Let's Beer!

The last film I will see for the whole year of 2004 is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I didn't think it was great the way Wes Anderson's other movies have been, but don't judge me for that. I still loved it, sort of on principle because I really do think Wes Anderson is a great director/writer, and because all the important themes he always explores were present and further explored, and also because of the fact that he used two of my favorite songs of ever on the soundtrack which made me feel special and smart that he and I have similar feelings about those particular pieces of music. I also saw The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a couple of nights ago, and, well... I'm still thinking about how I feel about that one. It was good, but I've got some reservations. Well, I guess the only thing that really bugs me is the comment about the "dining dead," but it really does bug me. That whole thing about people worrying about someday becoming "one of those couples who goes out to eat and doesn't talk" is getting as bad (and this is bad) as "don't you die on me" and "we've got company." That's going on my list, people. It's a cliche, and also we shouldn't be assuming what those people are thinking! She might be wanting to keep her feelings private because they are so inexpressibly beautiful, and his look of disgust could be with himself for not staying in for dinner and making her some of her favorite mostacholi. We just don't know, so we shouldn't assume.

Let's all resolve not to assume things like that in 2005.

Mao!

Girls go to mars to get candy bars! Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider!

I am at Summit House. I couldn't resist the lure of the homebrew I am partaking of right now. And of the homemade bagels and barbecue tempeh and baked tofu with homemade pesto sauce sandwiches. And of the puppies and kitties. And of the kittyfwens! I drank coffee today at a place called the Low Brow Cafe (a cup of delicious fair trade coffee is only .50! Mao!), and I think every city should have one.

Sherene, I don't know why you're not blogging. You are SUCH a loudie, your thoughts need to be published in the Cyberspace. You know I love you-
Love, K

Let's eat breakfast firmly. If breakfast is said, it is bread. I am bread. Well eat.

I'm home. For the past several days I am here in the place that I guess is home because my family is here, but I didn't grow up here. It's quite foreign, except for the fact that all the stores are, of course, the exact same ones that I saw in Bloomingdale. Except it's MADDENING of course because everything is just a little bit different!!! The doors to Chili's are on the SIDE of the building as opposed to the front of the building, which can throw customers off and have them banging on windows for hours and weeping with frustration. Also the women's clothing section of the Target is to the left as you enter the building as opposed to the right, which makes you wonder what the hell these people are trying to prove. It's these little differences that make me completely uncomfortable in new environments. Whatever happened to consistency? Homogeny? Am I even in America anymore or is this some kind of Swedo-Commie POLICE STATE? Should I just go over to the Panera Bakery and light up a big SPLEEF? Am I in AMSTERDAMNED? COME ON, PEOPLE!

So I had a nice Christmas. I am in immediate danger of ruining it completely by staying/not staying. See, if I don't stay, my mom will be mad, but if I stay, then mom and I will fight about things. Like my attitude, for example. And the fact that I don't make beds properly. And the fact that I don't want to use the bathroom in the basement because it's cold (it IS cold). And that my car is dirty (it IS dirty). And that I don't want any pancakes (well, I DON'T!)... I should really go.

Should I go home or back to Iowa City, though? If I go to Iowa City, there will be some parties and fun people. But I will be cold in the house with the broken heat valve. And how long can I mooch sleep-space off of Chopper? And also there is some drama (best not spoken of), and it is always good to avoid drama. If I go back to Bloomington, I will be able to catch up on my reading and movie-watching because I will be UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY ALONE THE WHOLE TIME. It will just be me and the people that have no clue who I am in spite of the fact that I am a regular at the Coffee Hound.

I was going to write a big, long post about how wonderful this year has been. It truly has been. I mean, everything awful that happened turned into something absolutely great... and there was great stuff that was totally unrelated to the awful things, which means that great beats awful. Unless I'm doing the math wrong. So I'm all warm and glowy inside and then I turn on the TV at my mom's house for another eleven-plus-hour-marathon-television binge and I see the Lives of America's Richest Teen Pop Stars and now I ain't grateful for shit! Where's my fifteen-thousand dollar diamond encrusted T-Shirt that spells out B-L-I-N-G?

I HATE MY LIFE!

open letter to the zit on the end of my nose

You're done. You're just fucking done. It's been a week now that I have been dealing with your shit and I am sick of you. I am sick of how red you are and I am sick of the fact that you make me resemble W.C. Fields, and I am sick of being 31 and having a zit on the end of my nose. You're so over. You're so last week. You bastard, I hate you! Go away, you huge ugly thing! GO!

There's No Stopping Us, Pundmann!

O.K., too much to say! Must resort to bulletpoints!

*Burgess and Derek and I got to St. Louis in RECORD time
*We immediately went to Calvary Cemetery and saw Tennessee Williams' grave
*we also saw Dred Scott's grave
*then we went to the gatewy arch, but we didn't go up in it because it would have taken a long time and we had priorities
*then we went to Vitiano's on the Hill and bought tons of Italian food for one of Burgess's friends who, apparently, is a foodie. I bought a brand of instant espresso that my grandpa used to sell at his store (Medaglia D'Oro, yum).
*then we called Colibre (the NICEST co-op) and got directions to the loop, where we ate at Fitz's (yum, root beer!)
*then we went to a record store and got a copy of the soundtrack to Breakin' (the FIRST one, OLD school, FUCK that boogaloo bullshit) and proceeded to listen to it and also sing most of it for the rest of the trip.
*then we walked about for a time and Burgess bought a Kangol hat that is very becoming
*then we went to Colibre, which is BEAUTIFUL, and full of similarly beautiful people, who let us stay there and invited us to a party later on
*I then proceeded to fall into a deep, coma-like sleep on the comfiest futon of all time and slept through the party. Oops.
*then we woke up in the morning and went to South City Diner, and I had vegetarian eggs benedict (YUM)
*then we went to Mokabees, which is a really cool coffeehouse, and sat around and wrote and talked
*and then we went to the Gateway Arch and finally went up inside!
*we found a potential for nudity (that we did not explore) because if you get your own elevator going up and can get your clothes off and on within the space of four minutes, no one's the wiser.
*then we drank in the views and I have some really cool pictures on my phone that I can send to you if you have a phone that shows pictures.
*then we went in the museum for a while and got spoken to sternly by the guard for touching the statue of Thomas Jefferson (I have a photo of him, too).
*then we drove home and it was all fun the WHOLE time.

We also came up with several million-dollar ideas (even besides getting naked in the Gateway Arch), including clear ice cream, making parking ramps out of foam, and making it so that cars can drive up walls. We also saw some of the prettiest buildings ever; St. Louis is unexpectedly one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. Really well planned, HUGE parks, really nice houses, really nice city-areas with tons of cool stuff to do, lots of hippie-dippy liberal radical wackos (I have come to realize that these are my people), and the people are SO NICE! People just offered to help us out. We didn't even ASK, we just looked confused and so people offered help. So St. Louis is wonderful, you should go there.

Also, something even nicer is that Burgess shared with us a hadith, which is that (to paraphrase the Prophet Muhammad) you don't really know someone until you've traveled with them. So it was nice that we all had such a good time and everyone was just as happy when they got back as they were when we left.

Also, this is not news but it's on my mind because they're on my forehead and I can see them... I cut my hair. I have bangs now. It's still long, but in the middle where my face is? Bangs. Or fringe, as they say across the pond.

Also, this has been the best three days, I have run into SO many people here and caught up with so many old friends, and God made it so that Miranda and Joseph would be in town and we could go gorge ourselves on Thai food together.

I would also like to add that ISU has come out of the tailspin that it was in for a time. I'm thinking that next semester will be FAR better than this one. I'm actually looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone which I really never dreamed I'd be able to say a month ago. So things are good!

once this door opens, happinesswaits for us. I wush to meet happiness as soon as possible by opening the door with key. Can you follow this change?

I'm going on a road trip to St. Looey! Me and Derek and Burgess are going to go to the Showboat McDonalds! I can't wait!

I will also be spending a good deal of time in Iowa City soon, which is HAPPY FOR ME! Additionally, if all happens as my friend would like it to, I will be heading home to Bloomingtown with my very own special no-one-else-like-her-in-the-whole-world BABY KITTY! My friend Rychops is moving to Hawaii to be with her True Love and I am being entrusted with her bebecat while she is away. Kudra is the best cat in the WORLD, and I know for certain that I am not allergic to her.

I just don't know what to say, I'm so delighted.

Semester is over, it's the end of the year... there will undoubtedly be some long, yammer-ey, reflective post coming soon. You may want to avoid this blog for a month or so.

you! invaders! get you the hot bullets of shotgun to die!

My mind is still trying to get itself around the fact that I am going to be on vacation for the next five weeks. I don't know what to do with that. I am going to read Anna Karenina because I never have, but beyond that I have no idea what to do with myself.

I think I'm going to be bored. As bored as you are reading this blog entry, that's how bored I'm gonna be.

I still have some projects to finish for school, but it feels like I don't. Which is very bad. I have lost all momentum in that area of my life. I kind of brought it on myself, though. Missy With Her Big Ideas decided to do this visual anthropology thing to deconstruct this play about the myth of the American Indian noble savage, and she's been watching John Wayne movies for two weeks. So she's dumb now.

I probably just need some coffee.

I'm going to go and have some coffee.

Write me e-mails! I miss everyone! I can't wait to go home!

japanese style kitten: we are like to go to hot spring!

I can't wait to go home, I can't wait to go home! I'm going to do all my Christmas shopping in Iowa City. At Prairie Lights! I'm so excited. And I'm going to try to sneak into my old job and make a bunch of journals out of recycled paper (I like to spiral bind a bunch of recycled paper with cardboard covers. I made three right before I left and I'm out now and it's KILLING ME.). And I'm going to visit and visit and visit! Oh, I can't wait.

It's Christmas and it kinda doesn't feel like Christmas. I expected it to be a little more pronounced than it has been in my life since there's this big vacation there now and all, but it feels pretty much the same as it did last year. I guess I'm just not a kid anymore. I do like Christmas, though. I also like Hanukkah. It's so funny, I move back to the boonies and I get the same "Are you Jewish?" inquiries I did when I was at Oshkosh. I would think the answer to that would be somewhat obvious considering my first name. I ask you, how many Christians name their kids Jewy?

That's right, not very many.

Denger avalanche! In the past, many people were dead.

My mood is continuing to be good... I am really happy for some reason! Well, mainly because I made a breakthrough in my acting and also because I have hand in an area of my life in which I previously felt inadequate for not having hand. Oh, but I've got it now, people. HA!

You know, that's the thing about acting. I have had immense personal breakthroughs because of doing this work. Even when my part is small (almost everyone that has complimented me on my work in The Seagull has said 'You're really good! It's a shame your part is so insignificant!') I still end up having epiphanies and revelations and cosmic reassurances that I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Which is good, because I often turn into a doubting cat.

So I want to get in on the Bad Guy Gift Exchange. How, please?

we gangster!

FIRSTS.

First best friend: Christina Perdikis, whose mom made the best Greek snowflake cookies ever!
First car: 1980 grey Pontiac Grand Le Mans, complete with 8-track cassette player.
First real kiss: Oh, God. It was a guy named Matt, and it was too spitty.
First screen name: Cocobrown, which was an inside joke from Osh-Vegas.
First self purchased CD: I finally started buying CDs after they had been around for ten years or so, and I bought a bunch through a music club thing... I thik I remember Led Zepplin being in there... Good Lord.
First pets: I had two fish who... well it's a long story. It was a bad experience.
First piercing/tattoo: I had my ears pierced but I let them close up.
First musician you remember hearing in your house: Just to show you my commitment to brutal honesty knows no boundaries: it was Feel So Good by Chuck Mangione.

LASTS.
Last cigarette: I smoked a half a pack of Gauloises (sp?) when I was quite the drunk on the ped mall in 1998. That was a first and a last, actually.
Last car ride: Just today, with my friend Courtney! We went shopping together, like girls will do.
Last kiss: heehee... well, he's an artist and a very nice man and we're just friends now.
Last cry: Two days ago, but it was a good one. It was a happy cry. I liked it.
Last movie seen: Finding Neverland. Schmaltzy.
Last beverage drank: Iced tea.
Last food consumed: a bunch of cashew nuts.
Last crush: I can't say it!
Last phone call: To Courtney, about three hours ago!
Last time showered: This morning. Good shower.
Last shoes worn: Very disgusting Birkenstocks. I should really get over the Birks, but I don't think I will.
Last cd played: Best of the English Beat.
Last item bought: I just spent WAY too much on clothes. But I did kinda need some new stuff.
Last annoyance: well, I was at the mall.
Last shirt worn: I have on three right now! A chinese looking jacket over a favorite color green sweater over a tan t-shirt with sequins on it.
Last website visited: blogger. duh.
Last word you said: either thanks or sorry. I mumble both a lot.
Last song you sang: Soul Salvation by the English Beat.
What color socks are you wearing? No socks for me!
What time did you wake up today? 8:00 a.m.

FUTURE.
Where do you want to go? OVERSEAS! Somewhere warm. Also Prague. And Montreal.
Where are you going to live? Wherever will have me.
How many kids do you want? Well, probably none unless I find someone that I want to mate with. It's all kind of contingent on that. I don't want to just want kids. I want the whole family package.
What kind of car(s): One that starts when I turn the key. And I like it when the brakes work. And it should have a good sound system for my pimp ass.

CURRENT.
Current mood: Pretty good! I'm having lots of happy realizations about my life and my aspirations and I'm excited about the future. So that's really good.
Current music: There's a string quartet playing in the lobby of the library. They're o.k., I guess... but I'd rather hear the Tubador any day.
Current taste: Taste? Well, I still taste cashews...?
Current clothes: Aforementioned shirts and sandals with jeans. Lookin' HOT.
Current hate: Well, I'd love to say I don't hate anything. But I have a feeling that I would be lying. And that feeling is what I HATE THE MOST!