Oh gosh, tomorrow is June 1st. Holy crap, I have no idea where the past few weeks have gone to. Please forgive me for not posting. I don't know what's gotten into me lately regarding the lack of new posts. Really, my life is pretty boring anyway, so you're not missing much.
I finished up my final set of world religion lectures last week. It ended up taking three weeks to do the Islam unit, because I caught a cold at the end of the first week, and didn't do my Thursday and Friday lectures, so I decided to do four lectures a week for two more weeks than to try and double up a bunch of times to squeeze it into one week.
Um, I don't think I mentioned it, but we did our year-end testing a few weeks ago, and I ended up scoring pretty well. My science score was the only outlier (wow...haven't used that term in forever), but I knew the moment I closed my test booklet that science was going to be my weak score. I got perfect scores on two of the ten sections (spelling and language mechanics), and my goal for next year is to beat that, because the test booklet is exactly the same for both junior and senior year.
Meanwhile, my brother's scores sucked, especially his spelling scores, so we're making him read a chapter a day this summer to get some more reading experience under his belt. Our theory is that the more he reads, the more times he'll see words and become more familiar with their spelling, so that when it's spelled incorrectly in the test booklet, he'll know. And I think we're going to have to make him double-check his work next year, since he didn't look over his work at all once he marked his answers.
Um, what else? Oh, the house. There is now a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, and I just found the listing on Prudential.com...the pictures look so weird, totally does not look like our house, even though those pictures were taken, like, a week ago. Lol. We went over to the consignment shop last week, and the money on our account had almost doubled, which was awesome, and we brought in a couple more things to sell. And yesterday, we went over to Edward McKay, and took about 90 books to sell, and they gave us, like, 7 dollars in cash and 46 dollars in trade credit, which we all thought was really dumb, because apparently, they have a very limited list of things they can give cash for, but whatever.
We finally got over to the pool this past weekend, and I got really sunburned, as is the case every summer, but it's fading into a nice, light tan, so I at least feel a little better that I'm not vampire-white anymore like my video-game-playing, hermit of a brother, who won't leave the house unless it is absolutely necessary. I think we'll be dragging him to the pool sometime soon.
There is absolutely no good tv on right now, and yes, I know that sounds really petty, but my evenings are so boring without some sort of televised entertainment. The only things we're watching right now are American Ninja Warrior and Hatfields & McCoys, which is the most country show I have ever seen, but it's on History channel and has Kevin Costner in it, and it's all about the two-decades long feud between these two families in West Virginia/Kentucky. It's kinda awesome, actually, except we've only got one episode left to watch. So, I really can't wait for next week when the summer season of Pretty Little Liars premieres, and the next book, Stunning, comes out, so I at least have something decent to watch.
Also, my mom and I went to see The Raven a few weeks ago, which ended up being really good. I love thrillers, and ones based off of real people (aka, Edward Allan Poe) are even more cool. The whole thing was really cool, a little freaky, but pretty awesome. Did I mention it was rated R, and that there were a bunch of gory, dead bodies with mouths sewn shut or tongues cut out or hands sawed off or people cut in half, and yet I found it pretty cool? Should I be concerned that I totally wasn't affected by any of it? Lol.
Okay, I think that's about all I've got. Expect a post sometime next week, when I'm back home from our Friday-Saturday-overnight thing with my dad, and Pretty Little Liars is back on, and I've gone to the mall and possibly bought more clothes that I really don't need to be buying. Lol. :)
"If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by, cuz you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight..." -Vanessa Carlton
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Smash - Bombshell Songs
Okay, I know I need to do another recap post...I promise, I'll get to it soon. I thought I was going to have some stuff to write about, but it's been a bit boring lately. Well, not boring, just normal. But, I'll get something going soon.
For now, though, I did promise another post about Smash, and the songs written for the in-show musical, Bombshell, about Marilyn Monroe. First up, a song from one of the rehearsals, Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking, featuring Christian Borle.
Derek and Karen went behind everyone's backs to stage Touch Me, thinking that the show needed to explore a darker side of Marilyn's sexuality. As it turned out, everyone was so angry at them for going behind their backs that they canned the idea immediately. But I still like the song.
Don't Forget Me, from the season finale, was amazing. I just...there are no words. I'm really curious as to whether Ivy's really going to commit suicide or not. Ugh, I've gotta wait until next season...I hate cliffhangers.
And I really wasn't going to do four (and technically this isn't a Bombshell number), but the whole "Derek hallucinating Karen as Marilyn" thing was so hilarious and weird that I couldn't resist posting the video of Our Day Will Come.
I promise to post something that isn't TV, music, or movie-related soon. But, for now, enjoy all the pretty Smash songs that get stuck in my head...lol.
For now, though, I did promise another post about Smash, and the songs written for the in-show musical, Bombshell, about Marilyn Monroe. First up, a song from one of the rehearsals, Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking, featuring Christian Borle.
Derek and Karen went behind everyone's backs to stage Touch Me, thinking that the show needed to explore a darker side of Marilyn's sexuality. As it turned out, everyone was so angry at them for going behind their backs that they canned the idea immediately. But I still like the song.
Don't Forget Me, from the season finale, was amazing. I just...there are no words. I'm really curious as to whether Ivy's really going to commit suicide or not. Ugh, I've gotta wait until next season...I hate cliffhangers.
And I really wasn't going to do four (and technically this isn't a Bombshell number), but the whole "Derek hallucinating Karen as Marilyn" thing was so hilarious and weird that I couldn't resist posting the video of Our Day Will Come.
I promise to post something that isn't TV, music, or movie-related soon. But, for now, enjoy all the pretty Smash songs that get stuck in my head...lol.
Monday, May 7, 2012
I Know I Haven't Posted In A While...
I really am sorry, guys. I am so behind on blogging, it isn't even funny. I know y'all will forgive me. It's seriously been busy, and I have no idea where to even begin, because I think the last time I blogged about something other than tv shows or movies or crap like that, and actually posted about my life, was almost a month ago. Again, a thousand apologies for the few of you who like to know what I've been up to.
Anyway, on to the recap. Well, if I can remember anything...it's all been a bit of a blur. We've been doing a lot of cleaning. Well, it's not really cleaning, it's more purging our house of all the crap we've accumulated over the sixteen years we've been here. It's amazing how much stuff one family can have. Seriously, we probably got rid of half the Christmas decorations in the attic, and there's still a ton up there. But, it's all stuff that we've used, or Mom's planning on using in the apartment, so I guess that makes it okay. Jeannie's offered to store our holiday stuff at her house, so we don't have to try and fit it all in the apartment, which is really nice of her.
So, the Christmas stuff has been sorted through, I currently have a couple of boxes of stuff in the attic that made the first cut (but may or may not make the second cut when I come back to it later on), and my closet has been sorta cleaned and decluttered. Not really...again, it's amazing how much crap I have. I am really gonna have to scale back before we move.
We had a yard sale at Jeannie's on the 28th, and we sold a decent amount of stuff. And then, we turned right back around and had a yard sale at our house this past weekend, and sold quite a bit more. We got rid of the two giant holiday nutcrackers (seriously, they were, like, four or five feet tall and really heavy), the light up, plastic nativity set (you know, for the yard), the red couch we had in the basement (which we sold for $10 to our next-door neighbor...the girls were having a sleepover, and one of the friends that was over bought it, because she and her single mom are in dire straights and have no furniture. My mom was hesitant to give it to them, because there's a rip in the armrest, and it was kinda dirty, but the girl said her mom could sew something to put over it, and that she thought her mom would love it, so our neighbor bought it for her).
And we sold Quinn's Razor electric scooter, and the treadmill (which sucks because I really needed to do some more running and get in better shape for the summer), and a couple of sets of shelving from the garage, and a bunch of clothes, and a bunch of board games, and all kinds of stuff. And we made a decent amount of money from it, and we called over to Etc. (we consigned some clothes) to see if we had any money 'on our account' (aka, if anything of ours sold), and there was quite a bit more money than we had expected. So, it appears that we can go up to Buffalo for 4th of July...yay!
My dad signed the listing for the house, so the photographer is coming next Monday to take pictures, and then we'll list the house. So, if you know anyone looking for a house, send them our way. Lol. Which leads me to today's activities...aka, starting to streamline my room so that it looks nice and clean for the photographer and any showings we may get. Today involved clearing off my bookshelves and boxing up any that I want to sell at Edward McKay. I ended up with about two boxes full. My plan is to repaint one of our old bookshelves (which we used to have in the basement) as a summer project, and use it in my room at the apartment, but it's significantly smaller than the one my dad built into my room, so I scaled down from 115 inches of books (five 23-inch shelves) to around 80 inches (which is still a bit much for my four 19-inch shelves on the aforementioned bookcase, but my mom said we'll have some space elsewhere, so I'm good).
We just finished our end-of-year testing this afternoon, so the school year is starting to come to an end. Although, I'll probably be working on lecture dvds for most of the summer, just to keep busy. I just started my last two-week world religion unit (on Islam), and then, maybe I'll move on to philosophy or economics or something. Also, I'm totally jealous of all you prom-goers out there. I've seen every one of your pictures, and y'all look gorgeous in your dresses and suits and I'm simultaneously sad that I don't get the opportunity and happy that I don't have to find a dress or a date. So, yeah, thought you should know.
Also, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Have not read the book (really need to, as well as the other two books in the trilogy), but saw the movie and loved it. Rooney Mara...oh my gosh, she was just amazing. Everybody kept going on and on about how how disgusting or how heartbreaking or how hard to watch the rape scenes were, but oddly enough, I thought they were rather tastefully done in the cinematic sense, when you consider the dark subject matter. And she got her revenge on the guy, which was awesome. (Also, it has now occurred to me that I can go see R-rated movies at the movie theater without a parent or guardian...hello, freedom! Haha, just kidding.)
Um, not much else going on. Went to Hutch & Harris and the movie theater with my aunt a few nights ago. Saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was really cute. I ended up wearing my blue high-low dress with the tan crochet vest over it, tan purse, and tan/silver sandals. We were walking out of Hutch & Harris, and some random lady, who was sitting at one of the outdoor tables, actually took the time to say, "I like your outfit," to me, which was about the awesomest thing ever.
And that's really about it for now. I promise I'll be posting more often, now that all this yard sale madness is over.
Anyway, on to the recap. Well, if I can remember anything...it's all been a bit of a blur. We've been doing a lot of cleaning. Well, it's not really cleaning, it's more purging our house of all the crap we've accumulated over the sixteen years we've been here. It's amazing how much stuff one family can have. Seriously, we probably got rid of half the Christmas decorations in the attic, and there's still a ton up there. But, it's all stuff that we've used, or Mom's planning on using in the apartment, so I guess that makes it okay. Jeannie's offered to store our holiday stuff at her house, so we don't have to try and fit it all in the apartment, which is really nice of her.
So, the Christmas stuff has been sorted through, I currently have a couple of boxes of stuff in the attic that made the first cut (but may or may not make the second cut when I come back to it later on), and my closet has been sorta cleaned and decluttered. Not really...again, it's amazing how much crap I have. I am really gonna have to scale back before we move.
We had a yard sale at Jeannie's on the 28th, and we sold a decent amount of stuff. And then, we turned right back around and had a yard sale at our house this past weekend, and sold quite a bit more. We got rid of the two giant holiday nutcrackers (seriously, they were, like, four or five feet tall and really heavy), the light up, plastic nativity set (you know, for the yard), the red couch we had in the basement (which we sold for $10 to our next-door neighbor...the girls were having a sleepover, and one of the friends that was over bought it, because she and her single mom are in dire straights and have no furniture. My mom was hesitant to give it to them, because there's a rip in the armrest, and it was kinda dirty, but the girl said her mom could sew something to put over it, and that she thought her mom would love it, so our neighbor bought it for her).
And we sold Quinn's Razor electric scooter, and the treadmill (which sucks because I really needed to do some more running and get in better shape for the summer), and a couple of sets of shelving from the garage, and a bunch of clothes, and a bunch of board games, and all kinds of stuff. And we made a decent amount of money from it, and we called over to Etc. (we consigned some clothes) to see if we had any money 'on our account' (aka, if anything of ours sold), and there was quite a bit more money than we had expected. So, it appears that we can go up to Buffalo for 4th of July...yay!
My dad signed the listing for the house, so the photographer is coming next Monday to take pictures, and then we'll list the house. So, if you know anyone looking for a house, send them our way. Lol. Which leads me to today's activities...aka, starting to streamline my room so that it looks nice and clean for the photographer and any showings we may get. Today involved clearing off my bookshelves and boxing up any that I want to sell at Edward McKay. I ended up with about two boxes full. My plan is to repaint one of our old bookshelves (which we used to have in the basement) as a summer project, and use it in my room at the apartment, but it's significantly smaller than the one my dad built into my room, so I scaled down from 115 inches of books (five 23-inch shelves) to around 80 inches (which is still a bit much for my four 19-inch shelves on the aforementioned bookcase, but my mom said we'll have some space elsewhere, so I'm good).
We just finished our end-of-year testing this afternoon, so the school year is starting to come to an end. Although, I'll probably be working on lecture dvds for most of the summer, just to keep busy. I just started my last two-week world religion unit (on Islam), and then, maybe I'll move on to philosophy or economics or something. Also, I'm totally jealous of all you prom-goers out there. I've seen every one of your pictures, and y'all look gorgeous in your dresses and suits and I'm simultaneously sad that I don't get the opportunity and happy that I don't have to find a dress or a date. So, yeah, thought you should know.
Also, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Have not read the book (really need to, as well as the other two books in the trilogy), but saw the movie and loved it. Rooney Mara...oh my gosh, she was just amazing. Everybody kept going on and on about how how disgusting or how heartbreaking or how hard to watch the rape scenes were, but oddly enough, I thought they were rather tastefully done in the cinematic sense, when you consider the dark subject matter. And she got her revenge on the guy, which was awesome. (Also, it has now occurred to me that I can go see R-rated movies at the movie theater without a parent or guardian...hello, freedom! Haha, just kidding.)
Um, not much else going on. Went to Hutch & Harris and the movie theater with my aunt a few nights ago. Saw Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which was really cute. I ended up wearing my blue high-low dress with the tan crochet vest over it, tan purse, and tan/silver sandals. We were walking out of Hutch & Harris, and some random lady, who was sitting at one of the outdoor tables, actually took the time to say, "I like your outfit," to me, which was about the awesomest thing ever.
And that's really about it for now. I promise I'll be posting more often, now that all this yard sale madness is over.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
TV Is My Life...
Okay, so new obsession time. Currently, it's two things - Downton Abbey (okay, so technically, I'm in withdrawal and will be until January when the new season starts) and Smash, NBC's show about the trials and tribulations of creating a Broadway musical. Now, I can't claim to be an expert on the show, nor can I claim to be a long-time fan, because I just recently started watching whole episodes. I'd been catching glimpses of it every once in a while, but I finally started really watching it a few weeks ago.
I'm not particularly fond of any character. Karen is too naive, Dev is too distant and brooding, Ellis is annoying, Ivy is really bitchy, and Uma Thurman's character, Rebecca Duvall is just manipulative and one crazy lady. Although, I have a soft spot for Derek, played by Jack Davenport, I think either because of the British accent or the fact that he played Commodore Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. And Tom, played by this guy named Christian Borle, is pretty sweet.
But what I really watch for are the musical numbers. They normally alternate between a song that is being used for the musical, and one that happens in 'real life'. Lately, there have been some really good ones. Particularly, Cheers (Drink to That) performed by Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty.
And from a more recent episode, Katharine McPhee's cover of "Run" by Snow Patrol.
And this amazing Bollywood number that appeared out of nowhere. I love how they used all the characters portraying the lyrics in the little vignettes.
Of course, all three of these are 'real life' songs...okay, so maybe "A Thousand and One Nights" is technically a dream/daydream sequence, but whatever...maybe next time, I'll cover some of the songs being used for the musical.
And I promise I'll have a real, this-is-what-I'm-doing post up soon. We've just been so busy lately - getting ready to put the house on the market, yard sale last weekend, another yard sale this weekend, cleaning the house, etc, etc that I haven't had the time to get anything posted. I've also completely lost my creativity, which means I haven't been able to write anything, blog or story, for a while, and I've currently got two video projects sitting half-finished in Sony Vegas, and a bunch of ideas for other ones I want to try to make. But, I've really got to finish the ones I have going first, and with my creativity out the window, I'm kinda stuck.
I'm not particularly fond of any character. Karen is too naive, Dev is too distant and brooding, Ellis is annoying, Ivy is really bitchy, and Uma Thurman's character, Rebecca Duvall is just manipulative and one crazy lady. Although, I have a soft spot for Derek, played by Jack Davenport, I think either because of the British accent or the fact that he played Commodore Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. And Tom, played by this guy named Christian Borle, is pretty sweet.
But what I really watch for are the musical numbers. They normally alternate between a song that is being used for the musical, and one that happens in 'real life'. Lately, there have been some really good ones. Particularly, Cheers (Drink to That) performed by Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty.
And from a more recent episode, Katharine McPhee's cover of "Run" by Snow Patrol.
And this amazing Bollywood number that appeared out of nowhere. I love how they used all the characters portraying the lyrics in the little vignettes.
Of course, all three of these are 'real life' songs...okay, so maybe "A Thousand and One Nights" is technically a dream/daydream sequence, but whatever...maybe next time, I'll cover some of the songs being used for the musical.
And I promise I'll have a real, this-is-what-I'm-doing post up soon. We've just been so busy lately - getting ready to put the house on the market, yard sale last weekend, another yard sale this weekend, cleaning the house, etc, etc that I haven't had the time to get anything posted. I've also completely lost my creativity, which means I haven't been able to write anything, blog or story, for a while, and I've currently got two video projects sitting half-finished in Sony Vegas, and a bunch of ideas for other ones I want to try to make. But, I've really got to finish the ones I have going first, and with my creativity out the window, I'm kinda stuck.
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