The others

No, I don't want to talk about Lost's "The Others." I mean the other blogs I read. Are you curious about the links I posted in the right-hand column?

Just Janice: My sister Janice's blog. She should update more. ;)

Just A Simple rEflection: My brother Jason's blog. "He so funny!"

When in Rome...: I actually don't know if that's the title of my cousin Alexa's Xanga. 'Cause her name is really cabbageonionrebellion. But I like When in Rome...

Bill Walsh's Blogspot: For the copy editor in me. Read it only if there's a copy editor in you. Otherwise, you can skip to:

Where the Hell Is Matt?: No, I didn't hear about this via e-mail or TV. I heard about this from Matt's sister, Jennifer, who works at The 5th Avenue Theatre. The blog entries are great, but watch the dancing video. It's awesome!! Funny and awe-inspiring.

PostSecret: Warning - the content on this blog is not for all eyes. PG-13, borderline R. It can be a very moving and powerful Web site, but I don't always see things I like or am comfortable with. It pushes me sometimes, so if you check it out and don't like what you see, don't say I didn't warn you. I check it every Sunday. Before I found it, I had seen the All-American Rejects' music video for "Dirty Little Secret." I was impressed by the video and not so much the song. People held up cards with their secrets on 'em. Then I read a soldier's blog (needed to read one for my media effects class) and found a link to PostSecret. Immediately, I was drawn to it because, as it turns out, it was the source for the images in the music video.

A Word About Celeb Sightings

Is it something in the water? Is it purely coincidence? Or, was it fate?

Yesterday I read/received reports on celebrity sightings from three different people. I can't stress enough that this was all in the same day that I read these things. First, I checked Alexa's Xanga, and she met Hanson. Second, Don told me that some of his co-workers spotted Bill Clinton walking around. And Brittany told me about Paris Hilton's new b-f (I didn't know PH had a new one, but it doesn't surprise me) as well as one of her friends standing behind Josh Groban at a concert.

I, on the other hand, have no celeb sightings to report. Perhaps I would have seen "celebrity" of the local variety at the opening night of Sweeney Todd. But I chose not to go last night 'cause I'm going on Sunday. Am very excited. :))

Reuben, Reuben, I've been thinking

And by Reuben, I really mean family.

Yes, I've been thinking about The Job Search, but I've also thinking about traveling. As in going to the Philippines early next year. January or February. What do y'all think? Who can come with me?

And when I've finally visited the land of my ancestors, then I'll have the peace of mind that I got to see part of the world I've always wanted to see. Then I'll really focus on The Job Search. 'Cause right now with school, it's mighty difficult to do that.

2003

No, not the year. That's how many songs are going on my iPod. I didn't even load all my CDs (or even all the songs on a single CD) onto my computer! ITunes took some getting used to. For example, it converted all my Windows Media-controlled MP3s, but when it came to the mpga files under Real Player, I ran into trouble. I ended up burning my mpga clips onto a CD, and then I ripped them again with iTunes. Sheesh.

But yay! I made the right choice to buy a 20 GB iPod. :D Hehehe.

Another perk of going through all my CDs is that I rediscovered some long-lost treasures. For example, I listened to snippets from Mozart's Requiem. Yes, I have a recording of the concert in which I performed. :) No, I didn't put the Requiem on my computer. It's over an hour long, and it's just one track. And LOL! I listened to the version of "My Heart Will Go On" with the movie dialogue. Maybe it's not a "treasure," but it was definitely buried and untouched for years! Jason gave me the Back to Titanic CD for my birthday one year. :) I'm currently listening to Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida in Dutch.

I can feel it

Maybe it was the warmth of and smell from the oven...

Maybe it was the seemingly early sunset...

Maybe it's the Christmas music I'm putting on my computer...

Perhaps it's all these things. 'Tis almost the season to be jolly! :)

TGIF

I can't tell you how happy I am that it's Friday. Sure I have two midterms and a paper due next week and sure I have class and work today, but I'm loving that it's Friday. :) And that's all I have to say about that. For now. :)

Okay, I realize I've been talking about Alias quite a bit, so let me switch gears and praise the two best shows on TV: Grey's Anatomy and Everwood. (Although first I hafta mention the actor who appeared on last night's episodes of Alias and Everwood! Ha ha. He played the interrogator on the government committee [whatever it was called] that pardoned Sloan for the umpteenth time and Father Patrick [albeit a little creepily, I have to admit]. I recognized him from Connie and Carla. Yes, Connie and Carla!) So yeah, G's A and E are awesome shows. Yay!

Last night's episode of Everwood was particularly good in that it showed everyone in the cast at some point. Everyone! It packed some punch and didn't run thin. I can't tell you which storyline I liked best; they were all great. Right on, Hannah, for telling off Jake. You go, girl.

Woohoo!

My iPod arrived today! The thing is so dang tiny! Who needs a nano? Not Mini Me!

Woohoo2! I got caught up in the music aspect that I temporarily (as in a nanosecond) forgot I ordered the one where you can store photos on it too. I wanted the color screen and not necessarily the photos, but I'm excited to have the feature! No video, but that's totally OK with me. :)))))

I really want to set up my iPod, but I have other things on my mind tonight, actually. Hehehe. And I don't have my iSkin yet. I'll wait for the plastic protector to arrive before taking this baby for a spin on the 197. LOL!

Plus, I realize I should start putting more music on my computer. I'm staring at my CD collection, and this is going to be a lengthy task. Worth it in the end, I'm sure. I can't even see the priority CDs because they're behind the CDs I bought within the past year or so.

IPod heaven, here iI come!

That's what I'm talkin' about!

I have a free flight from JetBlue!

In the past year (October 2004-October 2005), I've flown to New York via JetBlue three times. And now that my credit card earns points towards the TrueBlue frequent-flyer program, I finally got a free flight!

Maybe this will help if and when I do interviews in New York??? Of course, I'll mix business with pleasure. :)

Practice, practice, practice

My friend Don informed me that Lea Salonga will be giving a concert at Carnegie Hall on November 7. The entire audience that night will be one huge group of lucky dawgs! Wish I could be there.

Anyway, I need to play my guitar more often. Regularly. My poor fingers on my left hand hurt even as I type this message. I'm so excited to be playing new music! I ordered some sheet music online last week, and it arrived a few days ago. I bought some Josh Groban songs, but those are all for the piano. Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway songbook is awesome. I love that I can actually play a few of these songs. And I'm learning new chords in the process. Yay! Ooh, and "Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows (is it Counting Crows or the Counting Crows?) is fairly easy to learn and play, too. :) That was one of my favorite songs last year.

Probably the best thing about learning to play the guitar is I can actually sing along when I play music. Can't do that so much on the piano. Not sure why. I guess I didn't wire my brain when I first learned to play the piano back in the day ... first grade!

I still want to learn how to play the violin.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

If you want to read delightful, humorous books, I highly recommend Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm reading the third installment, The Wide Window.

I wanted to read these books after seeing the movie starring Jim Carrey. While the movie's great, the books paint a much richer picture. Of course, of course. There *is* sadness and grief, but the Baudelaire orphans are resilient and resourceful. Sunny's my favorite character 'cause she hasn't quite mastered English yet, but she has a lot of meaningful things to say. :)

Family and friends, you are welcome to borrow my books. :) And I promise to take out the flags that mark my favorite parts (the ones where I laughed aloud upon reading them).

Alias: The New Class

After watching the rest of last night's episode of "Alias," I'm still sticking to my statement that this is not the same show I got hooked on. So Rachel Gibson has a parallel story to Sydney's. Big whoop. I think that's a major mistake. I don't want to watch the same storylines played out with different actors. That was "Saved By the Bell: The New Class." There, I said it.

And when we want more of Sydney's home life, we want her with friends, but even Weiss is leaving for a new show. I mean, Greg Grunberg. :) No Will, no Francie, no Weiss, no Vaughn, no Nadia.

The call to cancel Vaughn's magazine subscription was really sad, but that, too, was already played out when Sydney had to change the message on her answering machine when Danny was murdered.

I had high hopes for this season. I wanted it to top the last one. ABC really does want this show to die. And that's sad. "Alias" reaches its 100th episode this season, and then they'll be good to go for cancellation with benefits of syndication. At least I think that's how it works. I'm still clinging to a little bit of hope that the season will turn around, but I'm not holding my breath.

*yawn*

My sleeping pattern this week is out of whack. After returning from New Jersey on Monday night, I actually didn't go to sleep until past 2 a.m. to finish a paper. Yesterday I fell asleep during "Lost." Yikes. I saw maybe 10 to 15 minutes of the entire episode (yet another reason for TiVo). Then I went to sleep at 10 p.m. and woke up at 3 a.m. to finish a paper. No more papers, please.

On a completely different note, what is up with "Alias"??? This is not the show I got hooked on four years ago. Granted, I've only watched the first half, and I think I'll be awake for the second, but I can't believe how quickly this season has faltered. Maybe I should have participated in the "Save Michael Vaughn/Michael Vartan" fan campaign. Half joking, half serious. :)

That doesn't feel good

My back officially hurts. Ohhhh. Not good.

I have all three of my classes on Thursday, and that means I have to lug all 4 of my textbooks plus notebooks, folders purse, and water around all day long. I tried my best to carry some of them in my arms throughout the day.

But then it started raining in the afternoon, so I had to store everything in my backpack. After getting off the bus, I was carrying my too-heavy backpback, and the pain jabbed at me. Now I'm either still feeling pain, or just thinking of the pain is causing me pain. I'm not going to enjoy Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Does anyone have a cool lookin' -- not to mention functional -- tote bag that I can carry my books in? I think I need one. I'll take a tote bag, but one of those rolly backpack thingies would annoy me.

The eternal three minutes

I got stuck in an elevator today. All by myself. The whole ordeal seemed like an eternity. When I first started working in the ATG building, I was warned by the other student assistant that the elevator was not to be trusted. Oh, I believed her, but nothing happened to me for nearly two years. All that changed today.

As I was traveling up to the sixth floor, the elevator moved up and down, and then it stopped. The doors didn't open. I pressed the "open" button several times. Still nothing. Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

Then, I had to do something I'd never done before: I called the emergency phone by pressing a red button. It was basically a speakerphone, and I was relieved to hear someone answer. Unfortunately, the connection was pretty bad; the guy kept asking me to repeat which floor I was on. There was no way I could know for sure, but I said the sixth floor. I wanted to tell him I was in the ATG building and would someone please hurry, but I never got around to it. Our conversation was very brief, and it ended with him saying he was sending someone over.

That was slightly comforting. But how long would it take before that someone arrived? I couldn't decide what to do with myself. Should I pace? Should I stand against the elevator wall in case it falls like it has in "Alias"? Should I sit on the floor? Constantly staring at my watch, I just stood still. Meanwhile, the emergency phone was making weird noises before it hung up.

I never actually ended up being rescued in a dramatic way. (I imagined being pulled out between floors or at least climbing to safety with the aid of a helping hand.) Instead, someone had pressed a button to use the elevator. The elevator moved "normally" to the 4th floor, and I was free at last. I warned the person that I just got stuck in the elevator, and he opted to take the stairs.

From here on out, I'm taking the stairs as much as possible.