Posts for category ‘random’

Without cable TV, I’m flipping between the networks and the TV20 Bible Trivia smackdown, in which local churches are pitted against each other in a spine-tingling tooth-and-nail fight to the finish. I’m sure Jesus would approve.

Why is Jessica Alba one of the hosts of AFI’s 10 Top 10? Why? What has she been in that was good? (Is it my imagination, or does The Love Guru look like one of the worst movies in the history of movies?) At least It Happened One Night got props. You’ve seen that, right? If not, you must run, not walk, to your Netflix queue right now. Michael J. Fox. Sigh. The effects of Parkinsons are really starting to show, and I wonder, what kinds of roles would he be playing now if it weren’t for the disease? I’ve always admired him, and now that he’s finally starting to look his age it would be great to see him playing against his type and trying new things.

I’m sorry. This is what happens when I blog while watching TV and after sharing a pitcher of Hefeweizen. (Did the dingo eat Meryl Streep’s baby or not?) (I hope The Caine Mutiny makes it onto the Courtroom Drama list. Seriously, we are to #2 and they haven’t named it yet. Hmm, it didn’t make it. Who decides these things? Jessica Alba?)

I really do not care for these Charmin commercials with the cartoon bears. I don’t want to think about pieces of toilet paper being “left behind” and the relative absorption of bear fecal matter. What was so wrong with “please don’t squeeze”? If it ain’t broke…

Okay, one more day. One more day in Salt Lake and then we are loading up the parakeet and a whole lot of books and on our way outa town for eight weeks to continue G.’s edumacation. So we are puttering around listening to music and packing in a disorganized fashion, because how else can you pack when it’s 79 degrees in the house? Don’t answer that.

…so why can’t I be watching the Golden Globes right now? Bah. (And actually, I do ask for much, as do we all. This morning a friend at church said, “I hate it when the upstairs heat [in the church building] doesn’t work,” and I was all, “Yeah, but at least we’re not getting tortured/burned/bombed in our place of worship.” A frequent, healthy dose of perspective is a good thing.) (I’m looking at my subject line again.) (I ask for a lot, to be honest, sometimes.) (Other times, though, not enough…like maybe not enough of the things that really matter.)

Randomly:

The Colts/Chargers game was a stunner.

Thanks for all your great comments on my last post (at the LJ version). I like hearing about what other people want out of their professional lives. Gives me stuff to think about.

I noticed (entirely by accident, of course!) that the Sweethearts Amazon page no longer says that the item is not yet published. Apparently it is “in stock.” And the Cincinnati Library TeenSpace online has a great summary of the book without giving too much away—seriously, sometimes blog reviewers write the best little blurbies and it makes me want to hire them when it is time for me to write a synopsis or help with jacket copy! And by the way, how cool is it that you can request a hold of the books right from the Teen Space site with just one click and your name and library card number? Way to go, Cincinnati!

The Motivated Writer interviewed me a little while ago, and it is now up.  They got me for their “casting couch” section and had me talking more about craft and process (particularly character development) than I usually do so if you’re into that, check it out.

Tomorrow: fun things that came in the mail last week!

Saw Margot at the Wedding last night. Loved it. It was a good deal less depressing than The Squid and the Whale, thanks to Jack Black in a part that I’m guessing Baumbach wrote specifically for him. And what’s great about his movies is that no matter what kind of painful stuff is going on your life, you can say, “At least I’m not part of that family.” Also, I love Jennifer Jason Leigh and have missed her. (Though I just looked her up and apparently there was no reason for me to miss her since she’s been in a zillion movies in the past decade…)

Do you ever feel like winter will never be over? That your best attempts at doing the right thing only make things worse? Is that what the Old Testament writer meant when he said that our human righteousness is like filthy rags compared to the way things should work? Right now I have the lyrics to Pierce Pettis’s “Crying Ground” in my head. Pierce is my singing therapist. Remember that ANTM episode where the girls have to contort their way through lasers and not touch anything in order to get a prize? And be graceful and pretty while they do it? Of course you do! That’s how I feel about life right now. Like it would be nice to put on a silver body suit and weave your way oh-so-carefully through it without ever touching anything that will leave a mark or hurt you or hurt someone else, and you’ll look fantastic doing it and have everyone applaud and say wow, look at how she handled that! Such grace! Such wisdom! Perfect decisions at every turn! What a champ! Instead I’m Renee, who keeps running into the lasers over and over and not only has to hear the buzzer going off every three seconds, but has the added humiliation of going back to go back to the start each time and none of the progress she’s made counts. Forunately, life is not ANTM and the story arc goes on and on and is not contained in a 13-week season.

Next time someone asks me what famous person I’d like to meet, remind me to say Gwen Ifill. Is there an Ifill biography for young readers? There should be. You should write one!

I’ve been going to a spinning class at my gym. It is actually pretty fun, except for the part where the bicycle seat is stabbing you in the uterus. I did buy appropriate butt-attire, but I figured out at the last class that one row of bikes has wider, softer seats while another row has pointy, stabby seats, and even with the $70 bike shorts the pointy seats still hurt. So it’s all about choosing the right bike.

Lastly, I successfully secured my wireless modem. I always wanted to be one of those socialist-minded people who left an open connection for the world to use, but I’ve been having a lot of stability issues with my connection so now it is all sewn up. Sorry, world!