The Who's Entwistle dead at 57

i have a "to do" list, and it includes (in no particular order):

- dmb tickets. figure out how many tickets to buy. buy them.
- email the o'neill to see if i can arrive on the 13th.
- email rhiannon to wish her luck at the o'neill.
- send out thank you letters.
- send out resumes.
- research for job interview.
- research laptop.
- develop the million rolls of film i have (but, in particular, actf roll).
- make and send actf/o'neill care package.
- clean room.
- unpack from college (whoops).
- email chad.

oy. i will accomplish all of these things. just not tonight. ;)

this is amazingly frustrating.

i need a job. but what job do i want? where do i apply? WHAT DO I DO?!?!?

this will be my first real post-collegiate job. i don't want to choose the wrong thing. but, then again, i want someone to actually want to hire me...

someone might be interested in actually hiring me.

!!!!!!!!

do i even need to comment on this?





what john mayer song are you?

so while i was shopping today, i stopped by a music store to look for the horribly overprinced vanilla sky soundtrack (which i want, nonetheless. i really enjoyed the movie, although it wasn't the absolutely amazing film i'd heard it was, it was still really neat), and happened to browse the cd stacks. howie day's "australia" was there--messed with my head a little bit to see that one, even though i knew of the epic rerelease--as was, naturally, everyone's new favorite artist, john mayer. "room for squares" was going for $18.99. ?!?!? i bought it for $9.99 WITH the bonus cd. much as i dig john's music (old stuff, i will restate for the fiftieth time), that cd is not worth $18.99. i didn't know whether to laugh or go up to the cashiers and inform them of the gross injustice that the store was doing by selling the cd for that much.

as i sat here a few minutes ago, i noticed my brother's collection of band patches to my right. the patches for step lively and edna's goldfish caught my eye, and i started to wonder how the reunion show was doing. while i've never seen the band before, three out of the four members are from edna's and sl. edna's brian and sl's mark and skully.

so i checked out the site and things look like they're going well for the band...it's amusing to see pictures and see how they guys have changed since sophomore year. i always think of brian as reading cosmo at guilfoil's house and i remember the other guys as they were when they crashed at our place after one of the 242 shows.

hey, it amused me.

a great surprise from texas yesterday afternoon...a postcard from the rhiannon girl! i've decided to send her an actf/o'neill care package for when she's in connecticut. it will be grand and lovely, not to mention a lot of fun to work on. :)

today i get to go shopping for a laptop--since i need one for the o'neill and i received my surprise credit money from st. mike's, i get to be frivilous (although i had initially protested and said that i didn't need one right now, my parents insist that it's an investment into my career and now i'm somewhat agreeing).

in my (finally successful) search for my averi cd, which i have been going crazy without as of late, i have stumbled across a treasure trove of college memorabilia. photos i didn't remember from freshman year, cards, notebooks (and journals) and various little souveniers from different things throughout the four years--i'm more excited than becca in an "outlet" store. :)

i have to start compiling this stuff, instead of just stumbling across it every few years...

so.

in the past two weeks, i've traveled close to 3,000 miles, seen cities like cinncinatti, minneapolis, and new york city from the window of an airplane. i've ridden through the desert as it morphed from mountains to plains to canyon to mesa. i've seen joshua trees and the ever-delightful palm trees, set back against the orange clay of southern nevada. i visited sin city after spending time in the mormon capital of the world. i saw a member of a boy band after making stops in new york city, ancient egypt, venice, rome (paying respects to bacchus inside), the circus, paris and others. i was shot 100 feet into the air from an 1100-foot-platform. i saw snakes, eagles, deer, antelope and mormon crickets (the nastiest things ever). i drank more than i thought i could and danced beneath the dancing lights of freemont street.

i loved 105 degree weather and discovered, much to my chagrin, the truth behind the "dry heat" i have heard so much about.

and, after all that, i hopped in a car yesterday, picked up two of my best friends and went on a road trip to boston to see other good friends, driving back in the humidity today.

needless to say, i'm exhausted. but happily so.

but, waiting for me in my inbox today was the latest simplesimon, much to my delight. ben at never-ever.net makes me exceptionally happy each time he sends the maling list another bit of his writing.

my o'neill experience will be sandwiched by two sure-to-be-enjoyable concerts--averi right before (yes, beth, i sent that email today--hehe), dmb right after. that's the way things should be...two nights of great music with two weeks of theater smushed into the middle. it's like a huge creative oreo cookie. without the glass of milk to dunk it in.

yeah.

at least my confusion over time zones and sleep and whatnot has served a purpose--taking a turn towards the interactive...

as i look at the clock, my eyes are telling me that it's after 3 a.m.

but the rest of me thinks it's only just after 1 a.m.

DAMN YOU MOUNTAIN TIME ZONE!!!!!

i'm back on the right side of the country...preparing for the trip to quincy in the a.m. i feel like a regular bohemian--traveling everywhere...looking forward to tomorrow's adventures.

i managed to read like it was going out of style during this trip, i realized. over the course of the two weeks (and primarily during the eight hours of flying today), i read: most of "the electric kool-aid acid test" (which i'm still feeling out--not a huge fan, but it's showing potential) and the much more engrossing "the cider house rules", "about a boy", and am currently reading "the divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood" (i'd been trying NOT to read it, but after finding it everywhere, i figured what the hell and bought it when i landed in newark). "about a boy" is absolutely brilliant--i'm going to find "high fidelity" now so i can have read the actual book, as i adore the movie. and i want to see hugh grant's take on will in the film version of "about a boy."

will write about capers when i'm home and feeling somewhat more grounded. which means probably sunday. bwahaha...always make them wait...

email from dan about the o'neill. for the first time, i'm getting nervous. AND i didn't recognize any of the other email addresses...am i going to be at this session without any actfers? crikey...

yes, i'm back from las vegas, i get back to the right coast tomorrow night. will describe all of my zany adventures very soon. but now i begin my work to become the next ari fleischer. talk to you next when i'm back in eastern time...

this amuses me to no end.

You will live in Mansion.
You will drive a hunter green elephant.
You will marry andrew and have 3 kids.
You will be a mob boss in new york city.

tomorrow.

vegas.

this is going to get ugly. but will be so much fun.

i was watching the 10:00 news tonight (something i'm still getting used to) and my aunt and i saw a report about the space station being visible overhead for approximately 60 seconds while it passed over the utah sky. so we decided to check it out and see if we'd be able to catch it.

the sky was completely clear and gorgeous. the moon hung low on the horizon with a crescent visible--but, unlike the vermont crescent moons i've seen, you could still see the entire moon. mostly in shadow, but still light enough to detect. jupiter was shining brightly to the left of the moon while the sky was still slightly greenish just over the mountains.

turning to look over the house, a bright object caught my eye, and sure enough, there it was--the space station, racing away from us. incredibly bright and moving so quickly...the timing could not have been better. we walked outside just in time to catch it...it's supposed to be visible tomorrow night as well, so i'm hoping to see it again.

one of the local papers is reporting in tomorrow's edition that evidence supports a theory that elizabeth smart's kidnapping was an inside job. i found out the other day that she shares my birthday (well, she was born seven years later, but november 3, nonetheless). i don't know how media coverage has been in other parts of the country or world, but it's everywhere here--it's an odd experience for me, having heard about the kidnapping initially when i was still in vermont, now going into salt lake and seeing the posters and flyers everywhere--and everyone hopes they find her alive and safe.

things here have been relaxing--the past few days have been spent around the house, reading, relaxing, even going for the occasional run (i know, i laughed at myself as well). there is a surprise planned for me tomorrow--i'm rather frightened, but i think it involves the bar and karaeoke. just a hunch. then friday in either salt lake or tooele, and vegas on saturday.

the time will be off on this post, as i believe i have the default for eastern time and i'm currently in mountain. so i'll say that it's 4:07 p.m. as i write this.

so i'm in utah...dugway, utah, to be precise. a few quick observations:

- we think we have mountains back home. these are mountains. rocky, craggy (is this a word? c'est la vie, it is now), dotted with green, but predominantly shades of brown and gray. in order to get from tooele to dugway, we take "the pass"--an incredibly windy road that takes us through and over the mountains.

- i've seen tons of antelope, some deer, a brown eagle, five snakes, and the home of an honest to goodness polygamous utah family.

- the fact that there has been such an outpouring of help in the search for elizabeth smart is not at all surprising, considering what the people here are like. strangers will start conversing with you as you stand in line at places, and not just the "hi, how are you?" type of conversing. a girl at a restaurant started talking to me about college, as she found out i just graduated and she's just getting ready to go. an in-depth conversation followed, once i got past the "huh?" mentality. they're all like this here. as a new englander (and a pretty friendly new englander, i'd like to think), i was absolutely floored.

- the tabernacle in salt lake city's temple square is a theater technician's dream. the entire temple square is gorgeous, if not somewhat imposing (walking into the visitor's center, you can follow the paintings on the wall from jesus' birth to the resurrection, not to mention the stature they have upstairs...these mormans aren't messing around. and they love to walk up to you and start chatting, just like every other utahan i've met...it's an interesting experience (yes, i whispered "MORMANS RULE" when i entered the square).

- my aunt and uncle are insane. and they are corrupting me.

- i'm having a grand time, i am very much looking forward to las vegas on saturday. until then, i am relaxing, reading and enjoying the fact that for the first time in years, i have nothing pressing that i really need to do. it's absolutely bizarre.

first joey, then dee dee...

twas the night before my vacation...

alright, so i'm engaging in the normal "i waited until the last minute to pack so i'm trying to finish it all up while hoping to sleep a lil bit" tradition. actually making progress, in fact, almost finished. i'll probably get 3.5 hours of sleep tonight...as i'm waking up around 5:30 (ugh!) seven hours of flying with about a 45 minute layover in minnesota (i want to hear the accent!!!!!)

so have fun while i'm gone, kiddies, email me addresses so i can send postcard revelry your way. i'll be home on the 21st around 11 or 11:30 at night...then trip to quincy the next day!

thank yous to bethy, becca and chuckie for the pre-trip love...joey, sorry i couldn't call, the night was rather crazy, and, for everyone, i am relaying a greeting from chi town -- laundry sends a "HI" to you all. :)

i'm leavin...on a jet plane...

so...an update of sorts.

things are going well. my schedule has consisted primarily of working, excercising and preparing (or pretending to prepare) for my trip. a breakdown of the schedule:

- working. it appears that i really have to earn my vacation. customers annoy me, but that's life. the crewpeople have been fine, and it feels good to be working, making money and doing something that i have a complete knowledge of. gives me a bit of a confidence booster that will help (i hope) as i send out resumes and hopefully go to some interviews...

- excercising. i decided a couple of weeks ago that i needed an overall vickie health upgrade. let's face it, some of my habits and vices during school weren't exactly the healthiest choices for me. and it was fine while i was in school because i was focusing on having some fun and i didn't have a hell of a lot of time to prepare well-balanced meals and excercise every day. but i don't really have an excuse now. so i'm not doing too much--just my little weight training thing i started during school twice a day and watching what i eat (a challenge that is exceptionally daunting when one manages a mcdonald's, but i'm actually doing an extraordinary job, if i do say so myself).

- preparing for the trip. haven't actually done as much as i should on this front, but do i ever get stuff done ahead of time when preparing for a trip? i always do it the night before. i just need to finish my resumes so i can send them out...that's my biggest thing.

OH! i'll be talking to you both, but beth and joey...july 29? dmb at spac? becca told me yesterday that she's in...but we need to figure out the buying of tickets and if you are still interested in attending...

a wonderful surprise was waiting for me when i got home from work this evening.

a card from julie, my news editor for defender, wishing me a happy graduation and talking a bit about working on the newspaper this semester.

i finished reading it and felt like a million dollars. so sweet.

in other news, my father spoke with my uncle about whether or not i'd be safe flying out west, with all of the seeker missle reports that have been circulating (you know...terrorists snuck missles into the u.s. and might be preparing to shoot aircraft while in flight).

fear not, the reports are not as scary as they seem, i hear. ultimately, my father said it all depended on me, since i'll be the one flying and all.

my response? bring on the missles. with all due respect, who's going to shoot down a plane going to minnesota? and, after i get on my second flight, who's going to shoot a plane destined for salt lake city? someone planning on taking out all of the mormans? "those pesky mormans, nothing but trouble..." come on! mormans rule! ;) (that was for you, bethy and joey)

i'm not going to let my plans get all messed up because of a few little missles that won't come near me anyway. SO TAKE THAT!

unfortunately, however, i'm going to have to earn this vacation. work has been unbearable lately. want to run screaming from the place...a couple of weeks away will definitely be theraputic.