You know what word is weird? Tincture.
posted by Beth at 12:38:00 AM
I'm in a really bad mood right now. I feel like I hate everybody, and I feel like everyone is having all kinds of fun without me and stuff. I hate that feeling a whole lot. I should sleep, for I have to wake up at 7:45, so that I can volunteer yet again.
posted by Beth at 12:37:00 AM
Saturday, September 27, 2003
I went to a monster mania convention tonight. More on that another day, perhaps.
I am once again frazzled because of concert dates. I was just looking up Rasputina dates, because I like them and have never seen them, and I saw a listing for them as the opener for Belle and Sebastian (I like them, too) in Upper Darby, PA. That sounds great, you know. Anyway the show is on the 14th of November. But that's an important day because I'm pretty sure TMBG was going to do an in-store in Philadelphia that day to promote the upcoming book. I really wish I knew what time that was supposed to be, because I'm flustered about whether I'll be able to make it from the in-store to the other end of the city without missing any of the show.
The Belle and Sebastian tickets are $26, which I consider a fair price because I like the opener and headliner very much. The tickets go on sale in about six hours. I can't even buy them online, though, I don't have enough money in my account, because, hey, someone charged $65 worth of junk to me, and I have yet to get my money back. BLAAAH! What to do?
posted by Beth at 3:47:00 AM
Friday, September 26, 2003
Nathan and I got home from Atlantic City a few hours ago. I'll talk more about that later (maybe), including how I wanted to put the smackdown on people from the Taj Mahal who didn't listen to me.
Anyway, get this, while walking all the way from the Showboat (the last casino) to past the Hilton (the first casino), we saw a poster advertising the Simon and Garfunkel show that's going to be there in November. I like them okay, but I admit that I don't have any of their albums, solo or otherwise, but I thought, "boy, that would be a neat show to catch." On the way back up the boardwalk, we saw a poster that we'd somehow missed the first time. It was advertising the Elton John show that will be taking place ON MY BIRTHDAY. See, you may or may not know that I've been a big fan of his for about ten years and out of all of the touring acts that I really love, he is one that I've never seen live. I was a box of excitement over that. Especially since I got to see Tori Amos for the first time on my birthday last year, so this seemed all too cool.
I got home and looked up prices. Good Elton John tickets are $150. (!) Cheap ones are $50, and you know I like him enough to throw my decent-seat snobbery out the window, but I doubt anyone wants to get me tickets as a present. I guess I'd say I'm more surprised that good seats are $150. I thought maybe they'd cost between $80 and $100 for the best seats. That is, I was surprised about the $150 until I saw that good Simon and Garfunkel seats are $225. I know that that's largely because they haven't toured together in a long time, but jeez, everything is so expensive. So so much money. I think, as a rule, large Atlantic City venues might be more pricey than other cities, because a lot of the high rollers get comps and stuff. Comps are what bring most people back to the casino. The Taj Mahal gave me a $4 comp, you know. {g}
**I want to point out for no good reason that I saw the Kids in the Hall at the Taj Mahal in 2000, and while that was the most convenient KITH show I ever attended, it was at the CRAPPIEST venue in the universe. I hate the Xanadu THeater, and I also hate it's ugly chairs that have no arms and are pushed together so closely that you have no elbowroom.**
Blaaah. The bottom line is that I want to see Elton John on my birthday. {weep}
posted by Beth at 6:56:00 AM
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
My uncle just showed me the newspaper, which has a very favorable review of the new Rufus Wainwright album in it. I didn't even know there was one. It's called Want One and it'll be out on October 7th.
So I really like the voice of the guy in Sugarplastic. He kind of sounds like Andy Partridge and Weird Al all rolled into one. For no good reason, I will tell you that my favorite song on the Powerpuff Girls Heroes and Villains CD is Sugarplastic's Professor Utonium song. Most people like Dressy Bessy's Bubbles song the most, but that will have to be second place for me.
So AOL is sponsoring some kind of Dave Matthews Band benefit concert in Central Park, I think, and they're just pimping the crap out of it. I can't wait til it's over. The welcome screen shows three big news items and it switches through them constantly, and for the past week one of them has ALWAYS been this concert. It isn't that important. The other day, the headline was something like, "Celebrities Prepare for Concert" and the picture was of some little kid standing next to Elmo. (?!) Now I'm not saying Elmo isn't a celebrity, because he is. As a matter of fact, he's an A-list celebrity. What I'm saying is that maybe Elmo is someone who criticizes little babies for not knowing how to use the telephone, but I want to think he digs better music, you know?
Today was a really crappy "if things can go wrong, they will" kind of day. Maybe I shall write about it, and maybe I shan't. Probably the latter.
posted by Beth at 8:37:00 PM
Monday, September 22, 2003
Yesterday I got my bank statement and lo and behold, there were things on there that I did not order. $65 worth of things, to be exact. Hahaha, what a great thing to happen to me. :P I went to the bank today (thank you Sunday hours), and they were quite good about it.
Last night, my uncle and I went to Red Lobster. I had shrimp, scampi and that new citrus shrimp in a bag. Do not get the latter. It tastes like a shrimp cough drop. It's bad news.
Today I saw Suzanne and Chuck for the first time since their wedding. We ate at Friendly's, and my Uncle Bobby was there and he came up to me and said hello. I was surprised. After that we drove around, because they were looking to buy blueberries in the Blueberry Capital of the World, but they were too late in the season. It was pleasant. We're supposed to go to Great Adventure next weekend. I hope it doesn't rain.
For some reason, my computer is being annoying about my Strange Little Girls CD. It's my least favorite Tori Amos album, too, but still. I wanted to rip all of the songs on it into mp3s, but I can't. My burning drive won't play the CD at all; it goes in, spins around a little, then it ejects it. And my super old CD-ROM drive will let me play it on Windows Media Player, and I can get the tracks that way, but I want mp3s not wmas or whatever they're called. Normally I rip mp3s with musicmatch, but it keeps insisting that my E drive is empty, when it really isn't. It's really weird. I guess I could burn all of the tracks to a CD-R and then get them off of there as mp3s, but that would be wastey and annoying. Maybe I will and I'll give the copy to Nathan, since he bought me this CD in the first place. It was only $5 and the only copy they had happened to be my favorite cover. Yay!
posted by Beth at 2:34:00 AM
Saturday, September 20, 2003
I know he isn't a TV dad, but you know whom I'd rather have as a dad than Jason Seaver? Freddy Krueger.
posted by Beth at 3:52:00 AM
Hey dudes. So that hurricane was mostly wind and rain for us. No big deal. I heard that people not too far away lost their power, but we didn't. It did flicker on and off a couple times, which turned my computer off each time. Luckily it didn't wreck it.
Puppy went to the vet, and the vet said he should lose two pounds. I wonder whose fault that is. :P
I have nothing exciting to say. Umm, the peanut butter cup pie at Bob Evans is pretty good and I got a pair of pants tonight. Last night I cut my finger open. Not badly, it didn't even bleed, but it's annoying. I have to wear a (tiny) bandaid on it, because the skin is kind of a flap there, and I don't want to rip out a chunk of it. That was mildly gross. I apologize.
So it is now my cousin Alyssa's birthday. Happy birthday, Alyssa. I really doubt she reads this, although she is welcome to. I saw her maybe once this entire year, even though she lives five minutes away. Oh well, can't help that, I suppose.
Jeez, this is the boringest entry. I will go now. No wait, one more thing. Last night, after I finally watched Conan's 10th anniversary special (I didn't get to tape it the first time around, so I thank Comedy Central for rerunning it), I watched Growing Pains. It was a really weird episode. Carol needed to take a date to a party at her (overly randy) grandparents' house, so she went with a really old guy who wore a bowtie. I missed the beginning, so I don't know how she knew him. Anyway, everyone was really freaked out, because she was at this party telling everyone that the old dude was her boyfriend and all this business. In the end, she came clean and admitted that she just brought him to prove some point that I can't remember. Then Jason said, "no, I know why you *really* brought him," and he said some crap about her being "afraid to love again" or some line of crap, because her boyfriend died or something (I never really followed Growing Pains, so I don't know the details on this). Then Carol insisted that he was wrong, and I thought, "you tell the bastard!" She insisted that he was wrong a few times, then she burst into tears and said he was right. So here's what I hate: I hate that Jason was right. I have hated him ever since I first saw the show, when I was probably six or seven years old, and he always pissed me off big time. Why did they have to make him right about this? Why can't dumbass Jason be wrong? Stupid Jason Seaver. Stupid Alan Thicke. {growl} I would rather have almost ANY other TV dad than him, if I could choose. He would be near the last (there might be someone who's worse, like Tony Danza...). TV dads who are better than Jason Seaver include: Danny Tanner, Carl Winslow, Al Bundy (yes, really), Dan Conner, Archie Bunker (I would rather have a racist bigot of a dad. Doesn't that tell you something? {g}), Howard Cunningham (of course), Gomez Addams (well, he's a great dad), Homer Simpson, Eric Camden (yikes, but still better), Steven Keaton... All of them are better. But it's EASY to be better, which is why probably 97% of TV dads are better. Meh, I'm done with this. {g}
posted by Beth at 3:44:00 AM
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Things of uninterest:
• I am looking forward to Halloween.
• Tonight Harry brought home a box of Halloween Tastykakes. They have orange icing and little ghost, bat, and pumpkin sprinkles. Little things like that make me happy. They are festive. {g} Tastykakes are a regional snack. In the Philadelphia episode of Insomniac, Dave Attell went to the Tastykake factory. If they aren't available in your area, then I feel for you. I must give someone a fresh supply before too long.
• On Monday night, Uncle John bought me a little pumpkin. Pumpkins are fun.
• Dewey has a vet appointment later today. I hope he doesn't cry a lot, because then I'll cry, and the vet doesn't need to see that.
• I have a scratch on my neck from the other night, when I tried to give my cat a sinus pill. Dewey came over to smell him, and David flipped out and kicked me in the neck, like some kind of velociraptor going for my jugular.
• I do not fear the hurricane.
posted by Beth at 6:00:00 AM
I just tried to leave someone a comment, and their commenting thing said I was banned. That's kind of depressing, especially since I don't believe I've did anything bad to that person.
I just made Nathan watch Flowers in the Attic, because it was on cable. It's not a movie I feel very strongly about. It's something I saw when I was pretty young. We rented it because my aunt read the book. Whenever I catch it on TV, I watch it. Sometimes just remembering seeing something from when you're young makes it good enough to watch, if that makes sense in the poor way I worded it.
I have free tickets for Great Adventure. They expire this month and the park is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, and I'd like to use them. The catch is that you must go with me. {g} It seems like everyone doesn't like amusement parks anymore or is too busy or something else. Meh.
posted by Beth at 5:34:00 AM
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Sheesh, I spent the last five hours putting away clothes and straightening up my room. I admit that did a second-rate job, in some aspects, like throwing a bunch of loose junk and some books into bags instead of finding a real place for them. I found my Game Gear, which had a Sonic the Hedgehog game in it, and that distracted me for a little while. I found a postcard from Bridget, from some time when I was without the Internet for a month in the summer (three years ago?) saying that she missed me. I also found a letter from Colleen from some time when I was Internet-less while my computer was being fixed. I really appreciate things like that, even if I don't know what Bridget's up to at all, anymore. I also found things that I had forgotten existed. I'm mostly talking about those little Bug's Life clip-on watch things from McDonalds. I also found a fancy satin bag with four unused bottles of lotion in it from Bath and Body Works. Let me explain that. If you are a girl, you will, no doubt, no what I'm talking about. At Christmastime, when people don't know what to buy me, they usually get me a gift set with things like body wash and lotion and sometimes something else (a candle, bubblebath, a bar of soap, body spray, other smelly girly things). Usually, it's that sun-ripened raspberry stuff from Bath and Body Works. I don't know why I always get raspberry. I never specifically asked for it. No, I'm not complaining! Jeez, mellow out. Anyway, I always use the body wash. I go through that pretty quickly, but I rarely use lotion, and those bottles are pretty big. I talked to some scientists from MIT and they estimated that the amount of time it takes me to finish a bottle of lotion is equal to the amount of time it takes a trashbag to biodegrade. I also have lots of body spray and perfumes that I got in similar ways.
So tonight, really yesterday, mon oncle (that's French) and I went to the mall. We bought a coffee press. I got the idea from Queer Eye and he got the idea from someplace else. We haven't used it yet. Coffee presses are something I don't know about, so I assumed they'd cost like $80. Ours was $10, and the most expensive one was $20. I'm still surprised that they didn't have any at Strawbridge's or Macy's (or Target, which we checked the day before). We ended up getting ours at that Gourmet Chef (that's also French {g}) store. I also almost got some pumpkin butter.
Because he is nice, and because they were on sale, my uncle also bought me a pair of shoes. They looks like this:
This past Wednesday, Nathan and I went to the same place, and I bought myself a pair just like it but orange. I also got a pair of tan and brown ones last July. I feel kind of weird for getting three pairs of sneakers within a two-and-a-half-month span. All Nikes, all nearly the same exact style, but different colors. That's weird, right? And they still have a pair of red ones that I kind of want. And last Tuesday they said that there were no navy/orange ones in my size. Hisss. Don't get me wrong, I've been wearing pretty much only Nike sneakers for ten years, and they're my favorite kind. I think I wrote a post a long time ago about finding seven pairs of them under my bed. I got rid of most of those. Anyway, this year, I had really wanted a pair of Pumas, because they always come in really cool colors. I really liked a green and blue pair and a yellow and black pair, but I never got them. This past July I saw that Nike put out a line of sneakers in a whole bunch of colors, and I thought it was great. So that's how I came to get three pairs that quickly. I'm like Jerry Seinfeld, except that I heard that he has a million pairs of Nikes that are plain white. Hmm, I forget why I was telling that story. The bottom line is that for the second time this week, I got new shoes. They are blue and fun and comfy. Back in high school, I'd never have worn shoes like that. I would have waned plain black. Now I like pretty colors. I have evolved. I talk a lot about uninteresting things.
posted by Beth at 7:18:00 AM
1. My Sloan 7" single came in the mail today. I'm still surprised maplemusic decided to give it to me at all. I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet, because it's a lot of trouble to use my record player, which is a piece of crap.
2. I was having a hard time trying to sleep last night, because I'm still sick, so I hardly got any sleep before going to Philadelphia. Anyway, in the middle of the night, I decided to fuss around a little with AM radio stations. I heard Weird Al on one (cool), so I stopped to listen and the station turned out to be Radio Disney (not cool), but it was their New York City affiliate (cool). Then I found an oldies station from Cincinnati. I think that one must be the farthest station I've ever been able to pick up. I dig that kooky ionosphere.
posted by Beth at 3:08:00 AM
Monday, September 08, 2003
Yaaah!! There's a cricket in here!
posted by Beth at 6:40:00 PM
I had some weird dream today about running into erin and Jordan on a street corner and getting into an argument with them. Then I jumped in my car and drove away and crashed the car. (??)
I'm hungry. At least I feel not-as-sick right now. Fortunately, I got a call saying that I can volunteer in the afternoon tomorrow instead of the morning. That means I can get more sleep and not be stranded in Philadelphia for a couple hours.
posted by Beth at 6:31:00 PM
Now playing: a CD full of Tori Amos rarities and B-sides that Nicole was rad enough to send me.
So Nathan and I went up to North Jersey on Saturday for Suzanne and Chuck's wedding. We didn't even get lost. As a matter of fact, we got there at about 11:15, when we needed to get there by noon. The ceremony was held outside of Lambert Castle. And luckily we got to sit in the shade--I had been worrying that I'd get sunburn all over my shoulders and everything. Early on we saw Chuck and then Suzanne's mom who was crying up a storm. She asked me to hold her purse, and I did. She later came back for more tissues. The ceremony was nice, although if it were mine--and I know it wasn't--I'd have wanted something a little less sexist. But otherwise A-OK. Suzanne looked really nice in her dress. Everybody looked nice, the bridesmaids whom I'd met a week ago (except Dorothea, she looked pretty, but I met her when she was a tiny baby {g}) and the ushers whom I didn't know at all. I have a cold, and I was all congested that morning, even though I took medicine in the car. I spent most of the ceremony holding in coughs, which slipped out twice (how appropriate of me to be coughing my head off at the site of a former tuberculosis hospital), and I feared I'd single-handedly wrecked the wedding. Afterward, they told me they didn't even hear me. I feel like people are scrutinizing me at all times. That is bad. I digress. {g} Oh, I was also afraid that I wrecked up the wedding by not throwing my handful of birdseed at the proper time. I can't do anything right. {g} My dress was very pretty and a bunch of people told me so. That is because my mom is all talented at sewing and stuff.
The reception was at some joint called the Russian Hall. Nathan and I shared a table with some guy we didn't talk to who was the boyfriend of a bridesmaid. I have no idea why we were seated alone. Meh. I felt kind of honored that some of the songs the DJ played were from a CD I'd burned for Suzanne (she picked out the songs, and I burned them). The food was pretty good, except that I didn't feel good, so I didn't have much of an appetite.
Earlier this year, Suzanne told me that the centerpieces were going to be little fishbowls with a beta fish in each. I know you can buy them cheaply at any pet store, but I wanted one, and she promised me that I'd get to take home my centerpiece, so September 6th was to be The Day I Got My Fish. We had to play a weird game to see who, at the table, got to take home the centerpiece. As I said, I really wanted it, and I was under the impression that it would be rigged in my favor. But as it happens, I won honorably. I was pleased.
After the wedding, and after Suzanne's mom forced me and Nathan to dance through the latter half of the last song, we went to a nearby mall. I thought it would be very exciting to go to a North Jersey mall. Well, that mall sucked eggs, so we left quickly. I spent the 2+ hour car ride holding the little fishbowl steady. I was afraid that my little fish wouldn't make it. But he got home alright, and I put the bowl on the kitchen table.
Here's where it gets sad. Later that night, Nathan and I watched Star Trek IV (a film about saving sea-life). As soon as it ended, I heard a loud crash in the kitchen, and I knew what it was. Somehow or other, my cat David managed to push the little fishbowl off of the table. I looked at the smashed glass and pebbles on the floor and I heard a little wiggling sound, so I ran and grabbed a mug. Then I looked around and couldn't see any fish. I didn't know what to do, so I woke up my uncle and made him come help me. He cleaned up the water and glass and Nathan held Dewey back so that he couldn't get into any of the broken glass. We never found the fish. I can only assume that while I was getting a cup and calling for help that he ate it. I feel bad. That's such a sad thing to happen to that little fish, and I'd been waiting months to get it, and it didn't even last one night at my house. :(
posted by Beth at 6:10:00 AM
Sunday, September 07, 2003
AOL 9.0 is such garbage. Maybe I really should consider a new ISP.
posted by Beth at 7:32:00 PM
Friday, September 05, 2003
Ack, my chest is all congested, and it hurts. What's the deal?
Oh dude! We were just watching Family Ties, and Tom Hanks was Alex's drunk uncle, and he took a swing at Alex, and Alex fell over. That's crazy. {g} Also, Jennifer was playing the clarinet very badly. {scowl} Am I alone in not being able to stand Tina Yothers?
Hmm, what can I say? ...Saturday was Suzanne's bachelorette party. I went, and I was a good sport and everything. Who would expect that of me? {g} On Sunday, Dorothea, John, and I went to see Jeepers Creepers 2. I'm not saying it was a great movie (certainly no Freddy vs Jason), but it was good enough for its purposes. I'm quite lenient in judging horror movies. I've seen Pinocchio's Revenge at least twice, it's a very psychological film... {g}
On Tuesday I got to volunteer again. More filing and getting checks ready. I liked it better this time, and I think I'll be doing it again next week. Volunteering helps me not feel too bad about myself. Someone should hook me up with a job. I'm a good kid. I won't go to the interview drunk with a clarinet like Tom Hanks did on that episode of Family Ties. {g}
The other night, Nathan and I watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I'd never seen it before. I really, really enjoyed it. When I watch an older horror film (that one is 30 years old), I fear that maybe it'll be too tame by today's standards--I feared that with The Exorcist, a couple years ago--but this really didn't disappoint. There's going to be a remake of it coming out late this year or early next year. I wonder how it will be.
Oh, here's something else... the other night, I saw a video by Guster and a video by Fountains of Wayne. I bring this up because both are bands that I'm always hearing people express interest in, but have never heard myself. I didn't like the Guster one at all, and I liked the Fountains of Wayne one a lot. Maybe I should look into that band, eh? I know Jamal and Colleen told me to before.
Tomorrow I shall put on a fancy green dress and attend the wedding of Suzanne.
posted by Beth at 6:48:00 AM
