Yay! My first ever Mirror Project submission is up.


I have forgotten to rate the past couple episodes of 24. This week's episode was good, but not nearly as intense as last week's was... therefore, I will only give it six kiefers:


I am thoroughly disturbed about something here. I feel like a grandma complaining about how the kids these days have it so easy, but today I have to say that is true. Only, I guess I should say that the kids down south have it so easy.

According to my local NBC affiliate WSMV:
Benton County Schools Closed
Christian County Schools Opening 1 hour late
Henry County Schools Closed
Hope Center Buses not running
Houston County Schools Closed
Stewart County Schools Closed
Trigg County Schools Closed

It is only raining here people! Goodness. Up in Iowa, we would have an entire night of freezing rain with three inches of fresh snowcover over that, and we would be praying for even a late start. It is currently 60°F here with an expected high of 66°F. Granted, it is raining like a banshee, and we are in a flood watch... but still! They are only forecasting it to get down to 47°F... and that will probably be at 11:47pm. Southerners... I tell ya!

These people are funny. The Electric Big-Bang Swing Machine... a humor 'zine by random weird people. I love the graphics on this page! "Next time you gaze upon your child, pause to consider the possibility that there may be a tiny gremlin living inside its body, collecting information, earning your trust, and ultimately plotting to kill you."

This is a beautiful thing... Mercy B.A.N.D.

I am so tired today! This makes sense according to Jason Warren's theory that it is not the day after no sleep when you are the most tired, but rather the day after the day after no sleep. Today's theme is "Tired".

tired.com - weird. I am still debating whether or not to tell them why I am tired.

According to the Good Sleep Test, my sleep personality is aoNe - an Adaptable Owl, Napper, Extended sleeper.

When WiredNews is just too much, there is TiredNews.

This article lists 12 Surprising Things That Are Making You Tired (and How to Fight Them). Interesting...

You have heard of MADD and SADD and all those organizations... well there is also PATT. (Parents Against Tired Truckers)

Five Songs I Can't Get Tired Of:
1. "High Hopes" - Pink Floyd
2. "Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin
3. "Dig" - Adam Again
4. "With or Without You" - U2
5. "Anna Begins" - Counting Crows



Song of the Day:
The Arrival of Sophie - Mattias Holmgren and Tired Tree

My parents emailed me this photo of me (sorta) with my niece yesterday. Look at that hair next to mine. I think she is going to be a redhead. :)


That thought prompted me to search for facts about redheads. (Don't try this at home, kids... certain search engines equate anything "redhead" with porn. Nice, eh?)

So anyway, this guy is funny. He has an entire philosophy on being a redhead. He raises some very interesting points.

(Also for the record, I do not have the so-called "redheaded temper". I have more of an anti-temper. I am the least temper-prone of any person I know. I just do not get all worked up about stuff.)


Question: Are all step-children redheaded?

Having nothing to do with red hair, this site has some fun little recipes and stuff.

The bossman is going to New Orleans for two days this week. Yay! Time to catch up on everything and then slack off.

There is something so nice about being in a familiar place again. I got to my parents' house at 4 am on Thursday. I was able to bring in my things, get a glass of water, and make it upstairs to my room all without turning on a single light.

Friday Five
1. What was the last book you read? Did you enjoy it? I am currently finishing The Mark by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins - yeah, it is pretty good; next up is The Hobbit by Tolkin, as I feel I should read that one before I read the Rings trilogy, and I want to read them before I see the movies.
2. What's your favorite book of all time? That is a tough one. I absolutely loved Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. I read it before I saw the musical, and I was sad because the musical makes Arik (the phantom) out to be such a bad guy... but in the book, I had such compassion for him.
3. What's the worst book you've ever read? I cannot think of one specific one right off hand. I might be one of those horrible Norweigen history books I had to read for Paideia at Luther or otherwise I really hated Walden by Thoreau. (Made me want to "Thoreau" up.)
4. What book that you've read would you most like to see adapted into a movie? This is kind of embarrassing, but I read this "romance novel" that I started trying to write a screenplay for... which would have starred me, of course. Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught.
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? We are hauling out the Christmas decorations, and I am in charge of dictating what needs to be done with them. Tomorrow my beautiful neice is being baptised. Then I am driving back to Nashville to arrive there about 5 am on Monday.

For a preview of tonight's sky: www.earthsky.com

Went to see Monsters Inc. with my sister, bro-in-law, nephew, and Nate last night. It was pretty cute. Bradley loved it. It was more fun listening to him giggle the whole time than anything. The Star Wars preview and the little bird movie before time were worth the $5 by themselves.

I have been having a series of weird experiences lately. It all started off with that whole Mellencamp-being-fifty thing... and then tonight...

I saw Keith Olbermann on CNN doing real news.

Now for those of you who don't know... our beloved Keith was one of the hosts of The Big Show. We're talking SportsCenter on ESPN here, folks. (Yes, there was a time when all my friends were guys... but I actually got into good ol' Keith and Dan even though I wasn't a big sports watcher.) Keith brought us memorable quotes like "They're...not...gonna...get him." and "From way downtown...BANG!" and many other choice phrases.

Tonight Keith was filling in for Jeff Greenfield on Greenfield at Large reporting real news. He proved he was still the same old Keith though when he started off the show by saying something about how he was filling in because Jeff has a broken ankle making him not very at large.

Anyway... sleep now. Wednesday will come too soon. Then it's fourteen hours on the road... ugh!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am going to hold off on my writing career until next November.

T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project - I knew there was a reason why I never liked those little yellow cakes.

Telephone Conversation:
Saturday, November 17th
7:24 AM
Danielle: Hello?
Michael: Danielle?
D: What?
M: Do you have any plans this weekend?
D: Well, I had planned on sleeping a little longer. Why?
M: Did you want to go to the concert tonight?
D: What happened?
M: Well, the drive shaft fell out of the van, and we need someone to rent another van and come get us.
D: Where are you?
M: The middle of Kentucky

So by 11:30, I was on my way to Kentucky in a white 15-passenger van. Got to the guys at 1:30. Got to Anderson a little later than planned, but the show did go on. Danielle saves the day.

I am so sad that I forgot about the meteor shower this morning. Especially considering that I was walking back out to the van at 4:30 am.

Got home about 11:00, and then I slept until 7:00. Novel writing was not a priority this weekend. Fun, fun though.

I was a little leary about being back in a white 15-passenger van though, as this is what happened the last time I was in one about four years ago:

Okay, so I am doing a stupid thing. I have seen all these people talking about their NaNoWriMo novels, and I found myself wishing that I had started writing one at the beginning of the month as well. The basic idea of National Novel Writing Month is to write a 50,000-word novel between November 1st and 30th. Suddenly yesterday, after wasting the entire first half of the month, I decided I was going to try and make it anyway. I sat down last night and churned out 3,538 words. It really is not good, and I have no idea where the story is going... but I guess that is the idea. It is all about quantity and not quality. The goal is to get the 50,000 words down and then worry about going back and fixing later.

My characters are a combination of a bunch of my friends. I plan on pulling events out of actual life events with a few embellishments. I was really surprised how easily I cranked out the first couple thousand. I work well under pressure. Actually, I only work under pressure, so it works out well. (My college roommates always hated me for being able to sit down and write an A-paper the night before it was due.)

Novel writing is mostly a "one day" event. As in "One day, I'd like to write a novel." Here's the truth: 99% of us, if left to our own devices, would never make the time to write a novel. It's just so far outside our normal lives that it constantly slips down to the bottom of our to-do lists. The structure of NaNoWriMo forces you to put away all those self-defeating worries and START. Once you have the first five chapters under your belt, the rest will come easily. Or painfully. But it will come. And you'll have friends to help you see it through to 50k.
--from NaNoWriMo FAQ

So what if they are not allowing people to sign up after October 29th. This year is going to be for personal satisfaction. Maybe if I make this an annual torture, I will have a shelf of my own work by the end of my lifetime.

My inspiration at the moment is Kathleen Turner at the beginning of Romancing the Stone. When I get close to the end, I am definitely building a fire and throwing dishes into the fireplace.

I ran across the page of Brian Longtin. Seems like an interesting character. His post for November 15th seemed to sum up a lot of my thoughts on that matter as well.

I also had to laugh at his description of the redman concert the night before. Sounds exactly like when Manda, Krystal, and I saw Vanilla Ice last spring. We had a lot of "say 'yeah'... say 'hell yeah'" there too. And I forget exactly what the weed reference line was... but yeah... I can still say that I have seen Vanilla Ice in concert.



 

Isn't this amazing? According to FOXnews.com some U.S. Special Forces are fighting on horseback, and they have requested that saddles, bridles and horsefeed be included in supply drops into the area. Crazy.


 


Song of the Day:
Table for Glasses - Jimmy Eat World
This song will always remind me of riding in the car with Jay first thing in the morning and him warming up his voice with this song. Today I have Bleed American, Clarity, and Static Prevails on shuffle in WinAmp. Woohoo!
(That Brian dude likes JEW too, which makes him cooler than average.)

My eyes will barely focus on the screen. I will explain more later. For now:

Friday Five
1. Name five things in your refrigerator: distilled water, half an onion, leftover mac-n-cheese-n-corn, carrots, a bag of gummie worms that had melted and have now reformed into one solid chunk (long story)
2. Name five things in your freezer: coffee, chicken voila, almond patties, punch, cheese taquitos
3. Name five things under your kitchen sink: trashcan, vases, dishwashing liquid, trashbags, sponges
4. Name five things around your computer: well, my computer goes where I go, though I am mostly on the couch when I'm with it at home. Therefore: pillow, blanket, sweater, dictionary, coffee mug
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Goodness, it's Friday already. I need to sleep again. Actually, I just need to sleep now.

I saw this picture on the BBC News site. What is that anyway? I was unaware that Michael had a mohawk phase. That's just weird.

I have not had a whole lot of time to do much surfing for interesting sites. Hence the lack of links lately.

I am adding a new feature... if you could call it that. Ever notice how some businesses come up with these painfully cutesy names? Ugh! Some are so bad they should be outlawed. I admit I came up with my own. If I ever open my coffee shop, it will be La Vida Mocha... just like Nate's was going to be Java the Hut. Anyway, without further ado:

Today's Painfully Cutesy Store: a salon in Franklin called Hair Peace

Song of the Day:
well shoot, I can't figure out the name of it, because I just realized the album isn't released yet. but it's song #2 on Jennifer Knapp's new album.

I have been taking note of a strange phenomenon here in the last few days. Nashville in late autumn is like a wet Persian cat. You know how those cats are all fluffy and pretty, and then when you see one doused with water, you think, "Gah! What happened to you?" When I moved down here this summer, everything was green and leafy and beautiful. Now the leaves are gone, and you can see what the trees were hiding. It is not horrible, but just a little startling all the same.

More later.

My dear Tasheesh, I am sorry. I had to call Jack at the end of "Beat It" to remind him that we are still learning the dance for that no matter if I have to drive to Florida next year to do it. When I came back everything was frozen, and I cannot log back in. I love you, dear sister. Thanks for listening to me.

I decided I could not miss 24 tonight, since I am taping all of Michael Jackson anyway.

I saw the entire episode this time. Let me comment more on the interesting concept they have going here. The tag line is "Every second counts." Tonight's episodes represented the events between 1am and 2am on such and such a date. The average television series has right around 25 episodes... so by the season finale, we will have seen about one day. The six episodes when Kiefer is sleeping could be a little boring.

I have to say that I do not mind the little boxes so much anymore, now that I am getting into the idea that it is "real time". Several events really surprised me, so I have to give it eight kiefers.



The end? Hello? Talk about a wrench being thrown in there! If you want to know what I am talking about, you can watch the encore on Friday night at 9pm/8 Central Friday night on FOX.

I'll talk about my Michael after I have seen the whole thing clearly tomorrow night.

Quote of the Moment: "It sounds like a force to be reckoned with, like you Danielle." Haha! Thanks, Adam!

Is $20 too much for a Knight Rider t-shirt?

I brought my roll of self-portraits in to be developed today. So hopefully I will have something to add to The Mirror Project soon. I also met a very nice gentleman from New Orleans there who gave me photo pointers... for instance, Kodak Royal film will give the best flesh tones.


Song of the Day:
Sacred Emotion - Donny Osmond
~~Like a river flowing into the ocean
I can feel you coming back to me~~
Heard this in OfficeMax today. Great tune... back in the day.

Today is no fun. Mom called me this morning to tell me that a friend our family died very unexpectedly of a heart attack while he was driving. His wife is such a dear lady. So sad.

As of late this afternoon, I have carried the following note with me for a year:

My midwestern friend -
To have a complete and happy life, you must have 1.) Jayhawks "Tomorrow the Green Grass" and 2.) Whiskeytown "Strangers' Almanac" You are a daughter of the Midwest and huge skies, and you deserve to hear the sounds of your country as you dash recklessly across America.
- Chris

(I own both of those albums now.)

I wish he had told me about Ours sooner. May Jeff Buckley live on through Jimmy Gnecco.

I don't know what to think. I am a bit in shock. "Stunned" would be a good word for me right now. I just read in the newspaper that John Mellencamp is fifty years old. Fifty! My father is fifty-three. I feel like I have been so disillusioned my whole life. When I was eight and rollar-skating to "Jack and Diane", he was already well into his thirties. He never was the cool, young rocker I always thought him to be.

Wait. Here is the article that is my evidence.

As if anybody really cares anymore, the NORC (National Opinion Research Center) spent six months on the Florida Ballots Project. Their conclusion? Bush still wins. Well, that is just great. (And to think that sometimes I feel like my job is meaningless!)

CNN.com reports: Gore, White House dismiss election report. Well, Gore did not really have a choice. For him to have responded any other way, it would have made him look like a complete chump. President Bush might have a few other, more important issues on his mind right now. All in all, I enjoyed the response. I was really hoping that someone would have called the NORC a bunch of raving idiots, but I think people are making that assumption on their own.

Less than 48 hours until the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Special. I cannot wait. Michael Jackson and N*Sync on the same night. Does it get any better? I am definitely going to tape it here at the office, since my reception at home is not very good... but then I have a really big issue... do I watch it at home with my poor reception and miss my new program "24", or do I just watch my Keifer on Tuesday night and watch the tape of the MJ special on Wednesday?

Props to daisey for the kettle corn recommendation. Mmm... now that is a tastey treat!

Anyway, I have work to do. What I am I doing here?

WhyProject.org - artwork as a response to the September 11th attacks sent in by hundreds of people around the world.

GGGGGgggggrrrrrraaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!

I hate Netscape. Would it kill anyone if there was just a universal web language that would make bold things bold everywhere... and tables look normal everywhere... and peace and unity would thrive on this earth?

I spent a good deal of today working on a group blog for my cousins and I to use. (See it here.) And only after I sent the link to my mother did I think to check it in Netscape. It looks like poo. Absolute crap.

I hate Netscape, and I pity the poor depraved souls who insist upon using it.

And that's all I have to say today.

Frustration today. I had my Friday Five all done along with a few other interesting tid-bits... only to have blogger freeze up when I tried to post the thing. TWICE. Grr.

So without further ado...

Friday Five
1. What toothpaste do you use? Mentadent whitening; cool mint, I think
2. What color/brand is your toothbrush? I think it's a mentadent one from mom. It's green with white grippies.
3. Do you use mouthwash? I think I have some in the house, but I never really use it. Only on those morning-after-garlic-bread days when virtually gagging yourself with the toothbrush won't get that taste off the tongue.
4. What gum/breath mints/breath spray do you use? I chew gum about three times a year. I hate it. I'll take a Wilhelmina peppermint anyday.
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? I want to be at one with my couch all weekend.

This is an interesting place. It's the random url game. You hit the button and a random word is chosen from their dictionary, a .com is added to the end, and it takes you to completely random sites. Kinda fun... if you are completely bored with no life.

Song of the Day:
Wild Ride - The Lost Dogs

Okay ladies, you can design your own engagement ring at marryme.com.

I just saw on the news that this chick in Nashville rented a billboard -- a literal billboard on I-65 with her picture on it and "Husband Wanted-- www.MarryTheresa.com". That could be really scary.

So call me sappy. I went to see The Lost Dogs last night. (Another perk of this job: free tickets to cool shows.) I was such a big Gene Eugene fan, but I never really got into The Lost Dogs. But man, those guys were amazing. Pure Americana. They did a song that they wrote in Gene's memory, and it made me a little misty-eyed. *sniff* I only wish I could have seen them when he was still alive.

I ran into Lance and Keith from Big Fat Jam there. That was cool. I was like... "umm, I have a picture of you guys hanging in my kitchen." It was funny. Had to be there. (In fact, it is the picture to the right.) So they are down here recording this week, and I am hoping to run by the studio tonight to check them out. Rock! They said the album should be out in February... get it!



Song of the Day:
Return to Me - Dean Martin

I was at the ATM this morning, and there was an option "Return my card"... so this song came to mind.

I'm normally not a big television watcher. I usually have the music going instead. But for some reason last night, I turned it on while I was waiting for a phone call. I caught the last half hour of the new FOX show 24. Now, I always thought that FOX had kinda crappy programming. I have never been a huge Ally fan. The only reason I watched McBeal and Boston Public was because my best friend in Indy was a diehard Monday-night-watcher of those. Anyway, I am off the point.

I just love Keifer Sutherland, so I think I am going to have to make a point to watch this one. Is he not just one of the most beautiful people in the world? He's such a tough guy. I cannot believe that I get to see him every week on my little t.v. set.

I missed the first part of the show, so I am still a little foggy about what was ultimately going on... but I liked it. I give it seven out of ten keifers.


It probably should only be six keifers, because there were a couple things I didn't like:
#1. I'm not sure I enjoy all the boxes when people are making phone calls. I do not know why; I just was not thrilled with that.
#2. The exploding airplane could have been a little tasteless considering the current mental state of the nation. Apparently they had to edit the pilot after the attacks, so I guess it showed more of the actual explosion before... but still. For some, I am sure it is way too soon.

But since it was a pleasant surprise, I give it the extra keifer.

You can watch the encore presentation of the pilot on Friday night at 9PM/8C. Fox should be paying me for my advertising here. :)

And in honor of the one year anniversary of the beginning of the whole election fiasco, I bring you HangingWithChad.com. Goodness... that lasted just about forever, didn't it? I voted for Bush, and I think is doing a fabulous job. Just look at his Gallup Poll Job Approval Ratings. He was up to an unprecidented 90% approval rating... beating out the earlier all-time high of 89% set by his father.

Quote of the Day:
"isn't it funny how 'doing' and 'boing' are spelled the same but sound so different? i want to start pronouncing 'doing' like 'boing'."

Hmm... Tennessee is not one of the Healthiest States in America. It ranks 44th... down from 41st last year. Iowa is on the rise -- 8th this year, compared to 12th last year. Maybe I should move back home.



Song of the Day:
Black Cat - Janet Jackson
We never really had pets in our house, but we had an old shop cat at my dad's office named Mr. Black. He died.

I was just given over $450-worth of books and music just because of my job. I love this!

In 50 years, I will gather my grandchildren on my lap and tell them about the time I saw gasoline for $.99 a gallon... back in 2001 driving through Indianapolis. Craziness. And to think that almost two months ago it was nearing $2 a gallon.

This is disturbing: 'Tiger Man' wants skin graft. I love baby tigers and all, but if I start talking about tattooing myself head to toe, please have me committed.

I used to find pictures of long lost twins for Christian musicians. I'll have to dig up some of my old gems... but in looking for a sound sample of my song o' the day, I came across this photo of Kula Shaker:



You have to admit that Crispian Mills (second from right) looks strangely like he could be a long lost brother of that dude from Plus One (Gabe Combs, below).



Song of the Day:
303 - Kula Shaker

~~I've got to, got to get to some place I've not been
Headless guru in the night show me what you mean!
In the land of summer sun we have just begun
Perfect picture card scene, changing all that has been.~~

Pakistan outlaw freedom of assemby - found this interesting for some reason.

Why can't I hear the word "sedition" without picturing Cora from The Last of the Mohicans?

All I have time for today is the Friday Five. Wasted a little too much time on the bus talking with Michael, so now I've got to bust a move here at work. (He does a dead-on impression of Phil Joel, by the way.) He let me borrow Waiting for Guffman though, so life is good.

Friday Five
1. Do you eat breakfast? What did you have today? Not really. I usually grab a soda before I leave the cottage and drink that throughout the morning. Although, I didn't eat dinner last night, so I stopped at McDonald's this morning and got a breakfast burrito.
2. What beverages do you usually have in a typical day? My daily can of Dr. Pepper. And if the bossman is feeling benevolent, I get a Vanilla Latte from Starbucks when he returns from a meeting out of the office.
3. White bread or wheat bread? When I actually have bread in the house, it is usually wheat. I'm not very sandwich-y though, so my bread is generally on the verge of becoming one big blue fuzzball.
4. What's your favorite kind (potato/tortilla/corn) and flavor of chip? I eat chips when they are around, but I don't really crave them or anything. If I had to pick a favourite, I'd go with Cheddar & Sour Cream potato chips. I happen to have tortilla chips in the house right now though.
5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? I'm off to my old stomping grounds. (Exactly what are stomping groups anyway?) I am so thrilled that a miracle happened, and my boss is closing the office an hour early, so that will get me on the road sooner than I thought. Off to Indiana. Hair dye and cut party tonight. Hanging out (hopefully) with the redletterpeople tomorrow. Back in time for The Edge Sunday night. Yay!

Song for the Day:
Try to Find Me - Gorky Park
One of my favourite guitar solos is in this song. I don't know how it got into my head today... but anyway.
~~Please try to find me and I'll try to find you
You know I need you just like you need me
Please don't give up 'cause we're almost together
We've almost made it, hold on and you'll see~~

(That picture is taken of Gorky Park in Russia.)

A man after my own heart.

Happy Hallowmus... "Halloween is the eve of Hallowmas, better know [sic] to modern Christians as All Saints' Day. Hallowmas celebrates God's harvesting into heaven the faithful of every age, culture and walk of life. It is a day of glorious rejoicing." read more

I really didn't have to take this one. They always tell me the same thing.
What's Your Style?
The Consummate Classicist
The Classics live on — and you bring them to life with your timeless style and discerning eye. Forget this week's latest trend or anything cutesy; your homedecorating purchases endure like a Jane Austen novel or a Frank Sinatra song — always appropriate, never dated or passé. And while others may be proud of a style that's more flash than cash, you'd rather save up for one or two really important pieces, knowing they'll still look good a decade or two from now.

Do I really have time for this stuff? No, I don't think so.

Song of the Day:
Gone - N*Sync
~~I drove myself insane, wishing I could touch your face
But the truth remains, you're
Gone~~

Anthrax in Indianapolis... hmmm, should I reconsider my trip there this weekend? I really need to look into getting health insurance!

The news is so depressing. I think my disposition would improve if I would just go back to being media-starved.

In related thought, I have been putting together a theory lately that a person's likelihood of becoming road-rageous is directly related to how annoying their turn signal is in their vehicle. People with muted slow blinks are pretty easy going. But you can just tell who has one of those loud blinka-blinka-blinka-blinka blinkers. I wonder if there has been any study on this. Perhaps a poll or two. I'm going to have to investigate.

For those bored beyond measure, instant message SmarterChild on AIM. It's not a person, but you can play little games and stuff.

I've been reading this site lately: afgha.com - Site of the Afghan Resistance

Well, it's time to give michael his wake-up call, and then I think I'm off to bed. What an uneventful Halloween. Oh well.



Song of the Day:
Goodnight My Someone - from The Music Man
~~Sweet dreams be yours, dear, if dreams there be
Sweet dreams to carry you close to me~~