It was cute. I also realized that our neighborhood is full of polite, patient people. We were going to Mo's election night party, when we heard the news that Obama won because people in our neighborhood were shouting and screaming. I felt bad because I made Daryl wait while I ate dinner. I knew Mo didn't have any food for me and I knew it would be hours before we could get away and eat. And Daryl wanted to be there at the election party when it was announced. Who knew we would know by 8p? When we finally got there Mo set me to work on an Obama pumpkin and we listened to Obama's speech. There was a pool to see who would guess when McCain would give his concession speech. Once again, who knew it'd be before 11p? Met a cool friend of Mo's named Lolly, a drummer at Acme, or is it Comedy Sportz? I liked the fact that she didn't know you could legally get marijuana in Venice with a doctor's prescription. The only reason I knew is because I read about it in THE NEW YORKER magazine.

November 22nd, Saturday - My first free Saturday after working 7 days a week. I've discovered that I'm pretty cranky when I work that much. It's extra, extra important to get plenty of sleep if you work that much. I think I need at least eight these days. It also helps to not have to cook as much, too. Thank God I have a house cleaner!

November 27th, Thursday - Thanksgiving! I did my usual dinner of cornbread sausage stuffing for a deconstructed turkey. I didn't believe my thermometer so we had to make Christian and Yuri wait for an hour while the turkey got to the point where it was safe to eat. I made giblet gravy and while I was pouring it into the gravy boat, Daryl called it "brown gold." I liked that. I also made candied yams, haricot verts, Yorkshire pudding, and Daryl set out a cheese plate for appetizers. I also baked a pumpkin pie and served it with whipped cream. Yuri brought mashed potatoes and I loved it because she served it on lettuce with little tomatoes around the edges. It was all lovely. It really is the best holiday of the year.

November 28th, Friday - Saw BOLT. In 3D. It was delightful watching this movie. There's a scene early on where Bolt gets chased by helicopters and it was so fun to watch the rotors come out at you and see the dog run by! It's a Disney movie,so you know the ending will be happy, but it was fun hanging around the characters until they got there. And the dog looked so cute. I cannot express how much more fun it was to watch it in 3D. It made up for the children behind us. One of them peed her pants, and another threw her sock at me. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE! Maybe next time I go see an animated movie, I'll go to the late show. Maybe all the little kids will be asleep by then.

October 2008: Pigs, work, and Mo's birthday

October 12th, Sunday - Christian, Yuri, Daryl, and I all went to see a Tractor Parade at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark. The tractors were largely antique John Deere tractors, kinda like this.

It was fun, but the best part was the pig racing. I kid you not, the little piglets love to run. Probably one of the most adorable things I've ever seen.

There was also a corn maze that you couldn't cheat at because they put netting all around the pathways. We all got out because we followed Daryl and his never-get-lost gene. Here we are victorious.

In the course of the maze, however, I stepped in a divot and twisted up my ankle. It hurt a bit more than it usually does, but I just ignored it. And boy was I wrong to do so. Ouch. We also got to get gluten-free pizza at a place called PizzaSalad. So yummy.

October 19th, Sunday - And thus begins my tale of woe, I begin working 7 days a week. Monday through Friday I'm at Disney, Saturday and Sunday at Christian's. It's a lot of work, but I'm saving up money and we're nearly done with paying off our credit card debt. And one day, I will own my very own car.

October 27th, Monday - Mo's birthday! We all celebrated Mo's birthday at El Coyote, where Mo got drunk on tequila. Daryl and I left, of course, because 1) we don't drink, and 2) we had to go to work the next day. But Josh and Steg were there to make sure she got home ok. She also saw a real live bullfight in Mexico just the day before. (Just doing something new for her birthday.) Welcome to 38, Mo!

October 31st, Friday - Missed the Halloween party. Boo. And I had a rockin' costume, too: I was a hippo ballerina. I wore it to work, but not a lot of people dressed up. I didn't win anything this year in the decorating contest, but I did like my entry. Here's the bag from the back.

Here's the bag from the front.

Daryl didn't finish his costume on time. Boo.

September 2008: TROPIC THUNDER and DEATHBOWL TO DOWNTOWN

September 1st, Monday - It was Labor Day, so we saw a movie, TROPIC THUNDER. So very, very good. Robert Downey, Jr. is really having a good year. I wasn't that impressed with Ben Stiller, but the rest of the cast was fantastic. And I think I love Jay Baruchel. Also, the bad guy in the movie is a kid and he's terrific. Somebody, Disney, or Nickelodean should give this kid a show.

September 8th, Monday - We went to a screening of a movie called DEATHBOWL TO DOWNTOWN. It was all about skateboarding and skateboarders in NYC. I now know what an "Ollie" is and I feel all the richer for it. They also played a documentary before the movie about people in public spaces that I swear I saw back in high school. We went to the after party, too, networking a bit, and by "a bit", I mean Christian and Daryl talked to people and I just stared at my toes. Yuri was excited to be at her first Hollywood movie party. I just kept thinking that I needed to get home so I could work out in the morning. I am such an old person.

September 21st, Sunday - For our monthly celiac dinner we went to The Pink Pepper. It was very, very yummy. Pink Pepper Spring Rolls, Spicy Green Beans, Green Curry vegetables, Pad Thai. All of it fantastic. Highly recommended restaurant.

August 2008: Knights, Pandas, & Assasins

August 4th, Monday - I got some bad news about my jaw. "Bubbles in the bone" is not a good sign, right?

August 10th, Sunday - THE DARK KNIGHT. Oh my what a grim, grim movie. There really should be a glimmer of light in this movie, you so hope for it, but the closest you get to it is Michael Caine.

August 17th, Sunday - KUNG-FU PANDA. Talk about lightness. This movie is great. The voice work is great, especially Randall Duk Kim and Dustin Hoffman. Ooh and Ian McShane is perfect as the bad guy. The animation was lovely and this is a film I would love to have on DVD. And lest I give everyone the bad idea that this film is just good guys versus bad guys fighting, it's not. The characters are nuanced and there are hints that not every character is one-note.

We also saw WANTED. Yuck. I thought it would be cool to see bullets fly through the air and curve, and it was, but it really wasn't enough. Wesley seemed pretty stupid. It was cool to see Morgan Freeman swear and be a bad guy, but acting-wise, I really think Angelina Jolie did the best job. And she drove a car using her feet on the steering wheel while she shot people upside down on the roof of the car. And it looked convincing. She was also called upon to act like a real person, and did a very good job. This was a grimy, violent movie and definitely not for kids, so it was a bit surprising to find a small child sitting behind me in the movie theater.

More TAKING OVER THE ASYLUM at the Winchester. Now we take the semi-sad and semi-funny miniseries and really up the ante on the sad part. I'm not giving anything away, but the people in the asylum have real problems that are not easy to overcome and sometimes it's really apparent why they're there. So just take that as a warning. Sad things happen.

August 24th, Sunday - Celiac dinner at Hugo's restaurant. Gluten-free Chocolate Pancakes with Marshmallows and Hazelnuts. That is all that really needs to be said, right?

August 30th, Saturday - In San Francisco, having tea with friends at Lovejoy's. From left to right, Diane, Ancilla, Me, Daryl, Elise, & Toby.

Here's the happy couple!

August 31st, Sunday - Robin and Taska got married in Marin. Daryl and I traveled up to San Francisco to meet up with friends and then to go to Robin and Taska's wedding. They live in Germany now, but wanted to have their wedding in San Francisco/Marin. It was a lovely Quaker wedding and I was glad to be staying in the city instead of in the hostel that they had everyone in because I heard later on that the party lasted well into the morning. When we went back up to Marin to have brunch with them everyone had left the hostel and they were cleaning up. So we cooked up some sausages and helped them out. One day, Daryl and I will visit them in Germany. I hope soon!

July 2008: Fireworks, Lightning, Hellboy, Maniacs, and Gambling

July 4th, Friday - Fireworks at Val & Matt's. It's the 4th of July and we went to the Winchester and had hot dogs and watermelon and then watched stuff blow up. They got all of the legal fireworks they could and while that was going down, some of the neighbors were setting off the illegal ones. It was like we were in a war zone. I am not much of a pyromaniac, but the legal ones were pretty good. Personally, I just prefer the hot dog portion of the evening.

July 12th, Saturday - Val's Birthday. At the Winchester again. This time, there weren't any fireworks, but we did have a lightning storm. It was alternately pretty and scary. After one too many lightning strikes though, I had to go inside and it was there we were sucked into the Wii. Man, that thing is addictive. Val got DW sound effects, which was especially fun since you could have it say "EXTERMINATE" over and over again.

July 13th, Sunday - HELLBOY: THE GOLDEN ARMY. I love Hellboy. I really do. I also love Abe Sapien. And it looks like other supernatural characters love them too. I am so glad Doug Jones got more opportunity to act in this movie. He was so good in the previous one and then the overdubbed him with David Hyde-Pierce's voice. DHP, was/is such a classy fellow, he didn't even want to take credit for it. Go DHP! I'm not sure this movie is as good as the first one. The solution to the problem seemed absurdly easy to me. But the emotions were spot on and the actors so good, it was worth it. Oh, and the graphics were lovely. Steampunk robots! And Gigantic Tree Monsters! And fighting! Always good stuff.

July 19th, Saturday - TAKING OVER THE ASYLUM at Val & Matt's. We watched the very first show that David Tennant was in on British television. He was a manic-depressive in an asylum. He was really good. Super skinny, too. I think he's aging well. He looks a lot better now than he did back then. The show was about the inmates in the asylum and the radio DJ who's been assigned to help them run their internal radio station. He's got issues of his own and it sometimes seems like the "normal" people on the outside are crazier than the inmates on the inside. It's funny and tragic and I don't want to give anything away, but it all kind of seems like real life even though it isn't. It was very, very good and DT credits this show with starting his career. I have no picture because DT looks horrible in 80's clothes.

July 20th, Sunday - THE FALL. It made me cry people. It made me cry. Plus it was visually stunning. Lee Pace is a stuntman in the hospital after an accident on set and he makes friends with a little girl with a broken arm. He starts telling her a story and the visuals switch to the story he's telling and the hospital scenes. Then they kind of meld together. I don't want to give anything away here, but the friendship with the little girl is a ruse and there's more to his accident than he's telling people. Tarsem Singh also did THE CELL, which was visually frightening, at least to me, but it seemed like a very original piece of work. The man does know how to shoot beautiful pictures and I don't think he used CGI at all in this picture. There's a bit of animation in the movie, but it makes perfect sense, when you think about it. I highly recommend it, but if you do get it, get the widescreen or HD version because you really don't want to miss that.

July 26th, Saturday - Casino Night at the Brant's. Daryl and I went to a friend's Casino Night way out east, nearly half-way to Vegas it seemed. Anyway, each person was given a certain amount of money to gamble with and there were games of roulette, craps, poker, and blackjack set up. I held onto my money in case Daryl lost all of his and in the end we were up $600 of play money. But there was one guy who made over $50,000 so he won for the night. Craps was a complicated game and I couldn't figure it out. Roulette seemed to be the most popular one of the evening, and got even more popular after the fellow won $50,000 on Black 9 or some such. The only games that made sense to me were blackjack and poker, but I'm not very good with cards. With my luck, I try not to bet on anything. Oh, and I got to see a junebug. It was huge! The desert makes very big bugs.

June 2008: Indy, Caspian, Spaced, WALL-E, and Doctor Who

June 7th, Saturday - INDIANA JONES AND THE CRYSTAL SKULL. I was glad to hear this was coming back, but I did wonder...what's up Shia Lebeouf? He was kinda gross in the movie and I have a hard time believing that's what you get when you cross Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones. Was it supposed to be telling that his name was Mutt? Daryl did not like this movie and turned to me in the middle and said, "If this ends with a spaceship taking off with aliens, then I'm done." I did like the chase scene. It had some of the exhilarating action of the previous movies. Daryl thinks that they
were trying to imitate the movies of the 50's instead of the old serials, which makes sense...giant ants, aliens, Communists, etc. All they needed was zombies and they would have tapped every old cliche. Apparently, there's a Frank Darabont script out there they didn't make and the general opinion is that script would have rocked. This one was ok, but it did make me long for the vigor of the first one. Oh, and the refrigerator thing...That's when you knew it was not the same old Indy. And why hasn't Karen Allen gotten more work? She's fantastic in every scene, so delightful! Hollywood is stupid for not casting her more.

June 14th, Saturday - Haircut, finally. And boy did I need it. I'd put up a picture, but I'm too embarrassed to show what I looked like for months.

June 15th, Sunday - THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN. Here's another movie that I had high hopes for and was disappointed by. Ben Barnes is pretty, but kinda meh. I didn't get the whole power play with Peter. Edmund fared better and Lucy was stupendous as usual. The story was not my favorite of the series, but they did do a good job of adapting it. Peter Dinklage as the dwarf was fantastic. That man should be James Bond. I am not kidding. Heaps of charisma, that man has, dwarf or no. And it was all fighting, all the time. Isn't it a PG movie? It seemed so violent. There's a war, yes, but it did seem a bit much for what is essentially a children's movie. So we saw the movie and then went to Christian & Yuri's wedding. The wedding was in Rancho Palos Verdes at The Wayfarer's chapel near a cliff next to the beach. A lovely location for a wedding. It was beautiful and the weather was great and everyone had a terrific time.
The Happy Couple.

Me and the Ocean

Daryl and the Ocean


June 21st, Saturday - It's time again for the yearly SPACED marathon at Val & Matt's place. This year they held it at their new home which they call The Winchester. Smaller than the previous venue, but the AC is much better. I got sick that day, but refused to leave until the whole show was over. I can't recommend this series enough and it just come out on DVD for the US, so grab it now while you can. It's totally worth it.

June 28th, Saturday - I had the best birthday ever. I had cake and pie. I had friends over. I got presents! I got to see WALL-E. And I got to shoot Nerf guns at zombies. Speaking of which, I was inspired by the Office Nerf War and asked Daryl to get Nerf guns for the party. He obliged and he also set up targets using zombie pictures from the web. My favorite was the zombie kitten. Seriously, this is fun stuff. Daryl's family called me on the phone and his nephews got all excited to hear we were playing with Nerf guns. We got the Recon rifle that deconstructs down to a pistol with an ammo clip. I want to try the Maverick pistol next. It's got a rotating barrel. Plus, it takes the Nerf darts that whistle through the air when you shoot them. Then we all went to see WALL-E in the theater. It was such a good movie. I cannot recommend it enough. I cannot wait for our Robot Overlords. If they're all as cute and kind and curious and gentle like WALL-E, I'm sure we'll be fine in our enslavement. Go Robots! It was a wonderful end to a great birthday and I thank everyone that showed up and Daryl who indulgently helped plan it all. I also cleaned up! I got a Master's Laser Screwdriver from Doctor Who, a bunch of Doctor Who comics, the Serenity comic book, Those Left Behind, Alba lip balms and a mirror for my purse, and the promise of a iPhone. I love all of my friends. It all makes me forget I'm actually getting older and more decrepit. This is why people have parties.

June 29th, Sunday - Oh my. The Doctor Who group got together to watch the season finale of DW and it was a doozy. It was sad, so very sad. People didn't die, but it's kinda like they did. Once you see it you think, yeah, that's they only way they could have done it, but still. It was brutal. There was weeping. Not from me, because I have a heart of stone, but there was weeping. The forums were chittering away for hours after that one. And now we won't have a new one until Christmas. Now that makes me really sad.

May 2008: Vegas, IRON MAN, SPEED RACER, Babies and Birthdays

May 1-4, Thursday - Sunday - Las Vegas. This is the hotel where we stayed. It's way at the north end of the strip and the Las Vegas Hilton is behind it. Daryl didn't get into the money finals, but he did play two games more than he thought he would. He was actually playing beautifully but then scratched on the 8-ball. Twice. Arg. Poor D. I checked out the spa at the Hilton and I think I may actually like massages after all. I got a massage, a seaweed scrub, and a facial. The massage was great, the seaweed weird, and the facial was more money than I think I should have spent. Also, I went to town at Sephora. I should really not spend any money anymore. Sigh. I visited the Star Trek store at the Hilton and it was a hoot. I bought a communicator! I really wanted a Tribble, but didn't have the guts to actually get one. We had no idea they vibrated and made noises. Daryl actually touched one and nearly fell back after it "spoke." Later on, we actually ate at Quark's bar. It wasn't that bad, but it did not compare to the buffet at the Wynn. Daryl and I went there three times, it was so good. What other buffet has crab legs? It was super expensive, but totally worth it. We also ate at the Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay (Kobe Beef Burgers!) and at Bouchon at the Venetian. The pastry chef even gave us a tour of the restaurant. Seriously, go to Bouchon. It's the best food and the staff is excellent. The pastry chef told me to call ahead next time I'm in Vegas and he'll make me something special! It is so on. Otherwise, Vegas is like one big obnoxious frat party. I just wanted to see the scenery and I feel like I don't need to go back. Although I've heard that they're shuttering the Star Trek Experience , so we may need to go back just for that. I mean, the casino in there is Star Trek themed. It's like you're on the set of Deep Space Nine. Oh, and I have to mention the smoke. Everyone smokes there. It's weird and smelly. Yuck.

May 10th, Saturday - IRON MAN. Robert Downey, Jr. was perfect as Tony Stark. I really hope they make a sequel. I loved him, I loved his Arabic doctor friend (Did you notice that when he shot the machine gun, he fired in to the ceiling. He didn't want to shoot at anyone!), I loved his suit, and I adored his robots. They really got a fantastic cast for this one. And Jeff Bridges is entirely creepy as a bald guy. Who knew?

May 15th, Thursday - Wedding Anniversary. 8 years! Apparently we have to give each other something bronze. I really don't understand that custom.

May 17th, Saturday - SPEED RACER: IMAX. Visually, this movie was amazing, but I couldn't believe how much people were talking. Really, I just wanted to see racing, with the spikes coming out of the hubcaps and the jumpers making the cars leap over each other. Seriously, I've never heard so much dialogue. They tried to make it interesting, sure, with lots of flashbacks and such, but it didn't help. I also was not entranced by the monkey and the little brother. Susan Sarandon and John Goodman were fantastic as usual. Christina Ricci was cute as well as Trixie. The movie was kind of meh, but any movie that makes John Goodman the winner in a ninja-fight is OK with me. Oh, and if any of you know COUPLING, Patrick's head is huge on the IMAX screen. (Oh, and I didn't get dizzy at all, which was a fear, considering how I reacted to THE BOURNE SUPREMECY.)

May 21st, Wednesday - A dog tried to attack me as I was walking home. It was a German Shepard. A big German Shepard. I am now afraid of all dogs.

May 31st, Saturday - Amy's Baby Shower and Matt's Birthday. Daryl and I went to Amy's baby shower. It was huge. Must have been 100 people there. And the decorations were, well, I never knew they had decorations like that for baby showers. I've only ever been to ones where people just open presents and have cake. But this one had Cuban pork roast in the catering and not one, not two, but three diaper cakes. I am in awe. I also didn't know it would last so long, we had to leave early to go to Matt's birthday party picnic. We missed the message that would have told us the party moved to an entirely different location, but we eventually got there and had a good time. It was a park in what looked like a dam on the outside. You'd never know there was a lake and trees and picnic tables there.

April 2008: Rollerskating, Doctor Who, Kung Fu, and Breaking Up

(I just found this photo. Daryl took it when I wasn't looking. Cheeky.)

April 1st, Tuesday - Ever since his birthday, Daryl and I have been rollerskating with Christian on Tuesdays. It's loads of fun and quite the workout. Afterwards we always go to my favorite restaurant to eat, so it's really a good evening out.



April 6th, Sunday - Lately, I've been going to a friend's house to watch DOCTOR WHO. It's a really good show featuring an old SciFi character I loved when I was growing up. Back then the effects were cheap, but the writing and acting were so good they made up for it. Now it's like the effects have caught up. I usually go every Sunday to watch the latest showing (and I watch it again when it airs on the SciFi channel.) So I thought I'd mention it here. Here's a nice photo of the latest incarnation of the Doctor.

April 15th, Tuesday - Tax Day. Daryl and I actually had to pay this year. That means we actually made enough to have to pay. I think it's a step forward.


April 19th, Saturday - THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM. I love kung fu movies and it was just a dream to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li in a movie together. That alone was worth the price of admission. They both got two roles, too! The story was so-so, but Michael Angarano does his best with two of the most popular and talented kung fu stars in Hong Kong cinema. There's a great villianess with white hair. She's got so much kung fu, her hair can fight, too! If only my hair could do that. Sigh. (There's badness, too, with a very bad urine joke, but I'm going to ignore that.)

April 20th, Sunday - FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. I think my eyes have seen enough of Jason Segal's penis. Although, Hawaii looks lovely and you really do want Peter to get the girl at the end. Kristen Bell looks great and Russell Brand is delightfully weird in every scene. Paul Rudd is also good as a surfer dude. I didn't even recognize him. I do love that Bell's character actually is not that bad of a person and that Segal's character did play a part in the deterioration of their relationship. That's rare to see in a break-up/romance movie. Oh, and the Dracula musical with puppets was so impressive that the Henson studios want Segal to work on their next Muppet movie! Seriously, it may be the best part of the movie.

(OK, I have TMJ, which means my jaw is misaligned. Every now and then it'll get "locked" and I kind of have to jar it back into place. But it was never really that painful. Now, though I sometimes have a searing pain in my jaw in the morning and my jaw hurts when I chew for a long time. This is going to make gum a less likely afternoon snack. Ow.)

April 30th, Wednesday - Road Trip to Las Vegas with Billy. Billy, who also qualified to play in the tournament, offered to drive us out to Las Vegas. Fun! He has a gigantic truck, luckily, I'm small enough I can fit in the back, no problem. Daryl and I got a nice suite on the first night, but we had to move to the tournament rooms after that. (They paid for half.) I do like getting fresh towels and maid service every day.

March 2008: Alien Pets, Weddings, and Daryl's Birthday!

March 9th, Sunday - Saw CJ7. It made me cry people, and I have a heart of stone. It's also hilarious in the way that Stephen Chow's movies are so outrageously absurd. I mean, casting a large man as a elementary school girl? Having a poor kid find an alien that he thinks will give him superpowers? That's the kind of crazy here. But like I said, it'll swing you out towards the crazy funny and then slam you down with some serious weepiness. You have been warned. And I want my own CJ7. Seriously.

March 15th, Saturday - Mike and Margie's Wedding in SF. We went to a lovely low-key wedding in SF. It was also moving out day for Elise and Mike. So sad! We won't ever stay in their loft ever again! Boo. We did have fun catching up with all of our SF friends. And we even got to play a game! Daryl was so happy. But we forgot our camera. Boo.

March 23rd, Sunday - Easter. I made it. Tomorrow I'm having a Snickers.

March 26th, Wednesday - Daryl's Birthday!

March 29th, Saturday - Daryl's Birthday celebration! Mo joined us and Christian after doing a triathalon for dinner at Chulada. Then she went off to bed while the rest of us went rollerskating. Yay! The rink announcer even mentioned Daryl in his happy birthday announcements. It was fun and exhausting trying to navigate around the children falling around us. They'd be in front of us rolling tentatively along and then collapse in a heap like their pockets were full of stones. It was like a video game trying to avoid them.

February 2008: Anniversary, Rats, Parades and Tournaments

February 3rd, Sunday - Our First Kiss Anniversary! Daryl and I celebrate this anniversary mostly because it was a pretty memorable event for the both of us. It was a useful marker for the years when we weren't married. Now that we are married, we tend to like this anniversary better, just because it seems like much more fun. Anyway, in keeping with longstanding tradition, we went to Crustatcean and had the garlic crab and butterflied prawns. (Crustacean has restaurants in LA and SF, lucky us!) I got a bit tipsy and had to lean on Daryl as we left the restaurant. I really do have the best husband ever.

February 6th, Ash Wednesday - Lent begins. I decide not to have any candy. We'll see how well I do.

February 7th, Thursday - It's the Year of the Rat! (4705) Actually, I like rats. They're smart little guys. I wouldn't want any wild one roaming my apartment, mind you. But you have to admit, that they are clearly out to survive.

February 9th, Saturday - The Chinese New Year Parade. I got some lovely decorations, but it wasn't as much fun this year without Christian and Daryl. And it was unusually hot! I really wanted to get a little gold rat with a gold cake on his belly, but they were all out of them. I did buy a very bad Mickey Mouse imitation cell phone decoration, though. It was pretty funny. I have it up in the room at work. All in all, the decorations for the Year of the Pig were cuter by far, than the ones for the Year of the Rat. I guess lots of people didn't think Remy in Ratatouille was cute enough.

February 10th, Sunday - Daryl qualifies to go to Vegas to the APA Tournament! Yay!

January 2008: Juno & Val & Matt's Housewarming

January 2nd, Wednesday - Yay! Daryl is back. That is all.

January 5th, Saturday - Sick. Boo.

January 11th, Friday - Dentist. Minty fresh.

January 19th, Saturday - JUNO. Cried my eyes out from when she tells her parents she's pregnant, through the entire rest of the movie. Uncontrollable sobbing and spasms. Somehow my infertility and my poverty combined with watching a movie about an unwanted/wanted pregnancy drove me to inconsolable sorrow. I think if I weren't weeping, I would have probably liked the movie. As it is, I can't really tell. Too many issues!

Picture from thecleaningfairy.biz based in SC.
January 22nd, Tuesday - I've finally decided to hire a maid. Trying to keep up the house just got to be too much for me. And you know what? I LOVE IT. It's like fairies come and clean the house while I'm away. It's fantastic. Thank you, Lucy! I love coming home to my clean, clean house. I wish I could afford to have you come weekly.

January 26th, Saturday - Val & Matt's Housewarming. The TWOP crowd has been meeting at Val's old place and hadn't seen the new house, until now. It's a lovely cottage-like house in Alhambra. The driveway is ridiculously small, but the house is a nice comfortable size. They have a fireplace and a yard and a very large fridge. I can't wait to see what it looks like when they finish painting and remodeling. We got to see Matt's LEGO Indiana Jones setup and play Guitar Hero, so it wasn't all about the house. But it was fun!


I forgot to post this picture, but here's a candy goldfish that I got at the Disney Holiday Party. They had a guy roll the candy right in front of you and he'd do whatever shape you asked for. The lucky people got to ask for dragons but I thought they took too long so I asked for a goldfish. Well, I think it's pretty!

December: Colonoscopy, Collectibles, Cinema, & Christmas

Picture from jupiterimages.com

December 5th, 6th, & 7th - Prep for a colonoscopy, a colonoscopy, and a day of recovery. Sigh. It makes me sad to know I have had a colonoscopy. It's even sadder that I need to have one every three years. (I cheated, though. Last one I had was 6 years ago.) For those who have never had a colonoscopy, (lucky) let me give you a few hints.

Take three days off from work. Never go to work on the day you do your prep and never go to work on the day of the colonoscopy. And take another day off because you're going to want to, believe me.

Also, schedule your procedure for the early morning, because then you won't have to fast as long. Plus, you'll get to sleep a lot after the procedure. It'll be nice.

If you have the cash, do an endoscopy at the same time if you need it. That way you can get it all done at once and not have to go back for more procedures. (They still charge you, though.)

On the day of your prep, DO NOT GO OUT. You're going to be uncomfortable most of the evening so you might as well do it in the most familiar surroundings. Plus, keep a clear pathway between you and the bathroom AT ALL TIMES.

Get someone to bring you home and put you to bed. I was knocked out completely for my procedure. I almost didn't realize a procedure had been done. But it was an hour later so I got the hospital to call Daryl and he picked me up and put me to bed. It was nice to have him there.

December 8th, Saturday - The Collectibles Warehouse! Daryl and Christian and I went to a warehouse filled to the brim with collectibles of all kinds. I was drawn to the comic books, of course. And Christian was there scoping out possible gifts for soon-to-be Japanese relatives and getting lots of foreign DVDs. There was a stall that was completely devoted to memoribilia from The Nightmare Before Christmas. If you're into Disney pins, a memento that I had no idea existed, this is the place to get them. I cannot even count how many pins there were for Disney. I'm actually surprised that there are so many of them. But I guess if you've been around for 50 plus years, things will tend to build up. Daryl and I were very good and didn't buy anything. (We're trying to save money!) But now we know where to go if we want a Nightmare Before Christmas lamp and old Buffy comics.

Picture from skyandtelescope.com
December 13th, Thursday - The Geminid Meteor shower! I wasn't sure we'd pick up any meteors in our neighborhood. The streetlights throw off so much light pollution it's a wonder we see any stars, let alone meteors. But we did! And I made at least two wishes.

December 15th, Saturday - We saw THE GOLDEN COMPASS and ENCHANTED. I liked ENCHANTED better because it had a sense of humor about itself. The overwrought musical numbers were pitch perfect and who knew Amy Adams and James Marsden could sing? Marsden has a lovely voice, I had no idea. Cyclops can sing! And so can Junebug! Anyhoo, if you like Disney movies, you'll like this one. It very kindly makes fun of them and there's a very funny scene of waterbugs scrubbing out a tub. Why McDreamy's lawyer cannot afford a maid is beyond me, but maybe it's because he spends hours in Central Park with a complete stranger who gets the entire population of NYC to dance and sing with her. I don't think he can bill hourly for that.

I'm disappointed with THE GOLDEN COMPASS, though. For some reason the book seemed more exciting than the movie. The CGI animals were pretty good, though. And is there anything Freddie Highmore can't do? And they cut off the end of the book because they wanted a happy ending. Well, [SPOILER ALERT!] the whole series is not really a happy ending so if that's the reason why they made the films, they're in for a big surprise. Nicole Kidman as the villain was pretty good, but she did seem like she was made of plastic and I have no idea what is up with her and her daemon. She is one messed up character. The one kid who has a daemon lobotomy, though. That was horrible. You felt for him and you admired him for seeing through the BS and then they mess him up so bad...I'm giving too much away. And what's with all of the violence here? It's a kid's movie, right? Why so many grusome deaths? All in all, it left me cold. Didn't help that it was mostly set in a frozen wasteland.

December 16-19, Sunday-Wednesday - Sick. Boo.

December 25-31, Tuesday-Monday - Daryl is out of town. And I am alone. Boo. Not a way to spend the holiday.

November: Mexican Wrestlers and Thanksgiving

November 1st, Thursday - We went to go see Lucha VaVoom! I love this show so much. It's all about Mexican wrestlers and burlesque dancers. So entertaining. Click on the link and see if it's something you think you'll like.

November 22nd, Thursday - I love Thanksgiving! It was just Daryl and me making a huge amount of food. We didn't do a turkey this year and it was nice. I just heated up a roast (From US Wellness meats! Grass-fed beef only. It's really good. Honest.) and it was delicious. Mo also stopped by before she left town, which was nice. And then we watched a bunch of movies. It was a lot less stressful for me this year, I have to say. I even got a good night's sleep the day before. But, it wasn't to last. I got a phone call at 9p to go into work the next day! I'll spare you the details, but I was grumpy and Daryl was lonely. Boo.

October: Pests, Plants, Birthdays and Halloween, complete with Pumpkins

Okay, I have had it with aphids. Those little suckers have to die. I'm instituting a scorched earth policy and getting totally new plants. Including a bunch of succulents, which they seem to ignore. I've found that the local ant population have decided that my flowerbeds are the ideal place to build a satellite colony, complete with eggs and infested with aphids. I've tried the organic way and along with the thousands of dead ladybugs, I'm done with it. We're going with pesticides, people. I've tried being good, but it just doesn't get any results. I've also decided not to grow any more edible herbs until I've killed every last aphid. I hope our chemical pesticide companies know what they're doing.

October 13th, Saturday - On a good note, we met some lovely people at Amy's housewarming. I look forward to getting some good avocados and tangerines when they start dropping from the trees she has in the backyard. I got them some star jasmine, which smells so wonderful, it just makes you feel good. If Daryl and I ever get a house here in LA, (Ha!) I want some star jasmine all around my house.
Can you tell who's going to win this one?

October 18-22, Thursday - Monday - Daryl and I took off for SF for pumpkins. I didn't get to eat at any of the restaurants I wanted to go to, but it was nice to hang out with old friends. We played games and caught up with people and generally had a good time. This time we flew up instead of drove and we played video games all the way on Virgin America. It was fun. I almost didn't want to get off the plane. It was certainly less stressful than driving, although since we spent all the money on the flight we didn't rent a car. I was so ready for a vacation. Although, next time we're eating where I want to eat.

October 27th, Saturday - Mo's Birthday! We had a lovely dinner with Mo and Lucy at the Cheesecake factory in Pasadena. I hadn't seen Lucy for a long time. She regaled us with stories of her past history as a restaurant hostess in super fancy places and having a crying fit in the closet on her first day. Yowza! I look forward to seeing that incident in her next screenplay. Mo's the last of the 1970 crowd to have her birthday and she will forever hold it over me that I am older than her by 5 months. Respect your elders, isn't that what they say, Mo? :)

Since it's also really close to Halloween, Daryl and I went to a Halloween party with our friends from TWoP! The theme of the party was "Anything British..." so we went as Fish and Chips. Daryl created these outfits from mattress foam, housepaint, and old towels and bedsheets. Mo was kind enough to lend us her overhead projector so we could make transparencies of the London Times and trace them onto our outfits. We ran out of grey metallic paint so we used the rust and purple to fill out the colors. We won a prize, which I shall treasure, for the Most Humorous Costume. I loved our costumes so much I had Daryl mount them to our bedroom walls. I am not kidding.
Here we are as Fish and Chips.

Can you see the DW references in the headlines?




Rose and The Doctor, of course.

No party is complete without Mary Poppins.


October 31st, Wednesday - Halloween - In the annual pumpkin decorating contest at work, I actually won a prize! I made my pumpkin, Sully, from Monsters, Inc. because we had tons of blue colored copies that came out wrong and I wanted to reuse them, instead of just dumping them. Honestly, I just love decorating pumpkins.
I think this one won the best prize.

I got most colorful.

Of course Jack Skellington won, too!

September, the month that wasn't

I'm sure all sorts of exciting things happened this month, full of dentist visits and chiropractor adjustments, but it was a bad one for me, so I'm skipping it.

August, a month for the moon and stars. And a killer.

Well, I've figured out the uploading problem. So let's continue with the belated blogs. The month of August! Hot weather, working two jobs and renting a car to keep up with it all. Okay, let's begin.

August 4th, Saturday - THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. Everyone was talking about how great this one was. Well, from what I could manage to watch, it seemed ok. But it didn't help that the roving camera kept making me sick. I'm sure I missed out on the cool action since I was out in the lobby trying hard not to throw up. I hate the stupid verite camera effect. I'm sure Paul Greengrass is a fabulous director, but seriously he is not making movies for people like me, who have gotten nauseated on elevators. Stop moving the camera! Please.

Perseid fireball taken by Jimmy Westlake on 8 Aug 2007
August 12th, Sunday - Saw a fantabulous meteor shower and made many wishes. Daryl, Mo and I went out to the beach to see the Perseid Meteor Shower. I cannot even tell you how fantastic is was to catch a glimpse of the meteors streaking across the sky. I gasped at the first one and we weren't the only ones. There were families all camped out on the beach with us and many "ooohs" and "aaahs" were heard. Too bad I had to go to work the next day because the later it got into the evening the better it was supposed to be. I'm definitely taking a day off next year to watch and stay up late.

August 18th, Saturday - STARDUST. A good month for this movie, what with all the skywatching I was doing. It was a lovely fairy tale and a family movie. Michelle Pfeiffer is really enjoying being the main baddie in this one. Even under tons of make-up. It's a little corny, but it's a fairy tale. And a good one. The special effects are very good. I especially liked the ghosts of the dead princes commenting on the action. And Robert DeNiro, in one of the oddest characters I think he's played, is a cross-dressing pirate. He's a nice guy though. You really see why his crew love him. The ending actually made sense and there's a little "awww" in there too. I couldn't help myself. But there's still plenty of action and people are threatened with all sorts of sharp pointy things and some people actually die. So it's not all sentimental.

Here's a nice picture of the eclipse. From mr-mcgeek.blogspot.com

August 27th, Monday - August was a good month for skywatchers. This year had a lunar eclipse that made the moon red. It was magical. I love it when you don't need to bring out the telescopes.

August 31st, Friday - Then we saw the Aurigid meteor showers. These meteors weren't as bright or as varied as the Perseids, but it was still fantastic that I got to see them from my absurdly lit street. I woke Daryl up at 2am and there we were outside hanging out on the driveway searching for meteors in the sky in our jammies. I wasn't sure if we'd get to see any but we did and it exceeded all my expectations. At least this time it was on a weekend. I don't have a good photo here, so here's a website that has some good ones.

Rats, Robots, Indiana, Fetuses, Wizards, Explosions, and Exercise

Things have gotten away with me a bit, so here's the quick lowdown on the fun stuff for July.

July 3rd, Tuesday-Ratatouille
I cannot begin to tell you how much I loved this movie. I was in tears when the title dish was tasted. Seriously. And I don't usually cry at movies. The story made sense, the characters were well-rounded, and beautifully animated. The colors were warm and rich, Paris never looked so inviting. Rats never looked so intelligent and agile. And what a lovely sentiment, that excellence, that truth, that being what you truly are, that all of these things are important and should be celebrated. How wonderful.

July 4th, Wednesday-Transformers
And then there were robots. Destroying stuff. And fighting each other. I loved the cartoon when I was a kid and was all excited to see the live-action movie ever since I saw the teaser trailer online. Bumblebee was annoying, but the big fights with the robots destroying a city made up for the ridiculous plot which inexplicably involved Shia LeBeouf's antique eyeglasses, if you can believe that. But who cares about plot when you have great special effects? Um, well, you know I do like a good story. But explosions are fun too!



July 6-10, Friday to Tuesday-Indiana and Daryl's Grandfather's Birthday
We went to Indiana to see Daryl's grandfather for his 90th birthday. (Isn't Daryl handsome?)

And then we saw his mom's family and met a new addition to the extended family, Nicky.
July 14th, Saturday-Knocked Up and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
OK, I still cannot believe that Katherine Heigl would end up with Seth Rogen, but for the purposes of this movie I'm gonna give it a pass. (I mean, it's like she's forcing herself to like the guy because she's going to have his baby.) It's nice to see a male comedy that actually wants the man to grow up and make it seem like a good thing. But that happens in the last 15 minutes of the movie and what you have before that, for about an hour and 45 minutes, is men acting like kids. And that's the funny part. I guess growing up isn't funny? And the crazy neurotic women are the funny ones. Why aren't there more funny women in the movies? What's up with that?

And speaking of women in movies, Dolores Umbridge, from the latest Harry Potter movie, is one of the best villains I think I've ever seen in a movie. The actress, Imelda Staunton is fantastic. Umbridge is all pink plaid with hundreds of kitten plates straight from the So Cute it Hurts factory where they pump out adorable little fluffballs to insinuate themselves right into our brains and make us say, "Awww." But Umbridge, is also perfectly fine with torture, and what's most important to her is the accumulation and continuation of that power. Umbridge is also the worst kind of villain, in that, she thinks she's doing the right thing by doing the worst thing, and when she gets her comeuppance, you cheer. Harry's going through a bad time and is isolated, even from his good friends. Evanna Lynch is wonderful and perfect for the role of Luna Lovegood. It may even be said that she makes Luna even better than the books. It's not the greatest Harry Potter movie, but it was pretty good.

July 15th, Sunday-Live Free or Die Hard
OK, remember the statement about explosions? In this movie, it happens in the first five minutes! The movie is a total exercise in the more explosions the better, the more fights the better. And there's some great action and the hero uses a car to hit a helicopter. It's fantastic. Kevin Smith shows up to confirm all conspiracy theories and Justin Long is around to teach us all how to steal a car that has the OnStar system. And Bruce Willis does a great job of making us believe he's too old to be doing this, even though there are plenty of opportunities in the movie where he would most likely be dead. It's not a deep movie, but it's satisfying in the way that watching big explosions are satisfying.

July 21st, Saturday-I bought an elliptical exercise machine. I was so excited about it, I cannot even say.

July 29th, Sunday - And in honor of the Simpsons movie, I visited a local Kwik-E-Mart.