After half a glass of Two-Buck-Chuck from Trader Joe's, Band of Horses' new album Infinite Arms is entirely dance-to-able with a boy. Random observation for your Wednesday evening. Carry on. xoxo

Randomness...

- My landlord is being very paternal today. I like it a lot. He cracked me up this morning when he told me that one of the three of us girls needs to get married so we can throw a wedding in his pretty backyard. Seriously. I don't know what happened to him since the meltdown last summer, but I like it. A lot.

- I am currently watching Sweet Home Alabama for the second time in 24 hours. Greatest movie ever? Probably not. BUT I LOVE IT. You could say that I really relate to the movie, particularly this scene. (Start watching at 4:08 in.) (Minus the hot Josh Lucas kissing me, too.) And I would like to know where I can get a Josh Lucas of my very own. I always seem to forget just how hot he is in this movie. Also, I just caught the joke with the dogs. Their first dog was named Bear. Jake's current dog is named Bryant.

- I kind of want a coon dog now. Like that's ever going to happen here, I know. Actually, I'm going through a "squee animals" phase. Links to the responsible clips:
Christian the Lion
Bella and Tara (OMG!)
Dachshund Sad Songs
Husky Saying 'I Love You'

- The landlord (or his new roomie) is cooking something that smells awfully yummy. Thankfully, we'll have some yummy food to munch on here in a half hour or so. We ordered Chicago deep dish from Masa and it is going to be amazing.

- I am ready for my TV shows to come back on.

I just changed clothes in my sister's car. In the front seat. Hussie tried to speed up to pass a pick-up while I was making said wardrobe change, but I was too quick for her. But yes, I did just flash some produce.

I guess that's why they call me "Free Show Mush." (Which is the last I am saying on that matter.)

At the moment, we are passing fields of cotton waiting to be picked. It looks like freshly-fallen snow, only without the pesky ice. Speaking of which,b I wanted cooler weather and I am getting it. I am taking gloves to the game.

The game. SQUUUUUEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I can't help the ridiculous giggling going on right now. I.L.U., L.A., but I am not ready for my vacay to be over.

OMG LAMESA!

Seriously.

Greetings from Mackay Stadium in Reno, where we are just under one hour until kickoff. It is hoooottt and we are sitting smack dab in the sun. My grandmother is still in the tunnel (wisely staying out of the sun), my grandfather is socializing as only he can, and I am pounding on my Blackberry like the good little SoCal D-Bag that I am. Par for the course for my Daddy, we somehow ended up with tickets in the Nevada section, but darn if they aren't good seats -- 15th row on the 45-yard line. Unfortunately, we have two extra tickets, as my dad and stepmom weren't able to come. My stepmom was admitted to the hospital in Dallas after she had an "attack" of sorts earlier in the week. It was related to her Myasthenia Gravis. She is fine now, but she is undergoing five days of plasmophoresis before heading back to Midland. My dad called to tell us a little while ago that they were listening on the radio in her room and both wearing Texas Tech shirts. We were all pretty worried last week, but I am just thankful she is finally getting treatment, as she had lost around 18 pounds.

It has been a good trip. I haven't had a lot of personal time with these grandparents in a looooong time. Love love love. In other news, I turned $100 into $200 earlier today and pocketed it. (Of course, this is after I turned $100 into NOTHING yesterday...haha!) Methinks I will put my winnings toward a trip home for the Texas game. I probably will be avoiding the casino from here on out. Everything, including my mushroom hair, smells like cigarettes.

Okay. I should go and be social. Not like it is easy...Nevada passed out effing THUNDERSTICKS.

Tonight was one of those moments that will sit in my memory for the rest of my life. It's there with the moment I heard Princess Diana had died. It's there with the moment I heard that Bob Knight was rumored to be going to Texas Tech (and the night that followed). It's there with Election Night 2000 -- my first night at The University Daily -- watching election returns over turkey sandwiches, walking home to my dorm and marveling at the moonlight on the freshly fallen snow, and finding that the election was actually "too close to call" as soon as I got there. And it's there with the day I spent braving single-digit temperatures with Mark (ugh) and antee_k in downtown Midland to see the soon-to-be-inaugurated President make a speech. (And whatever your political affiliation, that was and will remain a great moment for me.)

I requested to leave early tonight so that I might get home in time for Barack Obama's speech at 7:15. In the end, I didn't get to leave as early as I hoped, but it wouldn't have mattered. Traffic was hellacious from the moment I pulled out of the parking garage (including the D-Bag in the Benz who felt he needed to go around me and the admittedly-slow-moving Lexus in front of me to turn right). rotatingpies and I then made plans to meet up at Barney's Beanery to watch, but upon my arrival, I found that not only were they not showing non-sporting events, but they weren't even playing audio for those sporting events. (Side note: COLLEGE FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND!) Defeated, I went back to my car, having missed the first five minutes of the speech. I don't know what I was expecting -- I guess I expected a good speech. I did not expect such a moving speech. I have to admit that I've found some of his more recent speeches to be a little generic (slightly derivative of speeches he'd made before), but this one absolutely blew me away. It reminded me again why I support this candidate, why I believe in this man. The speech lasted the entire remainder of my commute home. I sat in my car in front of the halfway house, listening to NPR and waving to my roommate, parked on the other side of the street and doing the same thing. Here are some highlights for me:

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need...

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This too is part of America's promise - the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort...

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America....

Some people like to talk about how what he says is a pipe dream. And you know, I'm a practical person. I know that there is a good chance that not everything he talks about won't happen. This is still Washington, D.C. But you know, I believe him when he says he wants to improve things. I would rather have someone want that improvement, to believe it can be done. John F. Kennedy said that we would be on the moon in ten years. People poo-pooed on that, but nine years later? My ten-year-old mother was watching coverage on the television. Rather than place my confidence in someone who talks about what can't be done, I choose to have someone who'll try. Because we will never get there if we don't try. And I want an America that wants to try again.

Because you know what? I think we can all agree that there are things that need to be fixed, and rather than pointing fingers at who is to blame for said things, let's try to fix them. My sister is looking at going into the Air Force, and I want better things for her than our current veterans are getting. I'm sitting on top of $28,000 in student loan debt. I don't want that for my children. That's also something I'm having to look at -- in four or eight years, I will (God willing) have children of my own. Decisions we as a nation make now will affect them. I want a good education for my babies. I want better, more affordable, healthcare for my babies. And I don't want my babies growing up having nightmares of nuclear warfare like I did. With the polarization going on in the world right now, we are headed back into a Cold War-type atmosphere. People have always known me for my optimism and my idealism, and I feel like that if these things don't change -- if Washington doesn't change -- I will change. With the world in its current state, it's so easy for me to slip into pessimism.

I am independent voter. I will never register as either party. I (would have) voted Republican in 2000 and will be voting Democratic this year. Who knows how I'll vote in 2012 or 2016. That will all depend on my experiences up until that point. Where will I be? Will I be married? Will I have children? What will I be doing for a living? Exciting questions that I will have to wait to find the answer to. I know now that I am a different person than I was when I was snowed-in that day in 2000. I am a different person than I was when I cast my ballot off of Washington Blvd. in 2004. The values my family instilled me with back in West Texas are ever present -- they are my framework. But I've met new people, people whose own experiences have opened my eyes and further shaped the mold that is me. (For instance, if you eff with my Kyle, I will cut you.)

I would also like to express my discontent with certain people (coughcoughjamesdobsoncoughcough) and their behavior of late. Now, I love James Dobson. I used to listen to Focus on the Family every morning on the way to work. I've read a couple of his books. But his statement today regarding praying for rain to wash Senator Obama out was just wrong. I'm also especially irritated with people who are insisting that Obama's popularity is a sign that it's the END OF THE WORLD! Puhleeze, people. Last time I checked -- and I don't think the Holy Bible has changed much since the last time I read Revelations (which I haven't read in a while because it scares the poo out of me) -- only God knows when he's going to end it. So, chill out and stop with the propaganda already. You're giving us a bad name and making me scared to go to church on Sunday.

I wrote a column back in 2000 that makes me laugh now. Hindsight is 20-20, after all. That said, I still agree with the basic sentiment of it all. No matter who is elected in November (and I hope it is my candidate), all we can do is pray that our new President makes the right decisions. You can read the column here, if you'd like.

In closing, I'd like to post a clip that I couldn't help but think of when I listened to the speech tonight. One of my favorite movie moments ever.

P.S. I think that Senator McCain's political ad tonight was really classy. I'm just sayin'.

Please be my Romanian uncle.

Lots of love,
ME

Public post of nerdiness PART ONE. Comment and share like the wind if you so choose. Vids, music, wittiness, pictures, stories, quotes etc.

I'd like to dedicate this song to Allison!

Embedding disabled by request. FTS, yo. And this is the one I really wanted to post in my LJ today! 9 YEARS.

And then there's this, which is one of the best vids I've ever seen...

( Have You Seen Me Lately?Collapse )

Comment away!!

...But I can obviously walk and blackberry at the same time. 'Cause that's what I'm doing right now. Through Central Park. Allison and I are on our way to the 72nd Street Metro station to catch the train back to our hotel, pick up our bags, and catch the train back to JFK. I am finding myself a little sad today. I am so thoroughly charmed by this place - the Park, the train, the Colbert... Thatt said, it will be nice to get baxk to Casa Descanso and all of my friends in L.A. Goodbye, dear New York. Until next time...

So last night, I went to see one of the most amazing documentaries I've ever had the pleasure of seeing...



I don't know where I've been over the last little bit, but I could have sworn country radio had started playing the Chicks again. I guess not. Then I found out what Jeff Foxworthy said on the CMT Music Awards and it made me sad. Because I love country music. And I agree wholeheartedly with his closing remarks about why he loves country music. However, the pot shot at the Dixie Chicks was completely uncalled for and made country music fans look like a bunch of redneck babies. And I know they're not -- most of my family listens to country.

I'm not going to pretend like I didn't get worked up over what Natalie Maines said when it happened. I'm pretty sure I was vocal about my disagreement with her. This was 2003 and I lived in Texas and support for the war was at an all-time high. But I was never one of the people who felt like burning my CDs or throwing them away -- they're still safe inside my car.

Looking back, though, I can't say that I disagree with her. Now, I would never say anything like "I'm ashamed the President is from Texas" because I still feel it's a bit disrespectful. Not because I necessarily like the guy, but because he's still the President and that's just how I was raised. (Well, that and I'm a chickenshit non-confrontationalist.) But I have to say that the man hasn't done anything for peoples' perception of the lands from whence I came and I will admit that I resent that. Not to sound like an episode of Studio 60 or anything, but part of free speech means that sometimes we're going to hear things we don't agree with or don't even want to hear.

And for that reason, I'm not going to be someone who disses on the people in the film who disagreed with them and didn't want to listen to them anymore. That's the other side of the coin -- those people had every right to voice their opinion, as well. I may not agree with it and see it as a bit of an overreaction, particularly the death threat, but they had their reasons for feeling like they felt. I personally feel it was wrong to accuse the Chicks of not supporting the troops simply because they don't support the war or disagree with the president. Well guess what, I don't agree with the war and I don't think anyone who knows me would automatically assume that I don't support the men and women overseas. But Toby Keith's music makes me want to kick something. (Where can I get me one of those F.U.T.K. shirts?) Group-think on EITHER side of the issue makes me want to scream.

And you know, maybe it's okay that country radio isn't playing the Chicks anymore. As one of the producers said last night, it's their loss. Taking the Long Way is one of the best albums I own and dammit, I will see The Dixie Chicks in concert at some point. (Seriously?? Why did they have to have their show here Thanksgiving weekend last year??)

That was long and rambly, but I think I said my peace. Now if I could just stop feeling like a walking hormone, that would be fantastic.