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 Last Pineapple Purchase (LPP): Lip Gloss in cool flip-out case
Gift from Chris. Walgreens (while hunting PVC Transformers)


Today is July 1. Pleasurable weekend spent in Blair. Chris and I watched Adaptation. Somewhat of a letdown, but I did revel in making fun of Robert McKee's STORY. I took a screenwriting class here at ISU (I was only in it for about a month before I dropped) and Story was our text. I hated it so much. I do enjoy Brian "I swear to God I'm going to pistol whip the next guy who says 'Shenanigans.'" Cox, so that was fun, at least. As I visited the NF page to get the link, I was reminded at how much critics were peeing their damn pants over this movie ;-)

Also we watched a video entitled "Skits and Stickers" by The State. I had heard of The State from my friend Evan Lowry, who would always try to quote bits of it to me back in high school. Then recently I watched Wet Hot American Summer and The State, as a concept, re-entered my consciousness. THEN, I got to Chris's on Friday and apparently a co-worker had loaned him Skits and Stickers. We watched it and ZING, all I can do is paraphrase Spongebob Squarepants and exclaim "Oh boy! Something else for me to get obsessed about!" (SBSP: Oh boy, something for me to clean up)

So, yeah. The State. They have their own official site, or you can visit the StateMedia site and download clips (if 99 bucks for a vhs tape is too rich for ya). Also Global Apathy offers whole episodes to download for bitchin' goodness. My final comment is that while Michael Ian Black seems like a better-than-everyone bastard on I Love the 80's, he is actually funny and nice on The State/WHAS.

I have a plan for chaos on July 4th. I'm going to wear a t-shirt that has a picture of a flag on it that is NOT the US Flag. Reports to follow.


Today is July 2. Happy birthday to Louie, my lil' cousin. I have been doing some reading about ACOA, notably "Dr. Jan"'s book The Complete ACOA Sourcebook. So much of what she says really hits home, especially the part about not having fun, taking yourself too seriously. That's the vibe I always got from my Alc. parent. Life is serious! Like when I was at the Cheap Trick concert I saw all those adults cuttin' loose and having fun, and I could NOT for the life of me picture my parents their doing the same (Granted, a lot of the ppl in that audience were drinking, but I really don't want to get into that). The point is, even though I've been aware that I am a COA since the 8th grade, I still have so much to learn. Like instead of thinking, oh, my parents didn't have fun because they were serious people, it's that they couldn't have fun b/c of their disease.

As I was reading the book, I remebered how my mom had the original ACOA book around the house long before I knew anything about my family situation. And as I'm looking back on it, since she was a social worker, if there were any books around the house on people's problems, it didn't seem strange to me because that was her job. Like if my mom was a dentist or banker, I would FLIP if she had a book about alcoholism or child abuse. "Why are you reading that?? Is there something I should know?" but as she was a social worker, I didn't question it.

In the 8th grade I finally started learning the truth about my family. I am finally comfortable to share what I know with my journal audience. I will put it here for those who wish to read. Tomorrow we will be back to our regularly scheduled clever comments and funny links.


Today is July 3. Last night, I went to see Bend it Like Beckham at the Varsity here in Ames. I convinced Alicia, the former Cedar Rapids Kennedy soccer stud, to go with me. It was a very sweet movie! I think it was much better than last years "surprise" "indie" humorous chick-flick, MBFGW. For one thing, no members of NSync. For another thing...Jonathan Rhys Myers. Hot hot. [There's a scene at the end where he's wearing a white cable-kint sweater, a white shirt and white pants, playing cricket. I leaned over to Alicia, and said "Holy Ralph Lauren catalog, Batman!"] Yet another reason to finally see Velvet Goldmine, eh?

Last night I had a dream that Chris and I were at a Carnival (this may have been inspired by the opening credits of Three's Company on Nick@Nite). There was a kid who had just won a carnival game, and his prize was a G3AIO! The barker handed the kid the computer and I was like, oh he can't carry all that. But it turned out the barker just gave him the *case* and then put the guts in a box for him to carry. The part with the comp was likely inspired by the fact that I've been ignoring Larry at home....well it's hot enough in our apt without cranking up the computer, plus I get plenty of computing done here at work =) Post Script: something strange I just realized. The opening credits of Suzanne Somer's other TV show, Step By Step, *also* took place at a carnival. How weird.


Today is July 7. Good weekend, which I will summarize here. Friday was Independence Day here in the US. Chris, my brother Jonathan, and I went to Slater for the parade and stuff. We happened to see Grandma Hazel as we drove into town, so we parked the car and went to sit with her. We had a good lunch in the park, including pie. We couldn't find Louie, Jay, et al, so we all went home befor too long. In the evening, Chris and I got some pizza from Papa John's. There Brent invited us to a party that night, that he found out about through his work friends. Chris and I watched the Ames fireworks from the playing fields by Towers, then went to the party. It was out in the country. There were lots of people there, and I only knew a few. There was a bonfire, a few different bands, and fireworks. I met some nice people. We left around midnight and it started pouring down rain just as we got back to Ames.

On Saturday Chris and I went to Faith and Eric's wedding in Ames. Everyone looked beautiful and/or handsome. The ceremony was very nice too. The reception was in Story City and it was really fun. I got to hang with a bunch of my old cronies from RS. Shout-out to Keith a.k.a. Scratch and Skeith for being an upstart DJ. Also Sharon and Naomi and I are going to have Stupid Night (they won't tell me what this means) on Wednesday, so I'm pretty excited about that. Later on Saturday, Chris, Brent, Aaron "AY," Carla, and I all went to see T3. (Carla is an ex-PJ employee and a good pal of Brent and Aaron). Her friend Shara, "the only nice drummer in the orchestra" met us there. The movie was really good. I haven't seen either of the other 2 in the series but it was still enjoyable.

Sunday we pretty much did nothing. It was great. Also I forgot to mention on the 4th Chris and I also watched The China Syndrome. Some might call it an anti-nuclear power movie, but I think the message was more on personal responsibility. Like, yes, technology can improve our lives but it is still up to the humans to make smart decisions. Anyway, Chris wanted to watch it since he works at a nuclear power plant himself now. I enjoyed the movie, and it was kind of interesting to have the "insider's perspective."


Today is July 8. Anyone feel like squeezing into their bad-ass red jeans? Yup, Foreigner is coming to Des Moines. And of COURSE I'm going to wear my Aqua Teens tee!
<Explanation> On one episode of the Adult Swim Cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" two of the characters win a Foreginer belt at a carnival playing skee-ball. This belt endows the wearer with all the powers of seventies supergroup, Foreigner. So throughout the episode, other characters get frozen into a block of ice ("Cold As Ice"), have their eyes messed up ("Double Vision"), boil in a swimming pool ("Hot Blooded"), and get convinced that they are, in fact, a "Dirty White Boy." I'm working on typing up my transcript of this episode, so hopefully then it will make more sense. Anyway, the point is that ATHF rules, and it has given me a renewed appreciation for Foreigner. Another lesson the episode teaches is that Loverboy has always sucked. Maybe that's why they had to play Sioux City, hehe </Explanation>

In other Adult Swim news, I've had the Harvey Birdman theme stuck in my head all day.


Today is July 10. I feel rotten for some reason. Physically and mentally. I really want a deviled egg. I don't want to be at work. I'm wearing my prairie skirt. It's brown with orang, yellow, and white flowers, so I'm wearing a plain yellow tee with it, and black mesh shorts underneath for comfort and modesty in the wind.

At this point I wish to offer a clarification to February's entry re: Conan goes to the spa. He's speaking of a future society, where we are "Ruled by the council of nine! Led by Overlord Quang! All Hail Quang!" Quang is still my friend, it's still funny, and you should also know that Quang drives a car that looks like he bought it from a retired pimp (he actually bought it from Chicanos in Sioux City)


Today is July 11. I am the queen of all that is mh! Send me anything! I can mhn -store it, mv it into my WWW directory, and look a' it with ease. Here is a tip for everyone. Don't clean your ears with a pen. You will just freak out later when you have peacock-blue ink coming out of your ear. In other news, I saw an old ep of The Cosby Show featuring none other than Happy Gilmore himself playing a teammate of Theo's. They were on the same basketball team and they were going to visit their friend who had cancer. Sandler was wearing short 80s-style Bball shorts. Very funny. (Ok i just checked imdb and he was in 4 eps total. The one I saw was "The Visit." Actually I just watched the one scene, there. I don't really even like the Cosby show. I don't find it entertaining.)


Today is July 14. Went to Sioux City for the weekend. Friday we did some shopping. The Southern Hills Mall was having sidewalk sales, so we got some good bargains. I got black doc martens style mary jane shoes (so cute-half price) and I also found a Transformers steering wheel cover to match his floormats.

Saturday we went to Wal-Mart (meds) and then Hobby Lobby b/c Chris wanted to get a model to put together. He was bummed because the Ghostbusters vehicle and the Back to the Future DeLorean were both the cheesy snap-together kind of models. We also swam in Karen and Gary's pool. Patty has a pool too, now, but we didn't swim in it. Their dog Cocoa is much nicer now. He didn't try to bite or act crazy once. Then we visited Jim and Pat in Sgt. Bluff. They have the sweetest cats. C.C. (for Candy Cane, since her tail is striped), Mouse, and Spike.

Sunday we just sort of hung out then went to Sam's Club with Karen. I had never been to a SC before so I wanted to check it out. They have a little bit of everything. Ok, I shouldn't say a little bit, since all the food and supplies and stuff comes in bulk. But it is a big variety, and apparently it changes all the time. I got a vacuum cleaner (bagless) and Chris got a paper shredder. I plan to go back after I get my G5 so I can get a flat panel monitor for a decent price. They had a pretty slim selection of TVs (very few that I looked at had component inputs) but they did have a big trampoline.


Today is July 17. Yesterday I went to Naomi's for another Stupid Night. It wasn't really as stupid this time. We looked at some of Naomi's scrapbooks (I have recently started up on that myself, so she got hers out so I could get some ideas) We had a nice time looking at the pictures and just chatting. Sharon gave me a vinyl copy of Going for the One, which is a Yes album that I actually didn't have on vinyl! Thanks to Sharon and way to have the guts to buy a record with a naked dude's butt on it at a garage sale ;-)

Oh yeah, and yesterday Chris made me realize I forgot to go to Foreigner on Tuesday. How lame am I. So I'm still kind of bummed about that. What did I do instead? I worked on my scrapbook and watched a disc of Buffy from Netflix. Oh well.


Today is July 18. I am starting to get the little clogged-artery thing at the top of my Netflix Queue. "Long wait" it says. "Long Wait." "Very Long Wait." I'll be very cranky indeed if I accidentally get Buffy discs sent out of order because season 2 disc 2 is ready while disc 1 still has a "Long Wait."

In other news, I got a new cell phone! It's mega cool. E-mail me and I will add your phone number. It has a blue screen. Let me see if I can find a picture. Yes! look how cute. Of course I'm still learning it ;-)

Chris comes today, but I don't really know what our plans are.


Today is July 21. The big news is that I got a new TV. It's a 27" Sony Wega/Trinitron flat screen. "This TV right here!" or however NewsRadio's Lisa said it (the episode where she learned about C-span being on 24 hours a day, and decided that she needed a big TV. After she previously had chided Dave for watching too much TV). So maybe now my brother will think I am less of a loser.

I am thinking about giving this blog/journal a title. "News from the Land of Rach" "Recent News" etc. that just isn't hip enough. I like the phrase "...and also, I'm itchy." I think it comes from Ray Romano's book, in the part where he plays a game to think of a sentence that has never before been said. "And also, I'm itchy" was something he tacked on to the end of the sentence. I think it describes me pretty well, the tone of this journal, anyway. If I can find the actual source of it, I will maybe make some little title things and we can see what it looks like.


Today is July 22. Fu Manchu Live Album Tuesday, or to put it succinctly, Fu'sDay. Excited. Had forgotten until I realized it was Tuesday. A Dumb Observation: Was thinking about Ms. Celia Cruz (RIP), the queen of salsa, and how lame it is that I only knew her through that Dr. Pepper ad. Then I started thinking about how another Dr. Pepper ad pays homage to Run DMC's Jam Master Jay. Suddenly it hit me. Bad things happen in 3's. Cyndi Lauper better watch her back. Just sayin'.

Jill is in town, so I hung out with her, Jess, Dan, and a few other peeps at Welch Ave. Station. Then Jill, Jess, and I went back to my place and watched relevant NewsRadio episodes. Chocks for Bob and David, and Twins for Jon Stewart. (We also ended up watching Office Feud, because it was on the tape after Twins. They loved the Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor ads, and we discussed how illznitiotic and dilznoofus relates to Snoop's Doggy Fizzle Televizzle)


Today is July 23. The other day I saw a Nature episode called The Urban Elephant. Our PBS affiliate, IPTV, has programming all night courtesy of the cable companies in the cities. If you live in Des Moines/Ames, Omaha/Co. Bluffs, or Sioux City I strongly urge you to set your tape machine for IPTV this Saturday (aka early Sunday morning) at 2am so you can see this special. It's all about elephants who are living away from their homes. In orphanages, circuses, sanctuaries, or even the outskirts of Bangkok. I'm going to tape it so I can watch it again and show Chris. (Also so I don't have to pay 19.95 plus shipping and handling, ha ha) There are some adorable baby elephants and elephant hugging with trunks.


Today is July 28. No news == good news ? Prove or disprove. Here's a little something so that I may one day have a googlewhack of my very own: My mom had to have arthroscopic surgery on account of she was freebasing so much. Also I wanted to mention that I am so freakin' hardcore that I ate frosted flakes out of a Glad bowl (not a new thing, but wait) with a TEASPOON from a set of measuring spoons. Since Alicia's gone I have absolutely no silverware but i still had a craving for the taste of Tony's frosted flakes to bring out the tiger in me (I just accidentally wrote "frosted flasks"...i got booze on the brain or something). So bye-bye dignity, hi-yo silverware. Away.


Today is July 30. Subbu (my new roommate) moves in either today or tomorrow. Should be fun.

My friend Tim (the elder) has a knack for calling people "a douche." Not even worthy of being called "a douchebag," he will loudly insist that someone/thing needs to "stop being a douche." It's rather infectious.

In bad news: Alicia took her keys to the apartment. Also she had the "card" internet adapter, not the lil' box like I (as a noble Mac user) need to access the HomePNA thing. boo. But she's going to mail the keys so Subbu can have good keys and not crappy copies of mine that are liable to break off in the outside door. On the plus side, i just ate some lunch which was warmed-up leftovers from last night. Since I don't have a microwave at the apt. anymore (at least until Chris comes back) I have to drag my food here to heat it up. heh.


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