this just happened.

Best conversation of the day:
Dad: Hey, they have a thing-a-ma-bob at whats-a-dingy.
SW: ::pause:: ::pause:: That's great. Buy two.
Dad: I have a way with words. You know....Are Tex....R-TRAX...hmmm
::brief pause accompanied by the sound of computer keys::
Dad: At Disney World. They have a new T-Rex Cafe that opened. Your brother would like that.

heh.

Conversation snippet from the past:
November 2002
Mason: (5 years old) We have a new kitty!!
SW: Ooo! What will did you name it?
Mason: ::takes a deep breath:: T-REX-RANA-SAURUS!
SW: Um, can we name it something else?
Mason: ::thoughtful pause:: Olive.

just so you know....

......I totally waited to do this until I felt like I had I quasi-interesting day....:P

Eight Things About Me
8 t.v. shows I watch:
1. The Big Bang Theory (This show has characters not unlike many of my friends.)
2. Pushing Daisies (....almost the end, and that is sad.  My very favorite episode ever happened just weeks ago)
3. Dollhouse (No, it doesn't matter that it hasn't started yet.)
4. Fringe (I watched the first 3 eps & dug it, then lost track of it.  I've began rewatching without all the breaks FOX always causes due to baseball & I'm really liking it again.)
5. Heroes  (I'm weeks behind, but I'm confident I can catch up)
6. Veronica Mars (on DVD.  The best TV show you've never seen.)
7. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (on DVD.  One of the few shows I can watch over, and over again.)
8. Chase (on Sci-Fi.   Because Mason got me hooked. :P  Totally guilty pleasure television.)

8 restaurants I love:
1. The Hi-W.ay Drive-In: (In my hometown.  Not an actual drive-in.  Home to the BIG-Z.)
2. The Blue Bayou: Disneyland (Ambiance & sentiment are everything.)
3. Mexican Village: Fargo, ND (mmmm....Mexican Platter.  So big, you get 2 plates.)
4. The Outback: Fargo, ND (RIP, ND's only Outback Steakhouse, unexpectedly closed & leaving my roommate jobless in April 2008.  I knew all of the work-related gossip, so that makes it infinite times more interesting than any other Outback.)
5. This odd Chinese restaurant outside of Eau Claire, WI.  (That I'll never go to again, because Andrea isn't in grad school anymore.  Sad day.)
6. Doolittles Woodfire Grill: Fargo, ND
7. Buffalo Wild Wings: Fargo, ND (Where WINGO NIGHT was created:  50 cent boneless wings on thursdays, followed by moonlight bingo at Big Top Bingo.)
8. The C.hieftain: (Hometown so-so service and mediocre food.  But decor so straight out of the 60s with covert racism, you really just have to marvel.)

**#1 & #8 are restaurants in my hometown, but I get really paranoid about being google-able sometimes. :)

8 Things I did today:
1. Played with a kitten!
2. Scared the kitten when I went to pet him & had static electricity built up on my finger.  I shocked him on the tip of his nose and then he ran away from me.  :(
3. Wrapped my mother's Christmas presents.
4. Watched 3 episodes of Mad Men.
5. Tried to get my brother to let me style his hair.
6. Wore Mason's camoflauge face-mask improperly, causing him to laugh.
7. Wondered why time seems to stand still when I am at my parents house.
8. Thought about being out in -35 degree weather last night to go shopping; glad I didn't have to do it again today, because I'm severely out of practice.  Where I live now is significantly less arctic than where I grew up.)

8 things I look forward to:
1. Walt Disney World and Cape Canaveral with the family, Dec 25 - Dec 31.
2. Showing my family the awesome Christmas lights display on one house in Waconia.  (It even has an FM signal to listen to coordinated music!)
3. Seeing Slumdog Millionaire
4. Being able to save up and buy a fantastic television.  (So I can do my DVD collection justice.)
5. Flip flop weather to return.  (March is coming, folks!)
6. Buying the perfect-most-cutest-townhouse ever in Waconia.
7. Because I'm 6: Christmas with my family  AKA opening presents.
8. Getting the mail every day.  I *love* checking the mail.  (I'm not kidding.)

8 things I am wishing for:
1. Getting full-time status at work next year.  Not just for the financial benefits, but for the needs of the students too.  But also.....
2. .....so I can buy that townhouse I found and love.
3. Taking more grad classes so I can get my Masters certificate in gifted education.
4. Going back to Greece with my family.
5. And (some day) with my betrothed.  (I really wanted to type betrothed.)
6. Meeting more people in Waconia. ( I like alone time, but it would be nice to have "just hang out" friends. :)   )
7. Being able to purchase a hybrid vehicle.  (Currently I am preferring the Saturn Vue.)
8. Mail.  I love mail.

8 people I'm tagging to do this:
1. Erm....
2. Hmmm....
3. Welll....
4. uhhhhh
5. you see...
6. Nobody.
7. Reads.
8. My blog! :P

i just love a good Mexican standoff....

I've secret always wanted to throw a party like the one they did on Gilmore Girls. (No, not the all-night, 50s themed dance marathon. Though that would be fun.) I would absolutely love to throw a party where everyone came dressed as their favorite Quentin Tarantino character. And then we would watch movies, play trivia, have themed snacks, etc.

Of course, there are some problems with this idea:
1) As cool as I think he is, I have to be realistic when I say the reference wouldn't catch quickly with everyone.
2) You run the risk of having a large majority of vague Mr. from Resevoir Dogs, Brides and Mia Wallaces. (Although, even with that, many would probably not know the character name, and would just say they came dressed as Uma Thurman.)

Random List: Celebrities I Have A Strange Fascination With:
1.) Quentin Tarantino
2.) Patton Oswalt
3.) Neil Patrick Harris
4.) Wayne Newton
5.) Steve Buschemi

she came out west to find the sun...

So, Olivia tagged me with this meme, and of course, I have no self control and must complete it immediately.  That being said, some trivia before we get going.....

Number of Items in Itunes Library:  4363

Days of Constant Play (if attempted): 11.2

Approximately 17.6 GBs

Now, on to the show...

Step 1: Put your music player on random.

Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.

Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.

Step 4:  Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly (No lyric hunting! That is cheating! Boo to cheating!)

**Final Comments**  

1.) Any instrumental pieces will be listed where they came in the playlist, but I won't ask you to guess them. :)  

2.) Its quite possible I won't know some of the stuff that comes up.  I collect a lot of music, but keep a small portion on frequent rotation.  (It's like clothes really, you wear 80% of what you own, 20% of the time.) 

3.) My ipod & computer have a penchant for Christmas music.  It cannot be explained.

4.) (Knowing who reads this) You're probably not going to believe me when I say this, but I'm a bit of an emo kid. XD

Alrighty....BEGIN! 

1.  Paper bags and plastic hearts

2.  Far past these roads, there is a place

3.  Hey hey, if we can find a way out of these problems

4.  When I die and they lay me to rest

5.  We're gonna go to the club and get crump with Britney!

6.  My baby don't mess around because she loves me so

7.  Save me from this prison, Lord help me get away

8.  No one told me the right way, the right way to go about this

9.  Lift me up, take me high

10. Hundreds of miles, yeah you cry like a baby

11. She got outta town, on a railway New York bound

12. When are ya gonna come down

13. Welcome friends, to Janice's party

14.  Echo, echo, we come and we go

15.  I remember, I was small, seeing Santa at the mall

16.  Angels we have heard on high

17.  I see the way he treats you

18.  Flirting with disaster

19.  Raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens!

20.  I was gonna spell it out, in detail but

**Instrumental Bonus: "I Miss You" by Incubus, as done by the Vitamin String Quartet**

21.  Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks

22.  From time to time, I have regrets

23.  Uptown walks in the afternoon

**Mash-up Bonus: The Quiet Screaming - Legion of Doom ("The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" by Brand New vs. "Screaming Infidelities" by Dashboard Confessional) **  

24. Have yourself a merry little Christmas

25. I've been here before, a few times

**Cuz I Love It Bonus: I keep a close watch on this heart of mine**

Parting Note: Entry title is the opening line of my favorite song.  Ever. 

LOLcat overdrive.

Two of my favorite things, together at last:



heh.

more animals

for olivia.

Everclear - Santa Baby



I couldn't resist. :)

holy geek out, batman!

Things I have done this afternoon:

1) Searched on ebay for various treasures from Comic-Con 2007 & 2008.

2) Which led to.....coveting the Comic-Con exclusive My Little Ponys from 2007 & 2008.

3) Thought about attending Comic-Con 2009.

4) Thought about how that means I'd have to miss Governor's School.

5) Wikipedia'd various elements of the Whedonverse.

6) Been reminded why I love the 3 rising sci-fi director/writer/producers of our time:  Bryan Fuller, Joss Whedon, J.J. Abrams. (Honorable mention: Barry Sonnenfeld)

7) Become giddy at the thought of the new Star Trek trailer that will be attached to Quantum of Solace in T-Minus 4 days.

8) Watched the shiny new-ish Dollhouse trailer.

9) Considered why FOX seems to hate the Whedonverse, even though they keep greenlighting Joss' shows, only to banish them to the Friday Night Television Slot of Death.   (*mini, slightly morbid, TWSS)

10) Embedded the Dollhouse trailer, for your enjoyment:

I am just that cool.

Editorial Mini-Rant:  Of all the new shows that were considered and subsiquently greenlit for the 2008-2009 season, Dollhouse was the one that I was hands down, most excited about, simply from the AICN description I read nearly a year ago.  I was not happy when I heard it wasn't even given a first-run chance; instead being banished to a mid-season premiere.  

I became increasingly annoyed reading about all the rewrites, which eventually lead to the complete revamping of the original first episode. (This has subsequently been pushed to episode #2, with a new episode #1 taking its place.)  All of this messing with the orginal plan scares me, because it is eerily reminiscent of the path taken by Firefly before it even premiered.  (One of the biggest TV exec missteps ever, not unlike by the unnecessary meddling and format change that led to the cancellation of Veronica Mars.)

Friday night is where television goes to die; it takes a lot to succeed in any timeslot.  Dollhouse was originally supposed to be the lead-in for the new season of 24.  (Which, BTW, seems like an odd pairing, but maybe thats just because I don't *get* 24.  I think it would be way better matched with Fringe (which was paired with House....WTF?); arguably the best new show of 2008 and the most traditional mainstream network sci-fi we've seen in a long while. (Parallel question:  What makes geek-friendly shows like LOST and Fringe inspire mainstream audience confience, yet just as geeky shows like Pushing Daisies, Reaper, & Firefly flouder and struggle to stay alive?) I'm hoping this is some major act of anti-counter-programming, because nothing else worthwhile ever shows on Fridays (for reasons listed above), but I doubt it. Can FOX kill Dollhouse in the same manner with which they killed Firefly (and to a much lesser extent, Sliders)?  I hope not.