I wish someone killed Kenny

Well, Brett seems to think I need to post to my blog. I personally don't see why -- I don't think anyone reads this but maybe him. Want to know what he wants me to post about? The pain and agony I am currently inflicting upon myself by continuing to listen to my recently purchased collection of Love Songs by Kenny Rogers. I think I can safely say it was a mistake. A very large mistake. And it gets worse as the songs go by....

Now -- don't judge me too quickly. As a child I *adored* Kenny Rogers. I grew up listening to country music, and I always felt that Kenny Rogers looked like my Dad. So he holds a strange place in my heart. Well, we found ourselves at the Walmart in Camrose following a visit with Grandma K, and lo and behold I see this collection of Love Songs. Looking at the back, I recognize quite a few of the classic old songs. I look to see if there is a "Kenny Rogers, Greatest Hits" type of album instead, but no such luck. So I figure, what the heck. I miss my Dad. And I was feeling nostalgic. I also picked up a Greatest Hits of Conway Twitty -- thankfully no regrets on that one.

So here it is, Monday morning. I rocked out to some Fat Boy Slim for a bit, trying to get into the coding groove. It worked for a while, but I tired of it. So I decided I should give my new CD a spin. Curiosity and all that.

It did not start well. There were my classic love songs -- there was Kenny's voice -- and what is that I hear? Saxophone. Oh god. What have I done? I will say I am NOT a fan of Easy Listening. The songs began grating on my nerves. I ponder escape -- but feel it is my duty to play it through completely before abandoning it.

And then I got to "I Only Have Eyes For You". And I started laughing uncontrollably, tears of laughter and pain forming in my eyes. I can't even begin to describe the horror.

Alas, that is the story. Yup, I'm still listening to it -- I CAN DO IT! And actually, there have been a few songs here and there that aren't *terrible*. But I have yet again learned that not everything from childhood is as good as I remember it being. *sigh*

The Prestige Illusionist

So this past Saturday Brett suggests that we head out for an afternoon matinee. In particular, he wants to see The Illusionist -- which is all right by me, because I wanted to see that movie too! I mention to him that I was really intrigued after seeing the preview for it before Step It Up on my birthday. And of course, who can go wrong with Christian Bale (even when he's not super cute -- like in the Machinist. :( ).

So we get to the Cineplex, purchase our tickets, and wander over to theatre 12...at which point I see a poster for The Prestige and realize that THAT was the movie I thought we were seeing! So I mention this to Brett, who looks at the very non-descript poster and says "The Prestige? Why do you want to see that?" Well, I don't know. But oh well. We get to the right theatre, and I recognize the poster for the movie we're seeing (The Illusionist), and vaguely recall being intrigued by the plot for this movie too, so all is good. And heck, I like Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti, so it can't be that bad!

So we're early and we sit down in our chairs and get comfortable. I start thinking about it, and wonder why Brett went along with all my talking about Christian Bale and such? So I ask him why he never questionned me about it? And he says it's because he thought Christian Bale was in the movie. Which has me confused. And he mentions something about being intrigued about The Illusionist after seeing a preview -- to which I reply that I haven't seen a preview for it. And he says, sure you have. Of course, I figured I just must have been in the washroom when he saw it. Still very strange. So then he asks what The Prestige is about. So I start explaining about Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman being magician type people, only Christian Bale's character has this one trick that makes him look like he might really know magic or something. And then Brett gets all confused and says "isn't that this movie?" At which point we both start laughing our heads off since we both thought we were seeing the same movie, and now had no idea what we were about to watch!!

Seriously, The Prestige is a crappy name....it totally should have been called The Illusionist. But then again, The Illusionist kind of was the best name for the Edward Norton movie too! The movie turned out to be pretty good -- not stellar, but not a waste of money either. And The Prestige is still not out in theatres, so we'll have to wait and see. :)

Hot Chocolate Commando

Well, my husband found my blog and I promptly stopped writing in it...is that weird? I honestly didn't do it consciously...but here it is almost October, and I last wrote in April. Why am I afraid of people reading my inner thoughts? Hmmmm...

Anyways, this weekend Brett convinced me that I should share some of my funny anecdotes on my blog (basically he chastised me for not writing in it). So I thought I'd share a post I made to my Post Challenged Sistas at www.splitcoaststampers.com. While at the time I was just sharing a story, it has become an amusing inside joke between me and the girls. :)

"Guess what?! Brett was super sweet and made me a cup of hot chocolate....and brought it to me sitting on the couch. Well, the stub wall was full of my kleenex box, and I needed to blow my nose, and in my retarded state of grogginess, I apparently thought that cradled in my legs was a good place for the hot mug. So I grabbed a kleenex, started blowing my nose, and spilled basically 3/4 full cup of hot cocoa all over my legs...seeping into my velour comfy pants to stick against my legs... I jumped up, ran around like a mad woman, and took off my pants (which was a bad idea, cause I was lazy today and went commando -- don't give me that disgusted look), and the curtains were open in the living room...and well, besides being mortified (although I'm sure no one saw anything), I now have a fairly painful burn on my leg....:( Can we have a collective "poor Lenore" now?"

I got more of a collective *SPEW* instead. hehehe....

It didn't get better...

Actually, it got a lot worse. Work that is. It's over now, finally. I'm actually really moved over to the new group, but not without some scars. It was like breaking up with someone who thought that things could be "worked out". *sigh*

I am now a User Interface Expert...or at least, I'm striving to be one. It has been slow learning the new development software, the somewhat different product, and what it means to be a "User Interface Expert". I think I could be good at it though, because while I can program to my heart's content, I'm not actually really good with computers...afterall, that's why I have Brett right? :)

Well, Chloe had to go in for surgery again -- yet another absess on her back foot. It actually came out quite cleanly, and I think she's doing a whole lot better than before.... But she's back in her cone looking like an animated lamp, and it's so hard not to laugh at her. That's what we get for having a mini rex, apparently they're prone to problems with their back feet. At least she's stopped her self-mutilating habits.

Herbie's still a rabbit who emulates a chicken.

I got myself a new book on the weekend -- Subversive Crossstitch! I hated crossstitching as a kid, but maybe I just needed the right material. :) I've already started my first project, and I'm really excited to see how it turns out. Between this and stamping, I should be good on creative outlets.

Now if only I could get Brett going on the darned back deck, I so want some bbq...

A week of highs and lows...

But that's not unusual for mid March for me. My father died on March 18th when I was 14. It always brings about sporatic and spontaneous moments of sadness. On the other hand, my husband and I started dating 7 years ago today! I still remember him grabbing and holding my hand under the table while we drank green beer at the RATT...well, ok, *I* didn't drink green beer, but that's hardly the point.

So I immediately discontinued my formal attempts at losing weight. Meh. What are you going to do. I still want to lose weight, but it's been a hard month so I figure why make myself more stressed....

In "finally" news, I got up the nerve to tell my manager I wanted to switch groups....it didn't really go well (as I had expected it wouldn't), and I think he still thinks he's going to be my manager, but as my husband and some other coworkers tell me, the hard part is done. I'm excited to get working on new things and with new people, but it's also Friday, St. Patty's Day, and getting closer and closer to 5 o'clock....oh well. Another wasted day. :) At least a big group of us went to V For Vendetta for an early matinee! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd recommend it, but then again I don't know your tastes (whoever you are). It wasn't all action all the time, it was actually really dramatically interesting as well!

Well, that's it for me. I don't know what the weekend holds in store for me. Maybe I should watch a sad movie and bawl my eyes out so I'll stop spontaneously crying at work (thankfully I share an office with my husband). A coworker is currently very sick for reasons unknown, and it's eerily familiar for me, and unfortunately it gets worse as the 18th sneaks up on me....

I need to find me a mini horse to cheer him up...

Easily Overwhelmed

That describes me to a T. (aside: what is T? where does that come from?)

I seem to be unable to focus in my life. There are always many goals that I want to achieve, but I seem to lack the drive to follow through no matter how important it is to me. Of course, this isn't entirely true (I did raise $6000 for the CDA and walk a marathon afterall), but it's true enough to be bothersome.

I just signed up at www.sparkpeople.com, which is a free (yup, I didn't believe it either) online weight management thingie. It sounds fantastic. But darn it all, it requires me to count calories, and every time I put something in and see this gigantic spike in calorie numbers, I always freak and shy away! Perhaps I'm not quite at the "put effort into it" stage. I don't believe in the magic solutions like many people do, I know that there are probably a lot of health concerns with magic diet pills, or whatever. But truthfully? I wish I did....I wish I wasn't intelligent enough to know that if it's that easy it's probably got a catch...a catch that could be my health. I just want to be instantly skinny again! But I don't want to work for it! Hahaha...:(

So, just hours after signing up, I'm wondering if I'm going to follow through! It's so sad. It's a great program, and it encourages starting slowly...but the problem is, it sets a range for you to try to stay within for all sorts of stuff like calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc...and I can't help but want to try to achieve that on the first day, or I'm going to feel like a failure!! *sigh* Well, I'm still going to stick with my initial goals of cutting out pop completely, and walking every day. From there on? I don't know, I'll let you know how it goes. :)?

In other goal setting news that I feel incapable of achieving, I really want to achieve the darned cruise with Stampin Up...if not this year, then next...but I just can't see how! I'm such a terrible sales person! I'd practically spend all the money myself, but $60000 is expensive for a cruise even *if* it's all in stamping products...hehehe.

*sigh* I'm still unsure of this blog thing. Case in point: this post. It's so boring. Do I at least enjoy writing it? Hmmmm....

I'm no good at this sort of thing...

In truth? I'm not even sure why I'm here right now. I really enjoy reading blogs -- particularly blogs of friends old and new. Of course, then there are those blogs that I find just plain funny and speak to me in some sort of way that I spend most of my time saying "Yeah! Exactly! Me too!" in my head while I'm reading them....

I don't think I'm one of those people. Why would I write when I could read someone else's posts that can convey what I'm feeling so much better than I could. I *want* to be one of those people.... But I've never been that impressed with my writing skills. So consequently I've never wanted a blog...what if someone finds it and hates it?

I care way too much about what other people think to have a blog.

So why am I writing?

Guess it doesn't hurt that the only person who knows my blog exists -- and likely the only person reading this right now is an old high school friend that I haven't seen since I first started University -- so does that mean that Anonymity gives me freedom to be terrible without consequence? I guess we'll see, won't we....

I'm not sure you're right Lenni -- fear of rejection is a powerful thing.

Why blog?

I was forced. It's not my fault this is uninteresting...or maybe it is?