The Beauty and the Mess

Attention Americans: A Charlie Brown Christmas is on tonight at 7 Central/8 Eastern! :D

In further cartoon news, the creator of the Berenstain Bears has died. :( I had so many Berenstain books. My mom is keeping them for future generations.

I was just Google-searching for a recipe for American Cafe's Smoked Chicken Pasta Pie, and found the blog of a girl who works at the country club where we had our reception. Not only that, I think her husband may have been in some of my classes at U of M. How strange. I want to leave her a comment, but she'd probably just think I was an Internet weirdo. :)

My very smart friend Helen has created an online artificial intelligence robot thing. It's a penguin and it's so cute!

You can have a conversation with him here. Normally I am freaked out by AI, but if the Terminator was a cute penguin, I might be able to deal with it. LOL. I'm such a girl.

How is everyone's day? Mine isn't going so well. I've felt so irritable the last few days and wish I had more self-control. I am lethargic and don't feel like doing anything, including Pilates, which I skipped this morning even though Thursday is my designated skip day. And it's raining, so I can't walk tonight. Our church band director called to tell me there's a practice tonight, and I almost wanted to cry. Because of the flute trio, I have had one week off from band since March. Why are we already starting again? I love to play, but due to the half-hour drive each way, practices take up my entire evening. Everyone else lives right near the church, so it's not a big deal to them. Anyway, none of these are real problems, so I'm ashamed of feeling so aggravated.

I am completely horrified by the events in Iraq yesterday. I don't even have words.

On a cheerier note, if you've never seen the webpage When Office Supplies Attack, you really should. Especially if you work in an office. Some of the submissions are hilarious.

( American Idol )

Happy Columbus Day! And happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians. It's a good thing I don't plan to become Canadian, because I couldn't get used to celebrating Thanksgiving this early.

It was a happy, cartoon-hearts weekend. Friday night Evan and I went to the planetarium, something I had always wanted to do on a date. It was nice. During the show they were projecting constellation shapes over the stars, as they're wont to do in planetariums. At one point the announcer said calmly, "This is Capricorn...the sea goat." A goat with a mermaid tail appeared. The show went on as if a sea goat is a totally normal animal. We were cracking up. After that, we had dinner at TGI Friday's in Overton Square and were informed that they're closing at the end of the month. I'm sad about that. I've had some nice times there.

On Saturday I went thrifting with my mom and then came out to the house because my sister was home for fall break. We went to see School of Rock, which was enjoyable, and then back to the house for dinner and the Trading Spaces 100 Grand episode (I missed it the first time). I liked both rooms. It's proof that Doug actually has talent, if he'd stop being mean and destructive. :P

Sunday was the big Monthiversary. Evan and I went to church and lunch, as usual. The lunchtime crowd was harmonious instead of splitting into groups, which was nice; I like the other college-group girls, but they don't generally talk to me. I'm old, I guess. One of the girls was whispering to Chris about something, and when she saw me looking, she stopped and asked me how long Evan and I had been dating. I thought that was hilarious. When have I ever done anything worth gossiping about? ("A month ago," said Evan when I asked him this. :)) After lunch we went back to my parents' house to see my sister (and Bun), and then to the pond near their house. We walked and talked and looked at ducks. It was peaceful and happy. :) To finish our day, we went to Waffle House with some church guys, where the following occurred:

Evan and Tyrell (in their daily Monty Python dialogue): He was not afraid to die, O brave Sir Robin. He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways, Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin! He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp, Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken, To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away, And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin!
Joe: Is that a Peter Gabriel song?

For your entertainment: Punk Kittens.

( One month. :) )

Two happy things today:

1. I received a big gift basket of Ghirardelli chocolate from our Connecticut office! Just for me! I have never gotten a gift basket before, from work colleagues or otherwise, so it is a fun and unexpected surprise. I feel loved now. :)

2. I got a mention on Blogs4God today! My fifteen seconds of fame, I guess. :)
(UPDATE: The girl whose blog was linked next to mine is practically my neighbor! Seriously, what are the odds of that?)

Physically, I'm not doing as well. I have developed some sort of sinus mess overnight. Claritin is helping, but not much. I really hope I don't feel crummy for my Big Happy Day tomorrow.

Review of Big Happy Day
- Gift exchange at work (I found some hand-painted stemware on sale)
- Department Christmas luncheon at Bola Pasta
- Em in town; Daniel E also back from semester in England
- Going to see long-anticipated LOTR with almost all the people I love

( This is the result I always get )

Hi guys. I am feeling better now that I've had lunch. My blood sugar has been all screwy this week, so if I can just remember to eat good food (and avoid the apple crisp and chocolate cake that I stupidly ate last night), I'll probably be in a better mood. :)

Does anyone have a Pennsylvania quarter? I am collecting the quarters, and this is the only one I don't have. Since I have seen a plethora of the other states' quarters, I think it wasn't distributed here. So if you come across one, please mail it to me, and I will send you a quarter back, or deposit 25 cents in your PayPal account, or whatever.

Last night I heard about the Museum of Hoaxes. Very funny. I suggest you check it out, and also the website of a new artist, Johnny Stevenson. I haven't heard him yet, but tingilya designed the site, so you should all go see what a good job she did. :)

I just had lunch with Jeremy and Lawson and Kathy at the Atlanta Bread Company. I had soup and a sandwich. It was good.

Ingram Hill is playing this weekend at the New Daisy, so I'm trying to win tickets from the radio station. This is probably the last show they'll do here for a while, being on the cusp of stardom and all.

I got a call from the body shop, and my car is ready! I'm going to pick it up after work. Then we're going over to Shelby Farms for the Train concert and the fireworks. Then I don't have to go to work tomorrow! Yay!

I am not going to make the cake for the 4th this year. Instead, I will make it next week, when more people will be available to enjoy it. :) Because patriotic baked goods are always welcome.

I hate it when guy friends start acting all spastic. (Not you, Jeremy and Lawson. :)) Most of the time they're there for you, and you feel pretty secure in their friendship. Then they start running after some girl, and it's like you don't exist. Then as soon as the girl is gone, they come trotting back to you and expect everything to be okay. It's not okay! I, for one, am tired of being a consolation prize. But if you refuse to be a consolation prize, you lose your guy friends. You can't win. Sigh. I know this is a well-traveled road, but I couldn't help mentioning it again. :P :)

One of the bloggers I read regularly is spending his summer as a missionary to Mormons in Salt Lake City. What he has written so far is fascinating, and I look forward to hearing more about his experiences. You should all check it out.

That's all. Happy early 4th!

Some results of a web search for my name:
BRENDA, the premier collection of enzyme functional data!
Cafe Brenda, beloved by vegetarians everywhere
Pet Portrait Artist Brenda
Happily, a search for monalisa816 turned up only my page. And it's such a popular name, too!