Manifest Desti-me

I told my friend about Operation Move West and how P² has seven years to change his mind or I may just leave without him, and she accidentally called it my "Manifest Destimy", which I thought was on purpose as "Manifest Desti-ME!" It sounded appropriate. Operation Move West (aka Manifest Desti-me). I love it!

She and I were sitting in Ben and Jerry's having a nice long chat catching up. We had just watched Be Kind Rewind. I'm probably biased because it's Michel Gondry, so I can't really say if I recommend it or not, but I liked it. I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars (I almost gave it 4, but realized I was just doing it because it's Michel Gondry). The trailer is misleading. The story is much more complex though still campy. This movie seems like Gondry's way of showing us his world of moviemaking, not just the result but rather some of the effort put into some of his genius effects and shots. It may also give us a clue to Gondry's stance on movie piracy, though it could have been just a necessity to the plot. Also, I knew Gondry had a soft spot for gross humour after watching his poo film starring himself and David Cross, but a particular moment in Be Kind Rewind definitely erases any doubt. He's the best!

That also accomplishes a part of one of the things on my list. I am one step closer. I also had to change number six because I realized there was no way I could finish ASL VI by my next birthday because the semester would have just started, and that's assuming I can afford the classes next fall.

26 by 26

1. Pay off my amex card.
   
2. Go to Europe.
   
3. Donate hair to Locks of Love.
   
4. Learn to knit.
   
5. Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
   
6. Comlete an outline and first chapter for novel.
   
7. Be able to cue a song.
   
8. Watch 100 new movies. (1/100)
   
9. Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
   
10. Watch a signed performance.
    
11. Make a new website layout.
    
12. Take at least one day trip to NYC.
    
13. Do at least five new things in DC. (0/5)
    
14. Make a Halloween costume.
    
15. Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
    
16. Go to the dentist.
    
17. Read ten new books. (0/10)
    
18. Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
    
19. Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
    
20. Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
    
21. Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
    
22. Edit together a music video.
    
23. Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
    
24. Learn Tai Chi.
    
25. Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (0/100)
    
26. Have a fun year!

First cooking and now knitting. I am on a domestic roll!

OMG! I've already crossed something off my list!

26 by 26

1. Pay off my amex card.
   
2. Go to Europe.
   
3. Donate hair to Locks of Love.
   
4. Learn to knit.
   
5. Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
   
6. Complete ASL VI.
   
7. Be able to cue a song.
   
8. Watch 100 new movies. (0/100)
   
9. Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
   
10. Watch a signed performance.
    
11. Make a new website layout.
    
12. Take at least one day trip to NYC.
    
13. Do at least five new things in DC. (0/5)
    
14. Make a Halloween costume.
    
15. Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
    
16. Go to the dentist.
    
17. Read ten new books. (0/10)
    
18. Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
    
19. Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
    
20. Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
    
21. Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
    
22. Edit together a music video.
    
23. Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
    
24. Learn Tai Chi.
    
25. Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (0/100)
    
26. Have a fun year!

So after posting my last entry and then playing a few moves in Scrabulous, I picked up "The Knit-It Kit" (it says on the box that it's for kids, but when you don't know anything about something, how different are you from a kid), which I had purchased in the bargain section of Borders yesterday and learned to cast on stitches last night. Well, in just minutes, I learned to knit and purl. Granted all I can knit is a square (oh, but I could knit a GIANT SQUARE! Doesn't that sound more impressive?), but I still learned how to knit, and I did it on my own, so I am especially proud of myself. I need to go buy some bigger knitting needles (even my tiny hands can't take the tiny needles that came with the kit) and freakishly thick yarn (well, I don't have all day to knit with floss!).

Cille, the woman on the plane to San Fran who convinced me I should move to Santa Fe, told me how she crochets because it's much faster and easier than knitting. I'm sure it is, and I'm sure I'd like it more, but one reason I wanted to learn how to knit is because I love how it looks when a person knits, you know, seeing those two big ass chopsticks wiggling back and forth and somehow producing a sweater from a ball of yarn. I also like watching people write with long pencils. When I was first learning to write, I didn't understand why my pencil didn't wiggle as much, so I purposefully added some wiggle to my writing.

I just realized how Freudian that sounded, so I'm gonna add that I also like watching people chew their food. Maybe that's Freudian, too, but at least in a different way, yes?

26 by 26

I was going to write a whole entry about the last year and all the stuff that went down, but then I decided, meh. So yeah, I'm not going to do that.

Last year I made a list called "25 by 25". It was 25 things I wanted to accomplish by the time I turned 25. Um...I crossed off 7 things. What a bitchin' year.

I'm going to try again. Only this time, I'll try to be more realistic (though I thought I was being pretty reasonable with the 25 by 25 list).

26 by 26

1. Pay off my amex card.
   
2. Go to Europe.
   
3. Donate hair to Locks of Love.
   
4. Learn to knit.
   
5. Open an account on etsy and sell shit.
   
6. Complete ASL VI.
   
7. Be able to cue a song.
   
8. Watch 100 new movies. (0/100)
   
9. Get tattoo for 25th birthday.
   
10. Watch a signed performance.
    
11. Make a new website layout.
    
12. Take at least one day trip to NYC.
    
13. Do at least five new things in DC. (0/5)
    
14. Make a Halloween costume.
    
15. Cook at least one dish from the vegan cookbook.
    
16. Go to the dentist.
    
17. Read ten new books. (0/10)
    
18. Delete unnecessary e-mail accounts and website.
    
19. Make a donation to Animal Welfare Institute.
    
20. Go to at least three ASL meetups. (0/3)
    
21. Open up a savings account or enroll in 401K.
    
22. Edit together a music video.
    
23. Get rid of pile of unneeded/unwanted stuff.
    
24. Learn Tai Chi.
    
25. Exercise a minimum of 20 minutes at least 100 days. (0/100)
    
26. Have a fun year!

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today at 11:52 AM I will officially have reached my 25 year mark. Hooray! It's my golden year (25 born on 25). I'm excited. I don't really have anything planned for today except a whole lotta nothing. That's what I want to do on my birthday. Just relax on purpose (as opposed to getting some time off and ending up not doing anything then feeling guilty about it).

Partay!

I had my birthday party last Saturday night. I made all the food. I didn't take very good pictures (I have no future in food photography). Everyone said it was delicious, and since they kept eating it, I'm assuming they weren't lying.


Usually we have water and mayo in our fridge.
This is the most full it's ever been.
We both said we had to take a picture.


P² said this was the best salsa he ever had.
Liar.
But it was still very yummy.


Corn salsa!


Guacamole!
This took a lot of elbow grease because the avocados weren't entirely mushy.
I had to mush them myself.


Beans!
This and the guacamole were gone by the end of the night.


I even popped the taco shells in the oven.
I went all out.

Oscars!

It had its moments, and I like that they made fun of the montages.

They totally left out Brad Renfro from the memorium. WTF.

I love love love that Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay.

Bourne Ultimatum? Um...hello? Transformers!! Idiots.

"And the baby goes to..." Oh, Jon Stewart. Love him!

The penguins are doing it, so why can't we?

You can read the full article here, but here's the gist of it: The book is called And Tango Makes Three. A parent complained that it was pushing a gay agenda and asked that it be banned. A committee said, "Whatever, bitch, don't get your panties in a twist." The parent appealed. The next committee said, "You better check yourself you fear mongering parent who can't take responsibility for your own child and must get authorities involved to also tell other parents what to do." Then the Superintendent said, "I'm the boss here, and I hate gays, too, so buh-bye book!" Other parents in Loudoun County were all, "Censorship bad!!!" But there is no system in place to allow them to ask that the book be put back on the shelves.

Yeah, you like my summarizing skills?

I totally want to read this book now and had never heard of these penguins. Thank you, crazy homophobic parent, for getting the word out on this book. I appreciate it.

The book is based on a true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at NYC's Central Park Zoo. They become penguin partners, and when all the other penguins start making babies, they want to as well, so they get an egg-shaped rock and try to hatch it. One of the zoo staff sees this and gives them an actual fertilized egg to hatch and take care of. The two dads and baby girl are still at the zoo being their adorable selves. I think it's very heartwarming, and anyone who sees something wrong with that beautiful story has something wrong with themselves.

I think if a child read that story, and then you told them, "Penguins choose one penguin and spend the rest of their lives together. Could you imagine if the zoo people didn't approve of two male penguins being mates and they separated them? The penguins would probably become very sad and miss their friend." The child would probably ask why the zoo people would do such a thing. What would you say?

I think now is a good time to tell my reason why I feel so strongly about GLBT rights. It's actually quite simple. When I was a very little baconyum and I first learned that some couples are two men or two women, I didn't really think much of it. I wasn't surprised. It made total sense to me. Why wouldn't there be couples of two men or two women? What's your point??? Then when I learned that there are people who hate them for it and even kill them for it, that's the part I didn't understand. That's the part that enfuriated me and saddened me and made me question good vs. evil.

Children don't need to be taught love, kindness, and acceptance. They are born with it. But somehow children are taught to hate and become narrowminded and judgmental. One of my professors in college was chatting with us one day and was talking about his son. Across the street lived a gay couple. His son asked him, "Why aren't they married?" And my professor said to us, "Wow. Now that's being openminded." And I thought, 'Yes. It's called being a child.' Trust me. People aren't born hating people.

Definitely see this movie, Maybe you'll like it as much as I do

I just saw the movie Definitely, Maybe today. It is the first movie I saw this year that actually came out this year, and it was excellent! I gave it five (out of five) stars (and I rarely give five...last year I gave about four movies five stars).

I'll admit, I probably would have only given it four stars if it hadn't been for lots and lots of Isla Fisher. Um...I love her! She reminds me of classic movie stars and pin ups (like Vargas girls), short and curvy and gorgeous. Plus, I love redheads (Kate Winslet, Lindsay Lohan, Conan O'Brien, Amy Adams, just to name a few that I adore).

This is the current background on my phone and has been for weeks:




And this is my current desktop wallpaper (which I made, and you can use of course) and has been for months (I really should change it up more often, but whatever):




Um...is this entry about the movie or about Isla Fisher?? Both! But back to the movie...it's really sweet and well thought out. It was quite predictable after a certain point, but I still found it satisfying. There was one scene I did cringe at because it was utter movie cheesey goodness at its highest. Also, I love Rachel Weisz (fellow Pisces! Hooray!), and Abigail Breslin is just the cutest (and a very talented actress). Ryan Reynolds and everyone else also did a good job. Definitely worth seeing. Maybe I'll go again. Definitely gonna buy the DVD. Maybe I'm done being obnoxious now.

P.S. I really think they got the title of the movie from this song:



If you can't see it, it's from myspace (because I couldn't find a youtube version I liked). The song is called "Maybe" by Emma Bunton (aka Baby Spice). I love the song (and I really like the music video).

JEW Concert!

Jimmy Eat World just announced their tour dates with Paramore, and they will be in Washington, DC, on April 26th at the Bender Arena. Sweeeeeeeet!!! I'm so excited!

But like all the JEW concerts I have been to, now comes the daunting task of figuring out who will go with me. Not because people are lining up and begging, no, quite the opposite. I don't know what's wrong with people. It's JIMMY EAT WORLD!!!

I've been to three of their concerts now (well, four if you include HFSmas), and for two of them I basically sped up friendships with complete strangers I met off the internet. Yeah, I went on a trip to California with one, and yeah, I'm living with and probably will spend the rest of my life with the other, but for once it would be nice not to have to go fishing out of desperation for someone to go with me. I'd go alone if it weren't for the fact I feel 100% less safe walking around DC than I do NYC. DC is sketchy, man. Especially where any music venue is concerned.

The concert is on a Saturday. A Saturday! Someone best be going with me. NO EXCUSES! GRRR!!!!

Perhaps people just don't like me.

EDIT: I want to add a bit of clarity (yeah, I went there) to what I just wrote. I love making new friends, and even though P² made me late for JEW and got there for the last song, it was a memorable first date (though I will keep reminding him, even on his death bed, that he made me miss JEW). It's just I have to leap through hoops and all to find a person to go with me. You would not believe how many people agreed to go to that JEW/Green Day concert with me and then backed out leading one of my friends to go, "Hey, why don't you ask that guy you've been talking to on the internet to go with you?" Oh, yeah, that's safe. Thanks, man. Why don't we also pick up some hitchhikers off the interstate?

Ah, well. Maybe I'll make another friend off the internet. Jimmy Eat World: uniting internet friends in the real world. Maybe if it happens enough times, I can write a book about it. Or a movie. Nah, a book. Yeah.