Giddy Girlie

It's just like that Rodney Dangerfield movie. Except my jowls don't flap quite that much (yet) and I am sadly without a hot tub in my dorm room. I am, however, listening to "Party At Ground Zero" by Fishbone right this very minute.

The good thing is that I am not the oldest person in my class (got aced outta that by some lady 20 years older than me) but I am far from the youngest. This one guy? In the back of the room? Born in 1989. Holy crap. In 1989, I was funking my freshness by rehearsing the "Supersonic" dance steps and professing my love for the cars that go boom. Talk about a generation gap. That's the shit that makes you feel old. Not just that you're in a classroom with college freshmen, but that these kids only know your music through the beats that Fergie steals. It's a damn shame.

Also, sadly, this is STILL my ID card. Ha ha ha. The registration stickers on the back are several inches thick. It's like owning a really old car with the tags just piling up and up and up over the years. Is there a point where you're supposed to scrape off the old ones? Or maybe just graduate already?

Posted by giddygirlie at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Planning a Fun Day is good because it gives you something to look forward to. Or it gives you something to THINK ABOUT COMPULSIVELY for weeks. Seriously, I fell asleep last night with a big grin on my face, thinking about the plan. Which is this: hijack Kate and Bliss and force-feed them a day at Disneyland. Bliss hasn't been to the park in a long while, so I'm excited about going with her. And Kate is a Disney Dork like me, so I am excited about going with her.

You'd think that "ok, Saturday works for me" would be the end of it. Just show up, and you're golden, but NO! Instead, Kate and I came up with a ride-by-ride review (Dumbo - skip!, Pirates - must see!!). We also decided that we are going to be decadently immature because -- why not? Who's gonna stop us? YOU? ha ha ha. If you want to stop us, you have to come with, and even then you'll just want to join in. We're going to bring a buncha candy and save all our money for churros and Fantasia ice cream. We're going to ride It's a Small World and grin ear-to-ear without any irony. Will we wear mice ears? Possibly maybe. Will we buy light-up jewelry come dark-time? We'll see (that means yes).

I already know that tonight in class, I am going to be doodling outfit combos in the margins of my notebooks. Seriously, I am obssessed. It's totally awesome.

Posted by giddygirlie at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Have you ever "done" a photosession? Where you have someone come to your house and take pictures only of you? It's weird. I'm not saying that modelling is hard... but it's not easy. At least for me.

Friday night, Brad came over to take some pictures of me and my table in case the Times people didn't show up, I would have something to submit for the article. Even though he's my friend (or maybe because of it) I could NOT stop laughing. The whole time, I was thinking "stop laughing or else you'll get squinty eyes in your picture" but I couldn't stop. I'm sure that all the pictures turned out like ass. He's uploading and editing them -- as soon as they're done, I'll boost them to Flickr. He also took some polaroids, which turned out cool. He has an awesome old accordian-looking camera that does double-exposure prints. I took a quick snapshot of some of them [seen below] until they get scanned and posted.

Then Saturday morning, the photographer from The Times came over and took more pictures of me with the table. I wore the same dress (sue me!) but didn't pin curl my hair. So the pictures won't be identical (anyway, she took interior shots, Brad took us outdoors). Ruckus, as it turns out, is not shy (shock!) and he loves to be photographed (surprise!) and so he just butted right into nearly every picture the photographer took. She really liked him, and thought it made a good picture, so she ran with it and he did everything she told him (look here, look up, sit straight). Then Monkey got jealous and he wanted to be in the picture too. So... basically, look forward to a picture of my cats and their table in the paper. Ha ha ha.

Posted by giddygirlie at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Part Two
I didn't want to jinx myself by talking about it, thus the (secretive!) silence. But, I was chosen to be a part of an article being written about the Ikea Hacker website for a little known publication called the New York Times. I was interviewed about a week ago, specifically about the table that I made and the DIY culture in general. They wanted pictures of me with my table, and it finally worked out for their photographer to come tomorrow afternoon to take my peek-chure. I just hope I don't look like a blobby ass in newsprint.

Because we were back-and-forth on dates and times for the photographer, I recruited my friend Brad to take the picture, so if he still wants to go through with it, I might be playing Fashion Model twice this weekend. I am actually hoping that he will, because he's got a really good eye for cool pictures (follow the link to his Flickr page, to see some of his work). And also, he's my friend, so he'll totally be on the lookout for double-chins and lazy eyes, unlike newspaper photogs.

Part Three
Saturday night, we're going to see The English Beat at a private concert, which I am totally excited about. Again, I didn't want to jinx it by talking about it too soon, because we are guests and so there's always the possibility that for some reason we would be refused or something. Our friend's company is hosting this VIP party thingie and they hired the English Beat to be the main act. I am such a ska dork that it's not even funny, and even though I have seen Dave Wakeling a buncha times (he used to play almost every weekend at this stupid sports bar that was next door to the coffee shop where I worked long ago. It pained me to hear "Mirror in the Bathroom" coming out of Jock Central), I have never seen "The English Beat". I am actually considering pulling out the ol' saddle shoes and rhinestone cat-eye glasses... y'know so I can look as COOL as I did in high school, skankin' to da riddum. Ha ha HA HA HA ha ha hA. Oh wait.

Posted by giddygirlie at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Does anyone out there know how to use MovableType? I mean REALLY use it? I switched from Blogspot because I was so enamoured with the category tags, which I know is a lame reason. And especially since I am awful about actually using the category tags, so...

Anyway, Blogspot was easy -- it was "what you see is what you get" editing and the interface was friendly. To update the layout, you could just enter simple HTML stuff and viola! It was an all web-based interface and setting up the site was a breeze. MT is not easy. At all. I had to beg and plead and make nice with another blogger to help me set it up and fix it a million times. There are 50 million directory files and source codes and all kinds of other crap that I have NO IDEA what they do. I am suddenly scared shitless of my website. Things here have stayed basically static for 2 years because I don't know how to make changes anymore. That's not good.

So I'd been casually thinking about switching back to Blogspot, but thought maybe it was too much hassle. Except now I am being inundated with spam AGAIN. The biggest offenders are these out-and-out spammers who have somehow "authenticated" themselves with MT. So you can't mark them as "junk" or ban them -- they suddenly have more rights than I do. They can leave me 100 comments an hour, with links to porn sites, but I am not allowed to keep them away. It's freaking ridiculous. The solution is to either a) only allow people that you put into a list yourself (which means that no new readers or commenters can ever post) or b) try to IP ban them another way, using a separate software. Oh, ok. So I should have to jump through hoops and block 1,000 separate IP addresses, and update that list daily so that I can just enjoy my site? Stupid.

Posted by giddygirlie at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In high school, we were forced to attend this assembly that was basically an after-school special gone wrong. It was staged by a gang of overly-dramatic thespians, dressed in all black (I remember them in mime make-up, but that can't be right), that staged these little vignettes about problems that Johnny Highschool might encounter. Being offered drugs, booze, being raped, etc. Each little scene would conclude with one member of the group stepping out into a bright spotlight, while the rest of the tableau was bathed in shadow and frozen in place (such as mid-rape). The spotlighter would then say something incredibly insightful like "Poor Karen. She thinks she's all alone. That no one would understand. So she keeps it a SECRET" (the word "secret" is always in a hushed whisper-like voice that sounds something like seeeeecrehhhhhhhhhhht. After the magic SECRET word has been spoken, the actors in the background become unfrozen and instead start high-stepping their way toward the spotlight while snapping their fingers saying "Seeeeecrehhhhhts! Everybody's got 'em!" and doing this horrible beatnik impersonation. There were a few more clever lines that ended in rhymes with "'em" that expressed how we were not alone. It was OK to tell an adult if your gym teacher bad touched you, or if Billy was smoking joints, or if your prom date was drunk. I don't really remember much else, which I guess just goes to show how good I am at suppressing unhappy memories and therefore I have NO need to tell my secrets. Take that school assembly!

To that end, I have a few secrets (surprises) that I am holding close to my chest. Which is fun, except it's more like whatever the opposite of fun is. I want to tell everyone and jump up and down and say LOOKIE! ME!! OVER HERE! SECREHHHHHHTS!! Maybe I need some friends who are 4 years old, so that when I say "I have a surprise" they get all wiggly and excited until they break down and have a tantrum because they must. Know. Right. Now. Unlike all y'all out there who are content to wait and see. JERKS!!

Posted by giddygirlie at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

For about a month I have been buggered by this spasm in my back. I have this extreme tightness (read: stress) in my right shoulder, between the scapula and the spine and it's so tight that it's causing my longissimus muscle to fight back by spasming. And it's so sensitive that a strong breeze or an intense stare will set it off. Then I look like Elaine dancing.

I have been doing physical therapy, yoga stretches, massage (including Hellerwork massage, which is no day at the spa), ice, heat, and screaming and NOTHING seems to be working. Last week, I even had electro-stimulation therapy. They shocked me. With electricity. Eleck-tri-ceety. The hurty kind. It was surreal. Not as painful as static on the doorknob, but more like pins and needles. With percussion massage. It was weird.

I think my only options now are 1) drugs 2) acupuncture or 3) to get a backeotomy.

If I suddenly become a jelly fish, will you still be my friend?

Posted by giddygirlie at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Ryan: Where's a phone book?
Me: On the desk.
Ryan: No, a real phone book. Like the yellow pages.
Me: We don't have one.
Ryan: There has to be one around here... somewhere.
Me: No, we don't have one. Can you just use the internet?
Ryan: That takes too long. I'm sure we have a phone book... maybe the garage?
Me: The computer's already on - just open a browser and... what are you looking for anyway?
Ryan: A Carl's Jr. around here (*huff*) Fine, I'll use the internet.
[type type type type type type]
Ryan: (exasperated sigh) What's a good site to use as yellow pages?
Me: CarlsJr.com
Ryan: Oh.

Posted by giddygirlie at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

He is one of the BEST ACTORS in the world. And not just because he's so cute (he's 19, so it's not illegal if I think he's cute). He's actually insanely talented. This may not be the finest example, but I can't tell you how many times I laughed OUT LOUD at this video.

Seriously, Hollywood? Hire this guy more often. And for the sassy sister? This girl.

Posted by giddygirlie at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went to the grocery store at lunch today to grab some grapes for a snack (yay! health food!) and in the bakery section, they had banana-nut muffins that have -- are you ready for this? -- BANANA PUDDING INJECTED INSIDE. Of course, I had to get one. And nearly died of deliciousness.

Posted by giddygirlie at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd be lying if I said that I did not want this guy to marry me, just so I could play with his stuff.

YES! That is a Dumbo ride car from Disneyland. Oh man, here's a peek at just some of his collection.

Posted by giddygirlie at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Saturday, we drove up to L.A. to have an impromptu lunch with some of Ryan's family, who were coming from far flung places all over California. L.A. was kind of a mid-point, so we agreed to meet at Philippe's at 11:30am to dine and catch up.

Traffic was bad, and it took us almost 2 hours to get there, so we were a few minutes late and just happened to catch the last carload of people leaving. Ryan stopped grandma to say hello, but she was in a rush (to go where, I don't know) so we went inside the restaurant where only Randy and Shannon were waiting. Apparently, the whole family decided to meet earlier than planned (without telling any of us), had already eaten and were anxious to leave. Randy & Shannon had also just arrived, after driving 4 hours to come meet everyone. Ok, we love you too! See you at Thanksgiving! Sheesh.

Randy and Shannon were planning to come down to our house to visit for a bit, so we ate some delicious French dipped sammiches and headed south. It was pretty hot and everyone was DONE being in the car so we headed over to the "beach club" pool where Molly (a newly minted "swimmer") could splash around and go on water slides and cool off. And we could use the excuse of Molly swimming to go in the water and down the slides ourselves. So baby Max took his first swim. He was very happy about the splashing aspect, except when he'd splash his own face. Then, he'd look at me like LADY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?! Which is a legitimate beef, because I WAS going around splashing all the other babies in the face.

On Sunday, we had a lazy day planned until John and Rosey begged* us to go out on a harbor cruise. *arm twisted* As you can plainly see, we did not enjoy it.

Takeaways from this weekend: we are such losers that we totally got ditched by GRANDMA. Max and Molly are totally ready to swim it up in your pool, so send 'em some invites already! And also we are available to go boating with you right this very minute.

*begging conversation transcript:
John: so were thinking about taking the boat out
Ryan & Mia : YES! (then bolting out the door with our swimsuits already on, and forgetting sunscreen and hats)
John: hello? ...hello? I was thinking maybe we could go boating in a couple of weeks... hello? Sorry, I gotta go, there's a knock at the door. [it was us]

Posted by giddygirlie at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

www.rentawheel.com/

Now I can get my rimz and spinnerz not on credit -- but RENT TO OWN. Suh-weet. All my bitchez love my rented couchez (www.rentacenter.com) so I can just imagine how they'z gonna go wyld for my new pimped ride.

Posted by giddygirlie at 9:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)