T-2 Weeks and Counting

My house is swarmed in boxes and I've got "Psych" playing on tv so I can scramble my way through Season 1 and give it back to its owner. Technically I'm supposed to be working, setting things up so I can spend Tuesday and Wednesday down in Richmond taking pictures for my Examiner articles. I'm so psyched about this job. Of course, at the moment the thrill of rounding out a weekend filled with a whole lot of nothing is so appealing I'm just not feeling the "Twitter".

Go figure.

So anyone, I took my best friend shopping for a wedding dress today, and we found "the" dress right off the bat. It was amazing. Of course, I'm not going to go into any detail here. You never know when a fiancé is going to be peeking over your virtual shoulder…It took me forever and a year to find mine, and this ironically worked out beautifully because Amy was the one who found my dress. It was a privilege to return the favor. J Chai and a wedding planner later we were rolling. And she asked me to be her Matron of Honor. I'm psyched.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to start planning the bachelorette party. Yes, she's not getting married until next year, but it has to be something inspired. This is Amy. She's been waiting for this day forever. The least I can do is use my mad organizational skills to put together a kick-ass bachelorette party for her. Even if I'm planning it from New York! I've got Liz down here to help me set these junks up. The question is, what can I get away with? And what kind of a theme do I want? Oh man, this is going to be harder than I thought.

Let's see what we can come up with. Anyway, I've got two more weeks and then it's time to get rolling with the family blog for Christmas. I'm still not sure about this one, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Operation Christmas Insanity

T-3 weeks and counting...

With the reality of my move becoming more of a reality and less of an abstract concept, I have to admit-I'm a little intimidated here. In three weeks I have to pack up my entire house (only 1 closet of which is done) and move five people across three states to relocate in a state I'm familiar with but no one else is and which my husband is going to hate after a week or two. I'm just so grateful I have the most awesome friends in the world, several of whom are going to be helping us load up the U-Haul on Thursday and one of which is willingly giving up her weekend to come help me unpack, shop and find some sanity in this new place I'm shortly going to be calling home.

Amy, I love you. Have I told you that lately?

Anyway, with the move approaching faster than I can blink I find myself struggling, for a couple of reasons. One, how on earth am I going to get three weeks ahead on work so I can take some time off to move, and two, how are we going to keep in touch with all the folks back home? And so, as I was haunting the pages of Facebook (which I am disgustingly addicted to these days) I had an idea. I love to blog. Blogging is great. What if I actually keep up with my blog every single day, toss in lots of pictures of the kids, Mike and I getting settled in, keep a steady log of what's going on in our lives and turn it into a book?

Hey, I'm a published author. I can do this…right?

All right, so I'm laying myself open for massive quantities of criticism. And I'm sure my in-laws are going to find it about as dumb as the scrapbooks we made last year out of the kids' school papers (the end of the year version of which I'm still working on, by the way). But you know what? The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. I mean, I love to blog. I LIKE having a record of my life that I don't have to put into a photo album (oh boy, do I ever). And I'm published on the web in six different countries, even if my name isn't always on the item in question.

I can handle a little thing like a daily blog for my family, right?

Let's see how operation "Christmas Insanity" turns out. It may be scrapbooks this year after all!

Maybe High School Wasn't Such a Terrible Place to Be After All

You know, I mock my high school. I often say there's no way I would go back, ebven if you paid me. I mean, seriously? No one willingly goes back to King George, VA. It's like one of those little towns out west that kids are just marking time in until they can take off for the big city. Remember that thousand miles of nowhere? Yeah, that's the one.

Tonight I sat on the back porch of a woman I used to consider a second mother and who I haven't seen in almost a decade and hung out with a group of those same high school friends I always considered a part of my past, and you know what? It was really, really cool. We got to sit and remember high school memories while we each celebrated who each other had become.

Okay, that's way too cheesy a way to commemorate a night that was filled with beer pong, corn hole and yo' mama jokes. It was…awesome. It was, for one brief and fleeting moment, a chance to remember what it was like when I was free to sit around and spend time with friends without the pressures of life and parenthood looming over my shoulder. I got to kick back with my "date", my friend Jessica who I've caught up with online but haven't actually seen in YEARS and

hold the birthday girl's firstborn son in my arms.

To realize that Little Reed, whose twin brother I used to date but who always seemed hopelessly young somehow, is a mother now was amazing. Looking at that little boy I think I realized for the first time how far we've all come. There are no more college students, no more happy high schoolers. We're all computer nerds, cops, contractors, phlebotomists and veterinarians now. Most importantly, we're all adults.

Okay, that's a little depressing!

I'm too keyed up to sleep so I was going to sit down and write a huge post about this party, but honestly? I don't think I will. It was great to reconnect with everybody, and to reform bonds that I hope through the Internet and regular visits back home I'm going to be able to keep up with. I got to see Jess, who I realized tonight I missed a lot more than I thought I would, and see John Logendorf all grown up (which is amazing, might I add).

Tonight also marks the first time in a long time I've been anything close to drunk. Thanks Jess and Leah.

Short story? I found out that maybe, somewhere out there, I actually miss high school more than I thought I did. Or maybe it's the idea of high school, and the bonds and the friends that I formed there. Yeah, that sounds a little more like it! I really, really don't want to go back to those angst filled days, but you know what? I'm beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, King George wasn't such a bad place to be after all.

Review: Transformers 2

All right, for those of you out there that haven't made it to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen yet, this movie rocks! This was easily the best two and a half hours I've spent in a movie theatre all year. (Not surprising when you consider the fact that the suck factor on 30 Days of Night was so bad I walked out. Seriously.)

So, where to begin? Shall we talk about the special effects, which were so brutally cool that they actually put the first Transformers movie to shame? There were some awesome explosions in this one. And only in Transformers could the kitchen coming to life be so incredibly cool. If you get a chance, check out the garbage disposal. I don't want to toss out too many spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but trust me. It rocks.

Honestly, if we're talking special effects here my only complaint is that it takes the Transformers for...ev...er to transform in the early parts of the movie. I know they're trying to show how incredibly neat it is that they transform, etc, etc, but they did it so much more quickly in the first movie that fans are going to find themselves a little impatient in this one. Or maybe it's just me!

Now, let's talk plot. To be honest, from the reviews I first got of this movie I wasn't expecting much. People consistently told me that this was awesome special effects and very little plot, making the two and a half hour film about an hour too long. Hey, theme of the year right? Am I the only one who thinks Hollywood has forgotten how to make movies?

Anyway, so I wasn't expecting much. Boy, was I wrong! The plot in this is rich, if a little trite. Sam has the secret to the continuation of the Transformer race (which actually involves the Decepticons trying to destroy the planet, but is anyone surprised) stuck inside his head, and the newly resurrected Megatron wants to take it all-literally. If you got grossed out by the scene with the squid-like thing in the Matrix, close your eyes. You're in for a slimy surprise.

After a daring rescue by the Autobots, who slide in at the nick of time like they always do, Sam's on the lamb and the Decepticons are putting on some government pressure. Again, I don't want to give away all of the film for those of you who haven't seen it, but some of my favorite parts were:

a) The Twins. Picture teenaged twins that fight over everything. Then make them superstrong robots with a Harlem attitude.

b) Wheelie. Seriously, this little Decepticon dude is freaking hilarious. And Mikaela decides to take it in as a pet by agreeing not to torch an eyeball. Go figure. Most memorable line of the movie? Mikaela (as Wheelie is humping her leg): "Hey, at least he's faithful."

c) The bureaucracy of the U.S. government and our inherent distrust of anything alien takes some major knocks in this movie. Y'all are going to be laughing your bums off watching Washington's finest take what's coming to him!

d) Sam's mother has some great parts in this movie, which was nice to see since she was such a nonentity in the first one. Not amused? Toss some brownies laced with all natural organic herb into the picture and see what you get! The woman is insane.

e) Everyone remember the psycho agent from the first film? Agent Simmons pops back up as a web genius who gets to save the day (for real this time).

f) Did anyone NOT have the roommate from hell at some point, either in their college career or out in the adult world? I distinctly remember having to help mine get to and from the bathroom so our RA didn't find out she'd been drinking all night. Yikes. Anyway, all of you that have had the pleasure are going to love Leo, Sam's PITA roommate who gets tossed into the crossfire and takes his own trial by fire on the front lines.

And that's not to mention the usual awesomeness that comes from watching the Autobots kick some Decepticon butt while at the same time watching Sam take his first stumbling steps into college life. Dudes, college is hard enough on its own! Toss in a Transformer civil war and a psychotic villain who's out to destroy the world and wants to suck out your brains and you've got what's set up to be one of the biggest blockbusters this year.

House, Season 6

So, as I'm sitting listening to this amazing thunderstorm outside my window and waiting for the opportunity to geek out with the end of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer", which amazingly I've discovered I actually like now, I'm trolling the forums for news on Season 6 of House, M.D.

Okay, for those of you who haven't heard me obsess before House is easily my favorite television programme. It brings together medicine, which I discovered early on is tied with writing as my first love, and comedy. The characters are hysterical (at least, they used to be), the ships are always completely screwed and therefore interesting and the medicine tying it together keeps you on the tips of your toes.

At least, that's how it used to be.

Now, rolling into Season 6 of House, M.D. I'm a little bit skeptical...and yes, a lot cynical. There was a lot I didn't like about the last two seasons of House. It was like they tried to wipe the board clean after Season 3 and start over, but for those of us who already loved the show it's just not working. We don't connect to the characters in this season the way we did Foreman, Cameron and Chase, and we don't see them connecting either.

And no, I'm not just talking about Cameron sleeping with Chase. I mean, we've got Foreman and Thirteen if you're looking for a little Dr. Feelgood.

Okay, before I roll into my next set of thoughts you have to know something. I hate Huddy. I hate the thought of House and Cuddy straight down to my toes, for the simple fact that it would never work...and yet it would. It's hard to explain. The show's chemistry has never, until this year, left the door open for the possibility of House and Cuddy. It feels like the writers are forcing the idea down our throats, even though in reality House's relationships probably would have played out exactly the way they have.

That aside, I was trolling a Hameron forum and found the best quote ever for House: "I like who House is with Cameron better than who he is with Cuddy." Looking back on it, it's true. We saw all the ducklings pull humanity out of House time and time again, but Cameron the most. Why? Maybe she needed it the most. Maybe she demanded it of him. Maybe she was, to House, a reminder of everything that he lost and can never have back, and because of that he's always had a soft spot for her. Whatever it is, House was human with Cameron and it's hard to forget that.

Of course, they also killed my Cameron at the end of Season 3, so what do I know? I like this new Cameron, don't get me wrong, but I think she maybe blossomed a little too far, a little too far for the show's continuity. She's turned into a mini-House, which is amazing in some ways, frighteningly realistic in others and overall just...incredibly not the Cameron we all fell in love with. And she's still pulling the humanity out of House.

With Cuddy, House will never be a better person. He'll never be happy, he'll never be fulfilled, and because he'd never find that, even temporarily, with her he'd never hook up with her in the first place. For a man like House to have a relationship that goes beyond sex he'd have to find a woman capable of giving him something he's missing. Light. Hope. Happiness. Or he wouldn't bother at all.

So, with the Season 6 premier date set for September 21 (I mentioned that, didn't I?) I'm left crossing my fingers that the writers will be able to pull off their latest plot twists and turn it into something real that still manages to hang on to the essence of House. We've already lost all of our ducklings in two short years. Neither Cameron nor Chase are the people we fell in love with, and Foreman's nothing more than House's stooge these days. Are we doomed to lose House too into this mass pit of humanity and insanity he's teetering on the edge of, or will he retain the careful balance that came so easily to him in the first three seasons?

I guess we're going to have to wait and find out.

Flying Cars? Really?

All right y'all, it's finally happened. The flying car is a reality. THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME! Someone has actually come up with a plane that can touch down, fold up its little wings and go cruising on down the highway. The idea, the company says, is to create a car that can go around bad weather when the situation calls for it.

Honestly? I think someone was just trying to replicate Star Wars and came up with the next best thing…

Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=105173431693&h=ymddH&u=k0Uq0&ref=mf

My Feet are Begging for a Bus Ticket to Phoenix

Dude, my feet hurt. Seriously. I put them in high heels for the first time in almost a year in honor of the need to look halfway respectable for my daughter's ballet recital. My feet are regretting that particular social stigma right about now. Which is pathetic considering the fact that they were in my favorite pair of black sandals that I all but lived in when I was 17. (Yes, my favorite pair of shoes is over 9 years old. They just don't make them like they used to.)



Anyway, all whining aside, the ballet went well. None of the parents knew where the kids were supposed to be, the kids were so wound from spending hours...and hours...and hours in line that they were about to implode by the time they got on stage to perform, somebody knocked an entire bottle of water all over the dressing room floor and they managed to close the curtain too early not once, but twice-once at the beginning of the last act of La Boutique Fantasque ("The Magic Toy Shop) and once on top of Aurora at the end of Sleeping Beauty.



Overall, I'd say it was a smashing success (assuming I could actually find my "m" key, which apparently I can't).



Seriously though, we all had a good time. My daughter's class decked themselves out in Italian tarentella gear and spun around on stage. There was almost a head on collision in the middle of Sleeping Beauty when one of the dancers missed her blocking and cut off another, but I was so busy snickering about the fact that my friend's daughter managed to drop my rather large, rather heavy plastic bracelet on the extremely hard and uncovered floor and send it rolling down between the seats all...the way...to the front of the room to really pay much attention.

The extremely acoustically friendly room, might I add.



Have you ever seen Ray Stevens's "Mississippi Squirrel Revival"? Check it out here. This is EXACTLY what it looked like-minus the laps in the woman's dress, of course! Oh, and the revival. But it was definitely a red, plastic squirrel...



Anyway, the girls were darling, Chelsea had a blast, and it's time to get this summer on the road. Good night all.