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In the car just now on my way to meet Dane for lunch, I put on OK Computer on a whim. It suddenly made me really motivated to do this Top Ten Of All Time thing Greg and Tim have been going on about. So I'm going to give it a whirl, and probably totally want to change it in like five minutes. And btw asking for 10 is hard enough, there's no way I'm going to put them in any actual order.
These are the (abridged) lyrics to a Regina Spektor song that I like.
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they're starving or freezing or so very poor
No one laughs at God when the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one's laughing at God when it's gotten real late and their kid's not back from that party yet
(Chorus)
But God can be funny
When you're at a cocktail party listening to a good God-themed joke
Or when the crazies say he hates us and they get so red in the head you think they're about to choke
God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you only pray the right way
Or when treated like a genie who does magic like Houdini
or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket or Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one's laughing at God when they've lost all they've got and they don't know what for
(Chorus)
No one's laughing at God
No one's laughing at God
No one's laughing at God
We're all laughing with God.
I am starting this post now so that I will do it. Sometimes I use opened Chrome tabs like a to-do list. It stresses me out while there are 15 of them but I can't close them until I do whatever I gotta do, and then finally I'm just down to Twitter and Gmail and I can sit back. So.
This is my belated birthday post. I missed it by a couple of weeks, but I wanted to put something about not being 25 any more. I honestly think this might have been my favorite year yet. I can't say that defininitively because it's entirely possible that some of the popsicles-bare-feet-and-tree-climbing years would have given it a run for its money, but I really, really, really liked 25. And actually, I probably had at least one popsicle, definitely ran around barefoot, and definitely climbed a tree or two within this past year. Here are some of the things I did for the first time while I was 25 (in chronological order):
Today is Wednesday. Monday night Dane and I went to see Mates of State at the Granada, and while half the people that read this have already heard this story, basically the show started at 8 but instead of being MoS with Black Kids as their openers it was a co-headline tour with another opener, so MoS didn't go on until probably 1030 or so, which I am old and also employed, and that is kind of a tad late for a Monday night. But really not so bad, I was in bed by like one and it didn't really bother me yesterday.
But then last night we all went over to the Beckmans' for chicken and noodles and I made dirt with pudding and crunched up oreos and it was super fun, but as always with the Beckmans I stayed until like elevenish, which usually I blame on Dane and/or Jon but neither were there so I guess it's not really ALL their fault every other time we stay over there way too late. And then I hadn't seen Dane yet at all so we stayed up even later just catching up. And rescuing each other from huge-normous bugs with grabby legs that had crawled WAY up our pants and made us scream and jump around like a little girly crazy person. Or at least one of us rescued the other one, that one wasn't so much reciprocal.
But THEN I totally woke Dane up at about 5:45 by like completely freaking out in my sleep, I was having the WORST dream ever, it was totally terrifying and thank GOD he then woke me up. And we had to kind of chill for a few minutes and then Susanna randomly texted me at like 6:15, which I was still awake and trying to get back to sleep, but that is so random, so I texted her back, and then that kept me up for probably thirty more minutes, and yeah, I'm pretty pooped.
The dream wasn't even about junebugs, or any bugs, that's the weird thing. I shall tell you.
So we were in some kind of vacationy place with like a cabin, and the details of the first part are fuzzy but basically there were like mannequins in several of the rooms or the restaurants in this town, and there were these little kids (probably 8-10 years old) that kept coming to the door or just walking in and if we tried to cover up or put away the mannequin people they would get SUPER pissed and throw a fit until we put them back, and they always talked about them like living people, but never talked to them.
Then we were driving down this road, maybe trying to leave but I don't think so, and we started seeing all these mannequins hanging from the power/telephone lines over the road. At first they were sort of posed like they were some weird kind of advertisement, all in these brightly colored like shorts and polos and whatever, but then as we kept driving there were more and more, and several of them were hanging with the line through their belt loops so they were kind of hung/bent over, and then a few had it wrapped around their necks. Then all of a sudden something hit the back window of the car, there was this one sliding down the power line behind us almost like a zipline or something, and had bumped into the back of the car with its plastic legs, and kept bumping it no matter how fast we went. Then all the sudden (I was in the back seat for some reason) the window was open and these legs swung into the car, so I tried to push them out, still all plastic and hard, and then out the back I saw the mannequin drop off of the power line thing and then LAND, like, ninja-style, on the ground on both feet and start running after the car, which he caught, and started climbing in the window. That was where Dane woke me up all freaking out and hyperventilating.
Elements:
1) Coraline visual style/moods with the first part with the kids
2) Old Navy commercials with the talking mannequins
3) Brandon's story at the Beckmans' last night about when he rolled off
a top bunk as a kid, fully asleep, and somehow landed on both feet like
a cat.
Please interpret.
Two movies I've seen lately --
Dane and I went to see Sunshine Cleaning a couple weeks ago with Susanna and some of her friends. It was entertaining, but not really my favorite. I have really truly loved Amy Adams in a lot of movies, she's great and can be so adorable and hilarious and just light up the screen. There's the Drop Dead Gorgeous version, which was hilarious and genius, and the Enchanted version which is innocent and precious, and the Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day version which is sort of a mix of both of those and whom I could watch all day, and we're going to pretend the Talladega Nights version never existed, except that it was a lot like the Charlie Wilson version.
Then there's the Junebug, Sunshine Cleaning, Doubt Amy Adams, which is kind of all quivering bottom lip and wide blue tear-filled eyes and defeated smiles and Lucille Ball hand-wringing (know what I mean?) and this mix of innocent and sweet and pitiful and desperate. That one was just done one too many times and turned up to 11 in Sunshine Cleaning and may have ruined that whole Amy Adams for me for a while. Probably only for a while though.
Then they had this plotline with Emily Blunt, whom I also happen to love, that was kind of awkward and never really went anywhere, and I'm not sure what the point of it was. I mean I kind of get it, but sometimes it seems like "let's throw a few controversial-ish themes in there, even if they don't lend to story or character, just because it'll make us more Indie and will take the place of creative plot twists and if people have a problem with it we'll call them narrow-minded."
BUT THEN.
Last night we watched Let the Right One In, which I pretty much loved completely. I've had less time to think about it, so that could be part of it, but I was just sucked in. It was unbelievably refreshing to me how they told SO much of the story in shadows or off-screen or only showing you the few moments before something happened. It's like they actually believed that I have my own imagination, or something. Crazy, right?
I wished I saw it on the big screen, because even on our teeny one in non-HD, it was just one of the most beautiful movies ever. It opens with a kid walking through snow (or at least that's in the first couple minutes) and my immediate thought was "ew, I'm so glad we don't live where it's that cold". 20 min later I was like "I want to go to SWEDEN." Just soooo soo pretty. I was sold even with the screwed-up American subtitles. I hate it when you can TELL they say this whole long sentence and you even recognize a few words or a name, and then the subtitles are all "NO, THANK YOU." And you're like "Come on! I know that's not all they said." I guess I'll just have to learn Swedish.
Anyway, worth checking out. Kind of gory, and not really terribly cheery, but not scary like I thought it would be, not at all. Just beautiful and sweet. In a little bit of a murdery kind of way. And with the second kid named Oskar that I've loved recently, the other being Oskar Schell from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Dane nixed it as a kid name though. Too bad.
This weekend was super fun. I think there's some rule of non-crappy blogs where you're not supposed to talk about your weekend, or something. But since mostly my mom and my mother-in-law read this, I think they don't mind.
Friday after work I was going to run but fell asleep (for like 2 hours. Oops.) Then Dane and I went to this thing at the Village about Christianity and environmentalism and why God is all about being green. It was good and I got free shopping bags. To leave in my car every time I go into the store. I'm working on that though. Roy was there and afterwards we went to Chick Fil A and then to this place called the Greenhouse I think and I had a Guinness and Roy is hilarious and it was really fun.
Saturday I got up and drove to the Colony in the like THIRTY DEGREE WEATHER with ridiculous wind and did this super intense playground workout with my karate class. Then, when I could barely lift my arms, I picked up Dane, my dad, and Anna Claire and we went to paint for like 4 hours at World Impact. It was like we were the little Trading Spaces team (ok I don't even think that show is still on and I'm sure there are new ones I would reference if I was like With It, but I'm not) except for they didn't do the time lapse montage with the funky music that makes it look really fast and easy.
Went and dropped off Dad and picked up Jill and took the girls to Monsters vs. Aliens which was actually hilarious. I laughed quite loud many more times than I expected to. Seth Rogen's B.O.B. was the funniest part, I think, but there was a lot of fun stuff. I recommend seeing it with a 7- and a 12-yr-old, if possible.
Then back to the Beckmans' house to hang out for a couple of hours. It's kind of weird when you housesit for your good friends a lot, and then when you're over there supposedly as a friend just hanging out you start to want to go over and refill the cat bowl or fold up the blanket on the couch or sweep up the kitchen or pack up the pizza and put it in the fridge. I told Denise that and she was like "you know what? Go for it." That's Refridgerator Rights to A Whole Notha Level.*
Sunday evening we went over to the Swindles' which is always sort of like being at home except 10x better. Especially when Stella isn't sick any more and is hilarious and fun and dancing around like a ballerina. I think Dane is like her favorite (non-parent) person in the world. We had curry chicken and minty-apricot couscous and this really good beer that kind of tasted like blueberries maybe? And some wine and tons of music talk that may or may not have bored Robin to tears, but was so fun for me. Oh right, and between the blueberry beer and the music talk was two pounds (POUNDS!) of strawberries, two bananas, and 4 melted Hershey's Special Dark bars that we put away in about 5 minutes. In all, an EXCELLENT evening.
*This paragraph is not meant to imply that Denise's house is in any NEED of blanket-folding or kitchen-sweeping, but I mean, she has 2 kids and is kind of renovating her kitchen right now. The work is never done, I'm sure.
On Tuesday evening-ish we headed to Henley-on-Thames, on the recommendation of Angela. It was an adorable little town and I kind of wish I had money to take advantage of all the cute shopping. Mostly the rare and antique book shop. And the boots. Ugh! The boots.
We got there a little bit on the late side, having come by train from Paddington Station. Our room was absolutely heavenly (especially after our smelly hole in London, which actually was probably a steal considering how much we paid for it). We stayed at a place called Milsoms, which was another Angela recommendation. It was sort of between a pub and a restaurant, like you walked through a pub and on the left was the reception area and straight ahead was this gorgeous restaurant.
Our room, and our bathroom which was up some steps from the room:
So when you walked out the door of our hotel, to the right was this view (1st picture) and a bit down the street on the left you'd hit the river:
That night we stayed near the airport at a really American-y hotel that had a full restaurant, a pub with pub food, a full cafe, a playground, a projector screen with the Manchester U game on, and a convenience store all in the lobby. Some British HGTV and this awesome sort of talk-faux-quiz show with Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry, and then to sleep. Next day we tried to blow the last of our pounds in Heathrow (which is totally not hard, btw), and then HOME!
And that is the end.
P.S. Dane has a lot more (and some much better) pictures here. And also tons of pictures of me, including whole action sequences of me doing riveting things like putting my hair in a ponytail or reading a book or going up an escalator.
SO! Friday night we took a flight to London, were picked up at the airport by Nick and Angela's friend Bakhir or something (not sure how it was spelled), and off to their apartment. Some drinks and some catching up, and then to bed.
Saturday morning we had breakfast at a little stand (me) and a little cafe (Dane and Angela) and Nick headed off crazy early for a retreat thing. Then we went to a market, not sure what it was called, but it was near Kensington Station. Here's us at the market:
Sunday we got up and went to Angela's church, where she works as one of their video producer people. It was really cool and kind of similar to a lot of ones over here. I think I expected it to be more different, but not really. Main difference: it was in this super old fancy cathedral. But other than that, pretty modern, a lot of the same songs and stuff that we do. The sermon was on service and was really good. People were super nice and I saw approximately 97 pairs of boots that I would absolutely buy in a heartbeat. Seriously people, London is like the City of Amazing Boots.
We had lunch at Angela's and sort of just hung out for most of the afternoon (Dane and I, after breaking our necks trying to see everything in Edinburgh [City of Ridiculous Amounts of Stairs/Hills] in 4 days, and looking forward to doing the same thing in London, were up for a true, restful Sabbath.) Nick got home and we went and had dinner at their little local pub, like a block from their flat, which was adorable and homey and so refreshingly not touristy at all. It was quiz night. I had a few (read: one, but kind of fast) and accidentally sort of yelled out the answer to a particularly American question, being all proud that I'd know it. It was embarrassing. Then we played Scrabble, I won once and Angela won once. A tie-breaking final round will have to wait 'til they move back stateside.
Here's my Sunday roast, and us and our lovely hosts:
From there, that night, we found our way to the Royal Eagle near Paddington Station and Hyde Park, where we'd stay for 2 nights. It was... a hotel. With... a bed. And running water. That kept us off the street. For that, I suppose, it was worth the money. It was also teense and kind of musty and had a horrible, no, I mean HORRIBLE smell coming from the bathroom. Not sure what it was, not particularly sewage-y or mold-y or dead-thing-y, just weird and gross and on all the towels. It worked for a couple nights, but I can't say I was sad to leave.
Monday we walked through Hyde Park and to Buckingham Palace and watched the changing of the guards. It was all so posh and military and precise, until the marching band pulled out their music stands and made a little semi-circle and played a show tune medley for the gathered crowd. Which, even though the gay American couple in front of us was cracking up and seemed maybe a bit disillusioned, I thought it was really fun and showed some personality. Some pics:
From there, we grabbed dinner on the run and made our way to the Victoria Palace Theatre for the musical. Aside from our "view obstruction", which we were told was absolutely no big deal and only mattered if you were like less than 5' tall (which was actually a giant brass bar straight through our line of vision), it was really great. It's one of my absolute all-time favorite movies, and it took a bit to get past a few huge differences. One of the absolute best parts of the movie is the T. Rex soundtrack (with a little Clash thrown in), which I listen to all the time and kind of missed. That and the Julie Walters character I thought was totally miscast, but I probably would have with anybody but Julie Walters. I looooved the '80s British political comedy, I think my favorite song was one called "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher", and the like 12-yr-old Billy was amazing.
This one is a bit wordier, isn't it. I didn't take as many pictures in London so I just have to tell everything.
These are a bit out of order, but the Odeon and the Victoria Palace Theatre:
Lunch at Pizza Express, which was not very express at all but actually kind of fancy and expensive. I had bruscetta. From there to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge:
