A Leg Grows in C Minor

...is the catchphrase for the awesome Darby O'Gill and the Little People movie I got for Christmas from my brother. I won't lie to you people, I don't feel like writing a blog. My PMS hit me today, and if I haven't said it before, I'll say it now: My PMS is much different than other people's. People get cramps and bloating and blah blah whatever. I don't get ANY physical symptoms, only mental ones. I get depressed, afraid, giddy, paranoid, angry, lethargic, catastrophic, etc. Usually all in one day. It's like I'm a crazy person for about 4 days a month. It goes away the first day of my period, and my mood dramatically improves from there. But this time period sucks for me. I do want to mention some things I really liked about today: 1 --I FINALLY fracking got 5 stars on "Raining Blood" on medium in Guitar Hero 3. I'd moved on to the "Hard" setting, so I was pissed that I could beat the songs on Hard no problem, but ...

Ah December, the time for universal nostalgia. It's hard to have nostalgia when you're a kid, because your life just isn't long enough to think of like that. Really you're just looking forward to growing up and being able to do things like drive, drink, legally watch porn, etc. In my opinion, there are two types of nostalgia. One is based on friendships and fun happenstances, and one is based on traditions. My overall nostalgia has been worse than ever this year. Not because I'm not happy right now, because I am extremely happy right now. But because I know that I'm moving to a completely different place in my life, and I'm going to go there and look back fondly on the good times I'm having in the present. So, essentially, I'm getting pre-nostalgic. Which is fine because I won't take as many things for granted. Mostly when I think back and reminisce on good times, it's because of fun people in my life. Usually those people are gone ...

A few weeks ago, Mike and I paid a friendly visit to the leader of his improv troupe (Smike) and his wife, Melinda. They enjoy video games, asian things (seriously...a lot), and snakes. Though I didn't hold their snakes this time, they did introduce me to the wonderful world of Samurai Champloo and Read or Die . They also threw a handful of asian films at me when I left their house. Last week Mike and I watched Versus . This is a movie about reincarnation, samurais, zombies, and guns. Though the plot was a bit thin, I did enjoy the outfits and the artful blood splatter. I actually did like the film more than I thought I would. It was funny and the main guys were engaging. I don't really want to ruin anything, so I'll leave it at that. Tonight I watched Moonchild . This is a film starring two Japanese rock legends, Hyde and Gackt. Hyde plays an extremely emo vampire (Kei), and Gackt plays the kid who finds him and befriends him (Sho). The movie actually isn'...

I'm extremely sad/nostalgic right now. The fault for this exclusively lies with Joss Whedon. My college friend Angela came over to hang out tonight, which was very fun and nice. But on a previous visit home Mike and I had gotten her into watching Angel , because we were watching the 5th season at the time. So she came over tonight and said the only episode she still needed to see was the series finale. Of course I told her we could watch it, I was excited to revisit my old friends! Well the excitement turned into longing. Longing for the return of not only Angel , but for Buffy as well. The characters were like old friends I hadn't seen in years returning to me in ghost form. I could only have them for a little while, then they must leave again. Sigh. I cannot stress enough how amazing those two tv shows are. I now feel like an addict, a Joss Whedon addict. I can't wait for his new show Dollhouse , but it won't be the same :( In Thanksgiving news, my trip ho...

My foot is feeling a lot better. I am no longer on crutches or in any kind of splint. I am walking, with a slight limp, but walking nonetheless. Once my calf muscle gets back in shape (about a month from now) I'll be able to walk without a limp. The bone part of my foot never hurts, but the incision still does if it gets angry at me or I hit it on something. The reason it may get angry at me is that my supposed "absorbable" or "disolvable" sutures (Vicryl) are reacting with my foot instead of just doing what the hell they're supposed to and going away. So my incision opened up wider and got softer instead of closing and going away. My doctor now has me on cephalexin just in case of infection, and he says with some hydrogen peroxide and band-aids it should close soon. I'll probably have a worse scar than I would have had, but I kinda like scars anyway; it'll make me look like a bad-ass. I do have good news though, he took x-rays recently and sa...

Thank you Ben Folds, for supplying such a fitting title. The other day I went to my cousin's fiance's baby shower. I drove my mom, aunt, and grandma to Buffalo for the occasion, where I have never driven to before. The cousin referred to in the first sentence, Cory, lives in Buffalo, and I hadn't seen him in probably 3 years or so. Cory was a very close cousin to me growing up. Since he lived pretty far from Geneva, when he would visit he would stay with my family, sometimes for a few weeks at a time. He became like an older brother to me, and we did some of the most fun things together growing up. I remember one year when I was about 6 and he came for a little while in the summer. I was obsessed with WWF wrestling at the time (seriously obsessed, I was in love with Marty Janetti), and we formed a "Smash and Crush Club". My dad had lots of tools lying around all the time so we fashioned a sign meant to scare people that said Smash and Crush in nails. We ba...

Just a quick little taste of a blog for your appetites: --I watched both Hardboiled and Dead Poet's Society on Thursday night. I had never seen Hardboiled save for the first fight scene, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the hottest man in Hong Kong Cinema in the film. That would be my man Tony Leung. Yay! The fact that he was in the movie made up for the fact that they spent about 45 minutes on an exploding hospital that apparently only caters to babies and people with polio. Overall, I'd give the first half of the movie a B+ and the second half a C-. But since I love Tony Leung (and since City on Fire I've liked Chow Yun Fat), it was a pleasurable experience for me. My favorite acting scene (the film was mostly about who had the biggest/most guns) was a scene in a warehouse where Tony turns around and looks like he's confused and anguished at the same time, it's great. The only thing I could find that showed it was this random music video set to cli...

*Disclaimer: this post contains graphic images of my frankenstein-ish foot. Not for the squeamish* I think everyone tends to write more when something bad/wrong/out of the ordinary happens, or when they're sad or introspective. This past week has been pretty ordinary, save for all of the sleep knowledge my boss put into my head, so I didn't really know what to write. Well, until friday of this week that is. I went back to my doctor to have my cast taken off. Ever since last week my foot had been hurting horribly. Thursday night it hurt so badly that I could barely sleep due to the pain. What I didn't realize was that the two pins that were holding my bones together had, over time, gotten irritated where they had come in contact with my skin/the cast. Luckily those pins came out completely last friday. Unluckily, they were the size of industrial staples and my doctor pulled them both out with no local anesthetic of any kind. They were already so irritated that I c...

The Office , to reiterate countless other posts, is the greatest show on tv. I'm not budging on this, even in the face of Heroes. Maybe if Buffy was still on I would think differently.... Anyway....I just want to say that I believe Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski to be secretly dating in real life. She just left her husband, and John is extremely mum on the dating front. They also have the most chemistry I've ever seen on tv. I don't really know why I'm so obsessed with the two of them, but I think it's because they are not only super cute together, but they are really funny, smart, snarky, and just all around cool. Watch Jenna's eyes and John's rubbing of her shoulders in this video and tell me that you don't think anything is going on between them. In other news, I've finished my jigsaw puzzle and have played a bit more on Kingdom Hearts 2. It's pretty fun, but I wish I would start playing as Sora instead of some random Roxas guy. The...

I'm still here...barely. The foot is fine, besides me standing on it the other day (my body forgot that I wasn't supposed to be using it...whoops). It's this damn cold that I got a couple days ago that I'm not liking. Plus it's that time of the month. That's three strikes. Yesterday and today I was alternately bitchy, tired, whiny, and sad/crying. BUT! Everything to do with my foot is great. I'm now a muscle woman, so crutches are easier and easier, and I've mastered the one footed showering system. I think I can tough this out for a few more weeks. I don't really feel like writing much else, because of my crappy mood, but I do want to say that I got to see Gym Class Heroes at a benefit concert they did in Geneva. Travis has always seemed very nostalgic about his hometown in his songs (half of them mention some sort of thing from Geneva) so I wasn't surprised about the concert in town so soon after the VMAs. I went with Sue, Steph, Stace...

They are the WORST part of this whole not having a foot for awhile thing. First of all, I was not in shape before the surgery. I would recommend anyone who is not going to be able to walk for awhile to work out your biceps/triceps/abs/thighs beforehand. Every time I walk, not only do my armpits hurt from the tops of the crutches, but even my leg that I'm not using starts hurting from me having to hold it off the ground. This is, of course, besides the arms and other leg muscle strain. Second of all, I dare any of you to take a shower while standing on one foot THE WHOLE TIME. Don't tell me to take a bath either; I can't deal with all of that dirtiness, and how would I wash my hair? Showers are currently the bane of my existence. Seriously, I wish that people never had to clean themselves. I still do it, but I reeaaally don't look forward to it. A few positive notes: I'm driving again, Mike's car. It's weird, but I can't drive mine so it'll ...

Not sure about the spelling, but as a translation to all the non-Heroes fans: "I Did It!" The surgery was a success. A few of the firsts that I mentioned in my earlier blog didn't actually ever happen. I didn't get a tube down my throat, just some Propofol and other stuff pumped into my IV. I think the anesthesiologist may have slightly misunderstood me when I told him I had a very low tolerance for anything drug related. He laughed and told me I'd be titrated. Obviously it all turned out well in the end, but I was asleep literally 3 seconds after being wheeled into the O.R. The last thing I remembered were big lights and lots of people in blue scrubs. I believe my doctor was talking to me but I have no idea what he was saying. The next thing I know, I'm shaking and crying. This was about an hour and a half later. I think when I'm in any kind of extreme emotional state I just cry. Even when I'm startled, I'll well up and start crying an...

So I'm having surgery bright and early tomorrow morning. I am having my foot fractured and then put back together in a more correct manner. This is because I have bunions, which are not similar to hemorrhoids like I once thought, but they are when your bone below your big toe grows out away from your foot. In my case, my bone was doing all sorts of funny things. Apparently as well as moving out, it was also able to move up and down while my foot was stationary, which my doctor tells me is not right. This will be my first surgery, first time getting anesthesia (unless you count Novocaine), first time with a tube down my throat, first time on crutches, first time taking Vicodin, etc. Lots of firsts tomorrow. Sooo I'm kinda scared that I'm gonna get a blood clot and die. Probably not any type of real worry, but I'm worried all the same. I know a few of my doctor and med school friends read this, so if you could possibly tell me something hopeful, that would be grrrr...

I have many pictures to show, and only a few stories to go along with them. Firstly, I will conclude my incredibly amazing cliffhanger from my last blog. I went home to Geneva for x-rays last week, and stopped to hang out with my mom. Ever since my dad moved out, it seems as if my mom and my brothers have taken to throwing whatever they want into my old room. (My dad stayed in my room for awhile after he and my mom separated but before he moved.) I went home to grab my prom dress, and first heard that bees had taken over my room. That was okay, because they were all dead from being poisoned by my family. (But not before tearing up my ceiling): However, I could barely get to my old closet anyway, because of all the SHIT that was just hanging out in my room. This all would be okay if I was a messy person. I, however, am NOT a messy person. Come to my current apartment and you'll see what I mean. So I yelled about it for a minute, grabbed the dress and an old hippie shirt (and...

I just want to add a quick congratulations to Gym Class Heroes, a band that I've known for almost 10 years now, since we all were in high school in Geneva. They just won an MTV video music award for best new artist. They're a great band, with such catchy music, and it's nice to see Travis still sticking to his roots and coming back to Geneva frequently. Keep up the good work guys!

First I'll do a little catching up from the Pittsburgh trip. Nicole, Andrew, and I went down there for 3 days at the end of August to learn about one of the new studies in our lab. Hotel, airfare, meals, all paid for. I believe I spent a total of 33 dollars in 3 days. So awesome. The company even took us to a castle to eat one night! (It was also the night we made a few new friends from Atlanta, courtesy of me running into one of them at 2am at the front desk of the hotel because both of us were looking for toothbrushes) Eating at the castle: Our new Atlanta friends (my favorite was Sam--the Korean Zoolander in the pic): The only real free time we got was at the end of day 2, when we ended our session early and got to go see the city a little. All three of us caught a shuttle, bus, and subway to downtown, where, after a few missteps, we found Station Square. We walked around there for awhile, then went on this famous giant incline that I can never remember how to pronounce ...

I'm currently uploading a ridiculous amount of pictures to my myspace account, and while that is happening, I have nothing better to do than to write in my trusty blog. I only have a few things to say...well actually I have many things to say but not much to say about them so it's still a small amount of writing. Anyway....thing number one: I just obtained The Fratelli's album "Costello Music" and I love every song on it. It's kind of Irish rock with a slight swing music feel. It's all very catchy and I'm glad I have it. I've finished doing a large number of things lately and have moved on to others. A Game of Thrones is done, and so is the last Harry Potter book, now I'm attempting to read Great Expectations , but I really just want to read more of George R.R. Martin's Fire and Ice series. Oh well, I'll get to it eventually. I finished watching Record of Lodoss War, and Carnivale, and now am in the middle of the first season of...

I am going on another business trip (my 3rd this year!) for the lab. This time it is to Pittsburgh, PA, from this Sunday to Wednesday. One of my high school friends lives there now, but he has not taken the time to read my myspace message asking him where to go to have a good time in Pittsburgh, so I will just eat tons of Heinz ketchup and go to...steel factories...? Steelers games maybe? I'm not a sports watcher, but I doubt football games are going on right now. Actually I'll be doing work related activities (taking lots of notes) on monday and tuesday during the day, and we are leaving on wednesday, so really it'll just be night stuff (aka going out to bars) that I get to do. Good thing my trusty bar friend is going along with me. It should be fun. Speaking of Pittsburgh and drinking and work related things....a medical doctor who is sort of a consultant for our lab invited me to his house last night for a party. I took Angel and we had a GREAT time. I don't ...

I've been feeling a bit contemplative lately, made worse by continually watching philosophically interesting movies and having deep debative (yes I realize that's not a word) conversations. The other day I was watching a new show on Sci-Fi called Mind Reading with Derren Brown or something like that. It's a really interesting show, because the guy says that he has absolutely no psychic ability, but he's practiced psychological techniques of reading people's affect and expressions and can tell what a person is thinking by that. This guy is no doubt a master of all in the realm of subliminal persuasion, but *IF* nothing on his show is faked (like he says over and over again) he's got to have some kind of extra ability that not all of us have. He can hypnotize people by just looking at them, and that's not normal. So I was talking about this show to Andrew at work, and we were discussing "psychic powers" and other phenomena. We debate these things be...

That title was Andrew's contribution to this blog entry. We are both sleep deprived, but I have a few minutes before the lady wakes up so I wanted to write in here before I forgot. I only have a few things to say, and I may just go kill Andrew in a few minutes because he's just saying "Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo" over and over again in the background. Firstly...if you like fantasy (and who doesn't like fantasy..?) GO SEE STARDUST . It amazes me! (said in Invader Zim voice) I thought it would be kinda generic when I saw the preview, but the preview is nothing compared to the film. I should have known, since it was a Neil Gaiman novel. It's got witches and air pirates and stars that are people and ghosts and kings and funny little Englishmen. And it's got an awesome script. So go! Now! Secondly...I have to get foot surgery soon. Blech. It's gonna be super crappy too, since apparently I'm double jointed AND I have bunions, which are ...

As of around 5pm today, I became randomly (damn you Mr. Cutter) obsessed with the Toadies song "Possum Kingdom". I know, I'm a little behind on the times, but it's such a sexy scary song. I can't help but to love it. At least for the moment.

Sorry guys, had to use that one for Mike, who is obsessed with that quote right now. If you've seen the new Simpsons movie, you'll know what that is. We saw it last night, and it was better than I thought it would be. The Simpsons has been on tv for so long that I thought it had completely run out of ideas, but it did alright. I don't really have too much to say about it, besides it being funny. Yeah that's it. I have one finger nail that is extremely long, and is preventing me from typing properly now, because it's so long. Mike has taken to calling me Harvey Keitel (you get a gold star if you know that reference), yet I still don't want to cut it. If it was a fake nail it would be easier to type, because those nails are pretty tough. This nail is all bendy and shit. I can bend it down to my finger and it'll pop up again, so that makes it kind of a bitch on the keyboard. Anyway, enough about my freak nail. I got a hair cut today. I haven't h...

I started reading A Game of Thrones a while ago, and since I'm not Mike's mom (who apparently read the new Harry Potter book in one day) I'm still reading it. BUT! I want to read the Harry Potter book before all the crappy people in this world ruin the story for me! Damn my eyes! Exclamation Point! (I didn't have enough of those in there) I'll just have to read tons and tons of A Game of Thrones in a short period of time. That is the ONLY option. Which sucks because.... ...I'm also trying to get through Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories for Game Boy Advance so I can play Kingdom Hearts 2 on Playstation before Mike's brother Chris comes up so I can tell him how it was. I guess I'll just have to put that off a bit too. PLUS....Mike and I are trying to both get through the tv series Carnivale and at the same time watch Record of Lodoss War . AHHHH. Oh PS: I'm slightly crazy tonight because I went to a wine festival earlier and I think t...

In case I haven't mentioned it before, one of my hobbies is going through my amazingly accurate book of "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" and then finding the old classics on TCM or AMC. TCM even shows the films in their entirety, which is evidenced by the whole lotta nudity I saw recently while watching The Last Picture Show . I've only disliked a few of the films in the book, but I still respect why they're in there. I hope to see most of the films, but so far I've only seen about 230 of them. I figure I have at least another 45 years to go, so I should be able to do it. Tonight's viewing was of a Russ Meyer film entitled Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I can basically sum up the film by saying it's like Charlie's Angels as would be directed by Quentin Tarantino, right down to the surfing style music. The overall theme of the film is that sex and violence are intertwined. This is not a subtle theme. As the narrator says: "Whil...

1: I have never, in my life, liked any type of pop/soda. I have tried pepsi and mountain dew on occasion where there is absolutely nothing else available. I have never tried coke, (except sips of friends alcoholic drinks) Dr. Pepper, 7up, Sprite, or whatever the hell else they have out there. 2: Along those same lines, I've never made coffee. I rarely drink coffee (I've probably had about 3 cups in my life) but I do enjoy some kind of coffee type mixture from Starbucks from time to time. If you're wondering where I get my caffeine from, I prefer tea (green--black makes me nuts). 3: I heart porn. Probably too much. 4: I can completely invert my feet. You know like dancers have that out-step or whatever the fuck it is. My feet can't go that way at all, but I can put both of them in and then walk with them at complete right angles to my legs. It's gross and disturbing, but I'll show you if I see you! 5: I've never had a nosebleed. Ever. 6: I can ...

AKA my favorite line from the Scrubs episode I just watched. Well it was either that line or "It's not a unicorn, it's a horse with a sword on its head that protects my hopes and dreams." Anywhoo...this summer has been unbelievably busy. I went to my little brother's high school graduation a few weeks ago, met his girlfriend (my baby brother has a girlfriend??!!) and noticed how much he actually HAD grown up. It saddens me but I'm hopeful for his future as an adult at the same time. I've been the only "true" adult in my family for awhile. (I feel like more of an adult than my mom or dad, since they both still have this early twenties sensibility about them) Keith, my other brother, basically has no direction whatsoever in life, so I'm hoping that Paul goes to college and does something useful with himself. I still love my whole family to death, those are just my thoughts on the matter. Here are pictures!: ...