Tagged

Looks like I have been tagged.

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

JOYS -

1. peaceful family togetherness at home or at the river/creek
2. silly Sunbeams
3. good stories

FEARS -

1. My children becoming victims
2. Being kidnapped and kept in a 9' x 9' dungeon for years in order to be raped and tortured daily
3. Being slowly destroyed by everyday human monsters who exploit every imperfection/weakness

GOALS -

1. retire
2. redecorate my house in rich, unusual, classic, Georgian to Victorian style
3. retire. and by that I mean become magically independently wealthy today so as to quit work tomorrow

OBSESSIONS -

1. The Bones season finale
2. X-files
3. Sitting on my couch and skipping work

SURPRISING FACTS -

1. I used to be a woman
2. I have to pee
3. I loved Indiana Jones. What's not to like, unless you are a stick-butt? What a romp.
   
   

That's it. Since most of the blogs I read are family oriented and probably wouldn't want to be tagged, and no tagbacks are allowed, I now tag whoever the heck reads this and chooses to consider themselves tagged.

Happy Birthday Me

Happy birthday me. I'm 38. Today I am remembering Grander.

societitis

• More Bones. I wrote a letter to Matt Roush (columnist dude on tvguide.com) . This is what I said.

  Hi Matt. In your article you said, "I have yet to read a defense of the way this
  story played out." I started a thread on Fox's message board which provides a
  defense: the episode was Booth's delirious hallucination after he got shot. The
  thread has 125 [but it has 150 now] hits so far. You should check it out; it
  lays out some very good points that prove it was a hallucination. It is here: >"
  target=_blank>http://forums.fox.com/foxbones/messages/?start=Start+Reading+%3E%3EThe
  category is "Boneyard Times (Gen. Topics)". The thread is called "It was just
  Booth's delirium people." Remember, you heard it from me first. You can even use
  my name (quintopulent). I know I'm right!

  We'll see if he makes any response about this to me, on his column, or on the message board. I love how communications work these days. A little person like me can lead up a whole campaign proclaiming the hallucination-ness of a TV episode.
• It is not cool to say you love American Idol anymore. I love American Idol. I thoroughly enjoyed the music of both Davids, and watching their reactions to everything going on around them was a kick in the pants. Fascinating how extreme instant fame affects a person. I couldn't decide who to vote for in the finale. I thought I would vote for both of them, but nah. I just didn't vote.
• I just finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl. Good stuff. That Anne Boleyn was one naughty girl, but not nearly as naughty as King Henry VIII. I am glad the writing was only shockingly blunt and not really naughty, cuz I am going to read more Philippa Gregory books. Now I need to track down the movie. If I had it in my hands I would be watching it right this minute. I'm sure it is gorgeous.
• My house smells like banana bread and yours doesn't. Every time I say "banana" these days I unfortunately think of Charlie finding out that he is the "bow-nana king". I bet everyone out there with a child ages 8-18 knows what I am talking about. The devil made me post the below video. For heaven's sake, don't watch it.

• Quotation of the day: "You're one of life's winners." Jerry H. to me
• Daily double: At home I said that I had watched the latest Doctor Who episode, which was about Agatha Christie. Aubrey freaked out and said that that same day a girl at school kept getting in trouble for reading her Agatha Christie book when she should have been doing other else. She and Aubrey had talked about how much they both liked Agatha Christie.
• On cellulite. Here is a quotation from Health.com:

  For years, you’ve heard that the only way to improve cellulite is with diet and
  exercise. That’s pretty frustrating advice, considering that about 90 percent of
  women—including those who exercise like Olympians—are walking around with
  unwanted dimples.

  All this shocking scandal whenever a celebrity is found to be dimpled confounds me. When is society going to get its overly large head out of the sand when it comes to women's bodies? In the present day it is disgusting to have cellulite, and yet 90% of us have it. What the ? No woman should have to go around feeling shame for things like this. Hello my name is Kimberly, and I have cellulite. Sue me. Throw me under a train.

*Bones finale spoilers*

I was right about the online Bones conversation. Lots of angst and complaints. But nobody had even posited that the episode might have been Booth's delirious hallucination. So I started a thread about it on the Fox message boards. Lots of people responded. It's here if you care. It is in category "Boneyard Times (Gen. Topics)". The post is called "It was just Booth's delirium people!!!" If it turns out that I am wrong and the happenings in this episode were real, then I will be disenfranchised with the whole world. Jerry says he will have to go visit me in one of my supervised visits. I guess I'll be in the prison for the criminally insane with Zack.

*House and Bones finale spoilers*

Okay so last night's House and Bones finales, back to back, had me feeling like I was being slowly steamrollered. It was so bizarre the whole time. It was definitely like an LSD trip. (I know this from all the LSD tripping I did in my past life as an Italian monk.) I actually was a bit (but legally!) drugged. Even the commercials were weird. I seriously thought I was dreaming, and I expected to wake up at any minute. I pinched myself and asked Rebekah to pinch me hard (she only pinched me in a soft manner). I wondered if it was all an elaborate scheme on Fox's part and they would say, "Surprise! Just kidding!" at the end of the two hours. Well I've had the night to recover somewhat, so I will attempt a description.

• Bones. I knew from the very beginning that what was happening wasn't real. In every scene there was some audacious hint. {Examples: ZACH was the cannibalistic murderer's apprentice?! Brennan marching straight through Booth's house into the bathroom where Booth was taking a bath complete with beer hat, rubber duck, cigar, and "graphic novel"?! Then he stands up out of his bath to argue with her?!} But they did it in such a smart manner that Jerry and the girls all bought it, at least until they all fell asleep like toppled dominoes halfway through. That fact, plus the fact that they did not resolve it/reveal it at the end were disconcerting to me. But I will be entertained and irritated with all the people on message boards who bought it. There will be a big outrage online. I am convinced that it was an inside view of Booth's delirious wanderings while trying not to die from the gunshot wound.
• House. Wow. I really haven't recovered from this still, if I am being truthful. Gut wrenching. I cried. It was so great to see Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson) work his absolute magic. This show is the drama-est of the dramas. At the end I just wanted Wilson to forgive House and go give him a hug. But then we wouldn't have a cliffhanger. Best scenes: House's and Amber's bare feet together on the bus. Amber telling House blase-ly to suck it up and to not die. Wilson crying (every single one). Cuddy supporting Wilson when he broke down. Cuddy (barefoot!) keeping watch over House, curled up in the chair next to House's hospital bed. House crying and saying, "I'm sorry."

shiny

Rebekah's trip to Hershey Park for a chorus competition.







R is third from left on top. Her Chamber Choir and her Mixed Choir both won first place. They got all Superior (the highest) ratings. They also won the best overall for middle school choruses.
This is Artichoke Asparagus Alfredo II. Rebekah won him playing the squirt-gun-to-the-target game.

• Quotation of the day: "No, kitty, it's not your time to shine!" --Rebekah H. as she removed the cat from my face; she wanted to tell me about her chorus's victories in Hershey Park on Saturday.



• Daily double: Rebekah was doing a snapping dance that reminded me of that one scene in West Side Story. So I started singing the music from that scene. Aubrey, hearing us, told us that she had watched West Side Story in English that day.



• Last week's Bones and House back-to-back episodes were among TV's most enjoyable and well-made ever. And I've seen some TV. I wouldn't be surprised if House won all sorts of Emmys for that episode (called "House's Head"). And tonight is the season finale for both shows. Bittersweet, 'cuz I will be sad when they are over.



• Quotation of the week: "...I hate Beer brand beer." --Dr. House



• Word of the day: clobber

first X-Files: I Want to Believe trailer

X-Files: I Want to Believe first official movie trailer

Frisk

A montage of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson pictures:

• Quotation of the day: "Mom, you make my endorphins flow." --Rebekah H.

Aubrey jumping a hurdle at a track meet. She is the one up high.

Aubrey at her first piano recital. She did well. But I wish we owned a piano!

Every week I rent a baby for an hour. Here we are together in church.

• Second quotation of the day: "I love spoons." --a sighing, starry-eyed Aubrey H., when told there was a spoon in her bag.


• Melora Hardin is the actress who plays Jan Levinson, Michael's sometime girlfriend on The Office. Jerry Hardin is the actor who played Deep Throat on the X-files. She is his daughter.


• Third quotation of the day: "It's on the chubby side." --Rebekah H., when asked whether a Bones spoiler she had read was a big one or a small one.


• Daily double: At work I ordered several licenses and dongles for a piece of software called arcGIS, used for viewing images of the earth taken from the sky. When I got home the same day, Aubrey told us about her new favorite tool at school, which she is considering using for her research project: arcGIS.


• I am so digging Doctor Who. As usual. In the most recent episode the Doctor was especially manic and crazed. I know Rose is coming back some time this season, but I have avoided spoilers enough to not know which episode. So I hold my breath through each new episode, hoping she will show up. I love Rose. So does the Doctor.


• Second daily double: I was recently reading about an archery contest in a book set in Robin Hood times in England. As I was reading the scene, Aubrey started singing the music from the archery contest scene from the animated Robin Hood. When I asked her why she had suddenly started singing that, she couldn't say.

Ciao again

Pictures of the day: promo pictures from the set of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Digging Scully's 'do, huh? But Gillian is definitely not in character here; Scully would never smile like that.

Daily double: See my post yesterday called "Ciao"? Well Rebekah read it in the morning. Later that day she saw a license plate that said "Ciao".

ciao

• Doodle of the Day: Here is Gillian Anderson's doodle that will be auctioned (off?) 8-18 May on eBay to benefit neurofibromatosis research. She is an advocate for this charity (she has a relative -brother?- who has it) as well as for many other charities. What a great idea: Doodle Day. Celebrities make doodles, then they are auctioned (off?) for hundreds of dollars. Perfect way to make money. And I would really love to own this doodle by Gilllian. I find it compelling. I would frame it and feel giddy with delight every time I walked past it.
  
  
  
  
  

• Daily Double (this time Triple): At our house we are constantly amazed at how an obscure thing will come up two or more times within one day. We are trying to write them down now. Here is one from the other day: a girl sitting behind Rebekah in school was saying, "Good morning starshine! The Earth says hello!" Rebekah asked her where that was from. (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). The next morning a different friend of Rebekah's, who had slept over, said, "Good morning starshine! The Earth says hello!" Rebekah was so amazed by this that she told Aubrey about it later in the day. Aubrey in turn freaked out because, just a few minutes before that, someone had said "Good morning starshine! The Earth says hello!" in an instant message to her, and she couldn't remember what it was from and so had looked it up. Seriously beyond coincidence, right? These things happen in our house almost daily. I think it is a strong family Collective Unconscious.
• Video of the day: from Angel. Spike remembering his time in Italy in the 1950s. This 8-second clip is the entire scene. Cracks me up.