More Beauty

Cate Blanchett, shown here as Elizabeth I



And here as Bob Dylan. What a woman.

Let them eat education

• So I'm definitely going to do it: I start work on 19 February, on a second master's degree. Master of Information Systems. SAIC didn't approve the full amount of tuition reimbursement that I had requested, but they approved enough that I will be able to get through it in 3 years or so, rather than the 1.5 years that I had hoped. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Plus it may be a blessing in disguise, as it will require less concentrated effort. Psychology is my favorite thing to learn about in school, but employment-wise it is full of subjectivity and then is subject to the potentially mean subjectivity of others who think they know better than you. I hate this with a passion. But work in a technical field is mostly black and white. It works or it doesn't. Follow these steps, and you get this result. Ah, the very thought relaxes me... And I certainly don't dislike learning about all things computer. This University of Phoenix program exactly suits my learning style: 10 classes and you're done (no thesis), online (no travel, no time-wasting interaction with other people, I learn best by reading), and it's free. Yay for free education! Of course I'd be remiss (ugh I hate that word) if I didn't mention the pecuniary and pride-based benefits of this course of action.
• So for the annual primary (church children's program) teachers' meeting I was asked to speak about discipline and keeping order in primary. This is something I was confident addressing as I have been in primary for 16 (!!!) years in some capacity or other, and I have the two degrees in psychology. I felt fine giving the presentation, but then afterward people were giving me the most wonderful compliments, and I both loved it and hated it. It shook me up some, and I had to get out of there and take my brownies and cookies with me. Something to dwell on I guess. Or not. *skips off*

More Beautiful People

• Stephen Fry:

• Jonas Armstrong:
  
  
• Richard Armitage (also copyright BBC):
  
  


• Lucy Griffiths:
  
  

Shishkabob

In loving memory of Shishkabob, ?-24 January 2008. He was the best and most loved bird ever.

Goose Creek Roadshow in a Day 2008

Aubrey is the pink unicorn ("Chaaaarlie!") and Rebekah is CDs of the Beastie Boys, Marilyn Manson, Donnie and Marie, and Josh Grobin.

I like giants, especially girl giants

This is the song of the day: "I Like Giants" by Kimya Dawson. Love the lyric. The video is just someone's vacation they posted on YouTube along with the song.

Unopened Plain White Bread

• Rebekah got her braces off. Here are the newly perfect teeth.
• Please note that someone in South Africa viewed my blog.
• In the wee (so to speak) hours of Friday morning I got up to pee. During the procedure it hit me like a tidal wave that I had applied to SAIC (my employer) to pay for me to go back to school to work on a second master's degree. It is called Master of Information Systems Management with the University of Phoenix (online), which would begin in late January. The current month. Why did I do this? What in the world was I thinking? If I didn't know better I would have uttered a word toward the benign end of the expletive spectrum. I now have to wait to see if the company approves it since I asked for nearly three times the amount usually available for this kind of thing. I wrote a 13 page appeal to the Powers that Be. Lock me up. Stick a fork in me. What to do?
• I have always had a desire to violently smash a full loaf of white bread. I could never afford it. I think this is my next project. Much more appropriate for my skill level than going back to school.
• Since someone recently told me my eyebrows are far too bushy for my face, I made my first foray into eyebrow shaping. I plucked. I don't see much of a difference. And I ain't going to thin-line it. To heck with it.
• Remember that pop-Mormon so-called "music" group called Afterglow? Good grief the very thought of it makes my insides vibrate with laughter and then it spills out... I used to love listening to that stuff. Ah, youth.
• I, along with tens, if not thousands, of others, have made the new year's resolution to not make a new year's resolution. I need to just let myself off the hook for heaven's sake. I am the sort who gets herself into stupid scrapes like going back to school. See?
• Jerry challenged me to write a poem about rising above the fa-fa. I will compose it right this second.

I vaulted over the fa-fa

Way up into the sky

I saw it was dim

And full of milk skim

And I went back to eating my pie

Robin Hood

Here is my new obsession. BBC has done it again. I just spent 13.5 hours watching the whole of Robin Hood season 2 in one sitting. Tricky, because the only place to find it in the States is online in small hidden segments. Delightful in every way. Oh, but I do have just one complaint. I won't spoil it for anyone, but if you watch this show (do!), you'll probably know what my complaint is, if you know me at all. We can discuss.

Shaun the Sheep

I saw this the other day on TV for the first time. Hadn't ever even heard of Shaun the Sheep. I looked it up and discovered that it's made in the UK, like just about every blooming other good thing in the world.

Pummelo

Rebekah "caressing a pummelo" (her words)