Support your long-distance sister

Janice is walking for the American Heart Association. Please consider donating any amount (even if it's just $5) to a worthy cause.

http://heartwalk.kintera.org/syracuseny/janicecabellon

Thanks,
Alli

Oscar buzz.. zzzzzzz...

Well, the 77th Annual Academy Awards airs tomorrow. I'm looking forward to Josh and Beyonce's performance of "Believe." But, of course, you probably knew that. :)

I've visited some of the news sites online, and they are talking about how the Oscars don't have any major contenders this year, so that may affect the ratings. I agree. I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby or The Aviator. I don't plan to anytime soon. But I'll still watch the awards show.

Btw, one article reported that last year's Tony Awards only attracted 6.5 million viewers. That show was one of the best I've seen in years. Perhaps I *should* work for the PR firm that handles the Tonys (I know which one does). That would be so much fun. :)

Shout-out to last night's writers of ALIAS

Andre Nemec and Josh Appelbaum... you guys rock! Finally finally. Alias calls back to the first season of the show with Anna Espinosa, cutting off a finger (hehehe), and actually having a dramatic cliffhanger moment (ruined by scenes from next week's episodes, but you know you wanted to see that!). *sigh* Good stuff. :)

"A new adventures awaits you this weekend."

Or so the fortune cookie said. But does that apply to this weekend (which is nearly over) or next weekend (which is too far way)???

At any rate, I definitely had an abnormal weekend. Am really glad that it lasted a couple extra days. Friday doesn't *really* count, but at least I didn't have any pressing matters to attend to. Saturday was very enjoyable and productive .

Ah, yes. But on Sunday, she rested. I was pooped out, I tell ya. There was no way I could make it to church. So I plopped myself down on the couch for pretty much the entire day. My cheeks swelled, and I could barely stay awake longer than 2 or 3 hours at a time. Definitely was awake for "Desperate Housewives" though.

I head back to the dorm in an hour or so. Hope I survive this week OK!

Recovering

Hi! My pain medication seems to be working (yay!), and I'm having a pretty good time recovering from my wisdom teeth surgery. After my surgery, Dad picked up my prescriptions and bought Frosties from Wendy's for me. That makes three Frosties in one week. I think those do wonders, even if you can't finish 'em. :)

I watched the rest of the Grammys. The first 65 minutes were the most entertaining. Loved watching the opening act, Alicia Keys, and U2. Didn't really enjoy J.Lo -- she was singing live. Heh heh.

After that I watched a program hosted by Lea Salonga. It was about religious faith of Asian-Americans. I didn't really need to watch it (I almost fell asleep a few times), and I certainly didn't agree with everything they said, but hey, it's Lea Salonga.

For whatever reason, I desperately wanted to watch Annie. LOL! So I popped in the videocassette of the 1999 version, starring Alicia Morton, Victor Garber, Audra McDonald, Kathy Bates, Alan Cumming, and Kristin Chenoweth. Good stuff.

Finally, I watched The Notebook with Dad. Hmmm... I keep hearing about people bawling after watching the movie. Under Alexa's recommendation, I read the book last year. I definitely cried after reading that. But I didn't really cry after watching the movie. Eeep. I hope there's nothing wrong with me. I got teary-eyed after watching Kramer vs. Kramer in class the other day. Hmmm... what was the last movie that really made me cry? Will have to think about that one. Cinema Paradiso, the new version, made me really sad. Maybe it was Finding Neverland. I held back the tears, but it was a tear-jerker. Will have to get that when it comes out on DVD.

GSP... niiiice

I used my "graduating senior priority" status to register today. I didn't even bother to wake up before 6 a.m. to do it. Not even 7. Eight. Yup, 8 o'clock. And, it was the easiest and most painless registration experience I've ever had! YAY!

I may or may not change my schedule, but right now I'm signed up for two COM classes and a Filipino histories class. I've actually never taken a history class at UW, so I thought, "Why not?" As for my COM classes, I'm very happy 'cause I thought I wouldn't be able to take both. The first time schedule indicated that the classes would be a country mile (lol, I'm borrowing Brittany's Olive Garden parking lot phrase) apart, which means the ten minute break between classes would be a %($!*#& walk on foot. The latest time schedule says otherwise! Now we're talkin' a quick city block. No need for bikes or Segweys.

The reason why I might change my classes is that I've *always* had at least one class every weekday. The COM classes meet Tuesdays and Thursdays. I *thought* the history class met Mondays and Wednesdays... alas, it meets MWFs. Oh well.

T-minus two hours 'til extraction. See ya when I see ya...

Don't kill "American Dreams"!

OK, first you don't order 22 episodes a season, and directly related, you're not airing any new episodes during SWEEPS, for cryin' out loud.

Now you're gonna move "American Dreams" to Wednesday nights at 8? Are you out of your mind, NBC? A bit LOST, aren't we?

Jeez. I am so addicted to tvtome.com right now, and it's telling me that "American Dreams" will air on Wednesdays. Bad move, NBC. Bad move. Thanks a lot for killing such a great show.

Almost in the clear

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the weekend. And it's not like I'm even going anywhere (*ahem*Disneyland*ahem*New York*ahem*LUCKy). I'm having my wisdom teeth extracted. I don't think I'll be happy when I'm groggy and in pain, but I can't wait to rest and watch my tape of the Grammys and movies on DVD... oh, and drink milkshakes. :)

An update on my internship. I translated the PSA into Spanish last Friday and surprised everyone--including myself! On Monday I got some help from another staff member, and he said my Spanish was pretty good. Considering I haven't taken Spanish since high school, I'm still pretty amazed.

It's been a long day. Back to watching Alias, which is shaping up to be better than last week's episode. Ha!

Edit: LOL! "Will you marry me, Mr. Bristow?" Love Marshall. :)

Best ever

Howdy, y'all. I'm not entirely sure how much I should report about this weekend. ;) It was definitely fun! And I couldn't have spent it in a better way. Let's see... Not-so-great but still entertaining dueling pianists at Chopstix. Reeeeally good drinks. Really really. We *could* stay in the bathroom forever. Name that tune. Interesting time between 2 and 5 a.m. I learned more about Iceland than I have in my entire life. Best gum ever. The car ride did us in. Best chicken strips ever. Happy birthday, Brittany! *thinking of my potential audience* Yeah, I'll keep it at that. *grin* :)

"I have confidence in me."

Don't know how The Sound of Music popped into my head, but it's fitting! One of my projects at the Opera today was to call back the radio stations and ask for their PSA requirements. Oh yes, PSA stands for Public Service Announcement. :) I've never written one, but we covered how to do them in my writing class last summer. This time, when one of the radio stations answered the phone in Spanish and said, "How may I help you?" I was able to ask "?Habla ingles?" right away. :) The woman on the phone was really nice (I don't know if she was impressed, but she seemed pleased that I could at least say that) and said, "Yes." Overall, the project of calling went smoothly, and I'm getting more confident on the phone.

Had a really good day today. Felt helpful and productive at work. Only had an hour of class. Saw someone I went to high school with on the Quad. Actually fasted on Ash Wednesday (yeah, I feel bad for never doing it before). Had an epiphany about what I learned in my communication class. Got a lead for an informational interview (wish me luck!!!). That's probably the best thing that happened today. No, it probably ties with my epiphanic moment on the bus, and I do think that may be in part to my craziness for having to fast today. Hmmm... it's all interconnected somehow. Thanks to everyone Up There. :) You know who You are.

"?Habla... ... ... ingles?"

At my internship today, I had to call some Washington-state radio stations that air Spanish-language programs. (We are preparing to send news releases and/or PSAs about the upcoming opera, Florencia en el Amazonas [Florencia in the Amazons].) When I called one of the stations, somebody answered in Spanish, and I panicked because I wasn't prepared to speak in Spanish... because I CAN'T. I haven't done that since high school, and even back then I sucked at it. Really, I did.

Anyway, I wanted to know if she spoke English, so of course I started to say, "?Habla..." And literally, not one, not two, but *three* ellipses passed by before I came up with "ingles?" Good grief. I was so relieved when she said "yes" and gave a little laugh. Actually, I was relieved *that* she laughed. :) The problem was I wanted to automatically say "?Habla espanol?" but clearly I knew that was wrong!!! :))

Become multilingual when you're young, kiddies. That's the lesson del dia.

The next step

I applied for graduation today. Now before you go "whaaaaat?" just know that I have been freaking out about this for months now. Yet when I met with my department advisor, signed the forms, declared my music minor, and went my merry way, I felt... elated! It was really nice to walk into my advisor's office and say, "I'm approaching graduation" and then hear, "Congratulations!" :) I now have graduating senior priority, which means I can choose my classes before the "regular" seniors and other undergrads. My last quarter will be autumn 2005.
"The world is a big scary place. But somehow I can't shake this feeling I might make a difference to the human race." Looks like Avenue Q is gonna be my theme musical when I step out into the "real world." Wish me luck.