Make It Mine

This has been my favorite song for the past year. My friend and former coworker, Jo, introduced me to it and it has been my happy song for a long time now. I don't care if Jason Mraz isn't that hip; I really like this song. I've never seen the video until now; pretend it isn't cheesy.



The two tests for my A&P class tomorrow have been cancelled due to instructor guilt over pushing us too hard. I'm spending a quiet evening alone.

eek.

I start my new job tomorrow! I'm a tad nervous, as I am at the beginning of any new job. I'll feel better once I get to settle in. First days are hard. Then afterwards, I have to go straight to chemistry class and be late, but I already warned my instructor and she said it would be fine.

So much to fret about these days.

Sin Maps

I've had this link for several weeks, courtesy of a former coworker, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. I have no time, so my poor blog is being neglected.

Now, thanks to Wired, you can see which regions of the United States are the worst offenders of the Seven Deadly Sins:

http://www.wired.com/culture/education/magazine/17-09/st_sinmaps

The maps have whetted my appetite. I think I will be spending some time at Information is Beautiful. Chart, graph, and data nerd.

Awesomeness Coming Our Way

Diablo Cody is going to make a film adaptation of "Sweet Valley High." I cannot express how utterly amazing this is. It had better live up to my expectations! I didn't watch the TV show that was made from the series, but I read many, many of the books of "Sweet Valley High," "Sweet Valley Twins," "Sweet Valley Kids," and "Sweet Valley University." I also had the SVH board game, which I dearly miss.

She had better make this a good one. "Juno" was excellent. I haven't seen "Jennifer's Body," but I'm skeptical about it. If someone sees it, they should tell me if it's better than it looks in the previews.

Sweet Valley High!

Tentgate

Have you heard about the Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi's attempts to find a place to pitch his tent while visiting New York to speak at the UN General Assembly?

Libyan leader is in New York and spoke at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. This is his first visit to the United Sates since he siezed power 40 years ago, but he is getting a cold reception. He's having a tough time finding a place to pitch his tent. Before arriving in the US, the Libyan government prepared to pitch the tent in a New Jersey town but faced overwhelming opposition there. Most recently, Mr. Gadhafi pitched his reception tent in the town of Bedford, New York but now an official there says it has come down.

Mr. Gadhafi pitched his tent on Donald Trump's property in Bedford and caused a stir....A company spokesman said Trump asked the tenant occupying the property to remove the tent, and the tenant complied.

The Libyans first asked permission to pitch the tent in New York's Central Park, but that was denied.

Many Americans are angry at Mr. Gadhafi's welcome home of the only person convicted in the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Libya + Tent + Donald Trump + Denied request to camp in Central Park = Ridiculous comedy

Dream of a Double-Wide

One of the many nice things about working is that it prompts me to listen to NPR. This afternoon on "The Writer's Almanac," this poem about country music touched and tickled me:

A Wife Explains Why She Likes Country
By Barbara Ras

Because those cows in the bottomland are black and white, colors
anyone can understand, even against the green
of the grass, where they glide like yes and no, nothing in between,
because in country, heartache has nowhere to hide,
it's the Church of Abundant Life, the Alamo,
the hubbub of the hoi polloi, the parallel lines of rail fences,
because I like rodeos more than golf,
because there's something about the sound of mealworms and
leeches and the dream of a double-wide
that reminds me this is America, because of the simple pleasure
of a last chance, because sometimes whiskey
tastes better than wine, because hauling hogs on the road
is as good as it gets when the big bodies are layered like pigs in a cake,
not one layer but two,
because only country has a gun with a full choke and a slide guitar
that melts playing it cool into sweaty surrender in one note,
because in country you can smoke forever and it'll never kill you,
because roadbeds, flatbeds, your bed or mine,
because the package store is right across from the chicken plant
and it sells boiled peanuts, because I'm fixin' to wear boots to the dance
and make my hair bigger, because no smarty-pants, just easy rhymes,
perfect love, because I'm lost deep within myself and the sad songs call
me out,
because even you with your superior aesthetic cried
when Tammy Wynette died, because my people
come from dirt.

Textbook Update

I've decided to return my textbooks to the college bookstore, because I found them all cheaper online. Much cheaper. A total of $200 cheaper and tax-free. God bless half.com.

Petite Food

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh: McDonald's in France has begun selling macarons (not macaroons) that look like baby burgers. They're kinda cute! I just hope they don't fry these in beef tallow like they do with their fries.

Ouch

Textbook grand total for quarter #2 of nutrition prerequisite studies:

Anatomy & Physiology:
Human Anatomy & Physiology w/CD, seventh edition, Elaine Marieb--$154.83--7 lbs.
Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory Manual w/CD, eighth edition, Elaine Marieb--$101.01--5 lbs. (Why something spiral bound costs this much, I will never know)
The Anatomy Coloring Book, Wynn Kapit--$10.28--1.25 lbs. (Not required, but I'm a visual learner and this will likely help me immensely with memorization. I will also be pointing to your body parts and naming them, whether you like it or not. Patella *points at your knee*.)

Chemistry:
Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, fifth edition, Silberberg--$162.88--6 lbs.

Grand Total:
$429.00. Thank God the A&P books will be used for two quarters and the Chemistry book for three. I've never spent this much on text books at one time. My credit card wants to die.

19.25 lbs. I have a nine-month old child on my desk. Or three newborns.

I also purchased three spiral notebooks at Value Village over the weekend. They are brand new with some "vote for so-and-so" stickers on them. I don't know who this candidate was, but I will paste something more exciting over the top of his name.

TV Spot Check

I've taken the liberty of reading tonight's primetime television listings so you don't have to. The following programs will be running in Seattle at 8 p.m. PDT, Sunday, September 6th:

Deep Fried Paradise (Travel)
650-lb Virgin (TLC)
River Monsters (Animal Planet)
Tool Academy 2 (VH1)
Yo Mama (MTV2)

And I get crap for watching "Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami"? I'm not working with much here, people. I may, however, tune into "Deep Fried Paradise," though I suspect I have seen it before.