The island won’t let you March 29, 2008

All right, I know this post is way later than usual but since Lost is on hold for a month, I didn’t see much point in going into much more musing detail. The sixth episode explained plenty and confirmed a couple of theories. Micheal is the man on the boat, fine. We all pretty much were handed that spoiler on a paper plate. Then a man named Widmore staged the whole wreckage footage, paid all the money to unearth bodies and buy an airplane just to sink it in a trench too far and too expensive to ever recover. Two points for me for.
What I don’t understand is how Desmond got to the island years ago, with a boat given to him by Libby way before this whole Oceanic crash happened. How the hell long has Widmore been keeping tabs on this island?
For the next few episodes, when the “war” starts and they show how everyone gets off the island, I’m still saying that Claire’s getting the axe from the show too. In the new promo for the rest of season four, it shows Hurley holding Aaron and saying something about Claire. (“Did you check Claire’s house?” Is that what he says?) Anyway, it indicates that she’s going to die, hence why Aaron is taken off the island by Kate.
I am sort of confused why they killed Rousseau off. I mean, can’t they use her in a lot of the past and present explanations? Someone said maybe they’ll just use her story in a flashback through Alex‘s perspective or something. I didn’t love her character or anything, I’m just surprised that they took away someone who has been on the island for eons and could really help them out with explanations. Whatever.
I watched the first episode again too and I still want to know why it wasn’t only Hurley who could see Charlie. The patient, Lewis, comes up and says, “I’d be careful if I were you, there’s a guy over there staring at you.” What’s that about anyway? You have to be crazy to be able to see dead people? Hhmm…
I wanted to mention that I’m annoyed with the whole time change on the episodes now. Didn’t they figure out last time that everyone wants it on at 9 instead of 10. Why can’t they ever learn? Now we’ll just have to tape it and watch it over the weekend or something. So freaking annoying. Good job, ABC, way to piss a million viewers off. Again!

Now, for not Lost stuff…
I finished up three stories this week that I wanted to use for my final manuscript. However, I haven’t sat here and typed everything up yet. I had the longer piece I haven’t gone back to yet and, as usual, I keep putting it off for as long as I can. The thing is, with these online classes we’re all working on our own and occasionally talking to the professor or one another. So far I’ve talked to one girl in my class who said that she’s taking an incomplete for the course because she hasn’t been able to work on her manuscript right now. I emailed the professor earlier this week and made sure he knew that I planned on getting some more “editable” stuff to him as soon as possible. He just said “okay” and that was that. I don’t even know if we have an extra week in here for Spring Break or when the class is officially over and when I’ll have to talk to my professor again on the phone. {Shrug} But I plan on sending him what new things I type up this weekend and send it to him. I’m just not sure that all in all, everything will be at the right page length. Sigh…

Plus, tonight I’m going out to see my long lost friends who chose a family over all night clubbing. Go figure. But the thing is, Fran is with her husband in Tampa and won’t be back until later tonight (I’m on dog sitting duty, by the way, and have already been over there last night and this morning) so she won’t be going with me. So later on I’m going to have to call my friends up and see when they’re getting downtown and where they plan on parking because I really don’t feel like taking on the scary parking garage on my own.

What else did I have to mention? Oh yes. The Raconteurs put out a new video featuring the cutest guy on the planet. (I swear, I’d love to take that boy home and make him a sandwich.) I’d like to buy the new album but I have to be thrifty and keep my petty cash for silly things like bills and food. I just can’t do it right now. I wonder when they’ll finally schedule an Orlando show date. Last time it was sometime around my birthday so by early fall they should come around.
The Tudors: Season Two has started but I have to wait until Fran can sit and watch it with me. Maybe we’ll exchange this as our regular Thursday night ritual. Hhmm…
Billy Corgan sued Virgin.
And She Wants Revenge plays in Orlando on May 22nd.

Other than that, I think I’m out of things to really talk about right now. Nothing really interesting has happened except for writing, watching TV and listening to music. Same ‘ol same ‘ol. At least now I can end the weekend with a blog update and a night out. Gold star!

Photo credit: lostpedia

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I remembered, hey, I forgot to get her picture March 22, 2008

UPDATE: While I’m posting this today, the entry was written last Thursday. I just got hung up in my holiday social events so I didn’t get to post it untli now. I’ll write another one to really update my blog…

Saturday, as a special treat by my second family, I went to the Tampa Bay Lightning game. While sports are not my thing, going to a game proved to be quite fun. When asked who I wanted to win, I replied, “I don’t know. I am going because I was promised cute hockey players and hot chocolate.” That was reason enough for me.
It ended up being a really nice day; it was warm and breezy. We got downtown early, had dinner, walked around the pavilion before going into the game. I agreed with Fran that number four was defiantly the hot one. The pictures I took were from the nose bleed section with the digital zoom on 16x, so while they are good color wise, they aren’t that clear. But still I gave it a shot to see what my precious little Canon SD850 IS can do in such conditions.

From my Firestats, I found it interesting that these are the things that people end up at my site due to the following search terms:
Justin Timberlake: (402)
icicles: (387)
Evangeline Lily: (302)
Dominic Monaghan: (266)
Dave Chapelle (spelled wrong): (115)
Courtney Love: (85)
Owen Wilson (even though I only wrote one past about him): (79)
Orlando Bloom: (51)
She Wants Revenge “This is Forever”: (43)

I also have been spending the past couple of days messing with my post at BAYB about how Sphinn cancelled the two accounts I tried to set up, without reason. It was frustrating to read all the comments that kept pointing fingers at me claiming that I was some evil, bad spammer who was trying to use the system for profit. But after getting some user comments, apparently there are rules that I should know about already (that don’t pertain to any other similar link networking site other than Sphinn) and they didn’t feel it necessary to contact me or respond to my numerous email queries about my account. Whatever. Now I have socializing bookmark capabilities to every service but Sphinn.

So tomorrow is Good Friday and tonight is Lost. Then there’s Easter Sunday and whatever all that may entail for the day. I still have to figure out where I’m going and what I’m doing the next four days. That’s why I decided to post this entry now while I had time to sit here and type away about random stuff.

I went to another interview on Monday and seeing as it was a library clerk job at the university, I wore my most capable looking outfit, hair in a bun, sensible (Sketchers) shoes and a pretty, spring colored blouse (that still had green for St. Patrick’s Day and black to go with everything within the pattern.) So I get there and try to talk myself up about how I can totally do this minimum wage job because I’ve been involved with the university, education and books for years now. But maybe I didn’t give the magic words. All I know is, the two guys who interviewed me looked like they went to the club and I could have impressed their tattooed, nose ringed, black clad affiliations better had I worn my hair in Princess Leia buns and put on my White Stripes shirt. I even took off the gunmetal gray nailpolish that morning so I wouldn’t look “gothic” as any profession, mainly education, sorely frowns upon. Sheesh…so much for going with my instincts. Plus I won’t hear back from them for up to three more weeks anyway so I think I’m going to have to go to a place in town and sign up as a telemarketer (yes, I know, I’ve become part of the system I’ve worked my whole life to denounce) but my school loans for my “next pay period” won’t come in until August (when I only have one class left, mind you) so I can’t fight the system anymore. I have no money for rent or utilities, let alone the tuition that will get me out of the system’s cycle. Utterly ridiculous. I swear, this country does not give a damn about poor people, even if they are trying to better themselves. I mean, what happened to all that hoopla we were always told when we were first going into college about how we don’t have to worry about the cost of tuition if we’re trying to get a higher education. Obviously the education doesn’t make a lick of difference as I sit here with a Bachelor’s degree from a state university, more than 20 graduate credit hours, a retirement plan, a decent employment history and a huge chunk of my initial loan debts paid off. What the hell else can I do? I never expected my educational and career field to give me anything than the basic comforts of life, but this is ridiculous.

Anyway, enough of my tangents for the day. If I don’t get back tomorrow about Lost then I will as soon as possible. Happy Easter, ya’ll!

Photo credit: deloresdefacto

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Do not trust the captain March 14, 2008

After watching Ji Yeon and distinctly hearing Yunjin Kim on The View saying that after her episode this week we would know who the Oceanic Six are, here are my theories:

The Six are: Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sun and Aaron.
Claire dies, standing to reason why she would allow Kate to take the baby off the island. Also, by making Aaron have Kate’s last name and portraying him to be her son, he cannot be adopted by the couple who was to meet Claire in California after the crash. Jack is Aaron’s uncle and can’t have any connection to him to protect his identity in correlation with Claire.
Lock and Sawyer are alive and stay behind with whoever else is alive when the Six get off the island.
The funeral that Jack goes to is for Matthew Abaddon. Jack starts freaking out and acting crazy because now that Ben and Sayid have finally killed off The Economist who has made some deal for them to keep the secret that there are still survivors on the island, Jack feels that he should now go back.
Charles Widmore is out to protect the validity of his new found money making project and wants to “exploit this island”. He can’t do that with trouble makers in the way, so he’s sent people to clear out and cover up whatever they know about the history and events of the place. Desmond is there because Penny’s dad knew he would wreck there. Putting him on an island where he could keep an eye on him, and away from his daughter, didn’t work out as well as it should have once he found out about a plane wreck that would have survivors on it. Hence a big budget fake plane wreck to flash all over a corrupt media report. Once Penny got the message from Charlie, her Dad knew the jig was up, so he sent the little freighter unit to explore the place. The main objective is, as Ben claims, to kill everyone on this island, just as he did before. Ben’s out for revenge, that’s why he wanted Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke and Sayid to be on his side to begin with, so they can help him get rid of Widmore and everyone who’s doing his dirty work.
And I was right, Jin is the one who’s doing to die. But whether he’s really dead or not is confusing. And Hurley coming to see Sun after the baby is born, is right before his crazy rampage that leads him back to the psyche ward.
Michael got to the freighter and gave them a fake name. He’s the man on the boat and has been communicating with Ben this whole time. Where’s Walt? Maybe he’s on the second island and Ben’s using the idea that Walt is back home to use Michael as a spy. I guess we’ll see next week, right?

Photo credit: brentdanley

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When I hear my name, I wanna disappear March 12, 2008

For my school, I had taken on the volunteer job as an editor for the literary magazine. When the issue came to me in the mail this week, I noticed one small flaw in the editors’ list: my name was on two lines.
Firstname Middlename
Middlename Lastname
So much for making an impression on even the smallest of literary circles. I can’t very well own up to the idea of having two of me around.
But I wondered about how it is funny that all this time I wanted to be put in print somewhere other than the dinky, independent newsletters I’ve been published in years ago. (They took anything so, trust me, I couldn’t really feel proud of any of my poetry I submitted.) I decided to email the Editor in Chief and told her to write my ex-name as I had always intended on using for my pen name.
She apologized and assured me it would be written correctly in the next issue. I then proceeded to submit a couple stories for the next issue under the “right” name.
I called my mother and emailed Laura with the same message, “When they ask you, in fifty years, about me for my biography; make sure to mention that story.”

Then, that very night, after I “entered” my name as I had conceived it, I was watching Dominic Monaghan on Jay Leno and during his interview about his photo exhibit, he said my last name. (I think he’s on to me.)
I know he’s a 5’7″ (my height), fidgety, geeky guy but, damn, I still say, as I’ve been saying for years now; I’d propose to him if I ever saw him on the street. Not that he’d accept the offer but still, I may get lucky and he may be drunk when I ask him. {shrug} I go on and on about other celebrity guys that I like, and since Jack White is married already (even though I’m still keeping an eye out for the opening bid as his third wife) I’m going to have to go with the nerdy, British guy as my number one pick. I don’t know why. I just think he’s cute and he reminds me of the guys I usual pick out who can hang out to all hours of the night. Unfortunately, I would probably end up in divorce court over his skirt chasing, but, hey, that’s the risk I can take with any guy. At least with him I could talk to him when he was around. At least he wouldn’t be boring, that’s for sure. Sigh…

Anyway, it made me laugh to myself that after all my agonizing over who I am in the literary world and where I will end up, my name seemed to be as much of an art form as my writing. Plus, I was thinking about how this whole financial crisis I’ve ended up in and all of the debits that have accrued over a short period of time makes sense. Of course I’m going to have crappy things happen to me, otherwise, what the hell am I going to write about? If I were happy I wouldn’t feel compelled to get all of my aggression out every day. Maybe if I were too busy with some corporate, dead end job, I wouldn’t have the clear brain capacity to write anything and this is my big chance to utilize the time God’s given me. I think all of this happened for special reasons. There has to be a reason for everything and, Lord knows everything that seemed to be the most traumatic has pushed me in the right direction.

And speaking of direction, I talked to my professor again on the phone tonight to catch up on the two stories I sent to him a while ago. I have a couple of weeks to finish working on the longer piece (it may end up being a small book length) and the other short stories I want to add in for my final manuscript. I’m still not sure which one I’m better at; condensed, get in and get out, short stories or the longer, more moment-to-moment detailed prose. Maybe I can get away with both at some level. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Delores D. Monaghan. AmericanWriters.org, here I come! 😛

Photo credit: tantrum_dan

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And round her house she set such a barricade March 9, 2008

Since my life is so full of pizazz lately, I’ve again sat to write, yet another, blog entry. That makes, what, one a day for three days. Wow.
During the weekends I’m no longer going out and drinking and doing whatever it was that I remember being fun at one point in my life and now I watch movies and do chores. I’m not complaining, mind you, I just want to make clear that my dry subject matter is evident only because I don’t have much else going on around here. Hence, I write blog entries that are about regular, day to day, menial things. I comment on my entertainment tastes and my simple life’s events. But I guess that’s what makes a blog, a blog, right?

Friday night I decided to save the envelopes that I received from Blockbuster available for the weekend days. If you get to sit around like I do on Saturdays and Sundays then you know all too well, as I do, that there is absolutely nothing interesting on television at all. Upon discovering my lack of interest in anything the some 100+ channels that cable can offer me, I fixed up my rental requests that you can see on my Facebook Movie Clique.

Saturday I watched Silk and I’m with the critiques on this one. It was beautiful and I’m sure the book was good but, man, when it was over I thought, “What a waste of my time.”
I love Michael Pitt and he’s the main reason I wanted to watch this to begin with, despite the low ratings it received. And I thought he did a fine job as an actor in this (not “sleepy” or “boring” as some critiques said.) But Keira Knightley‘s character wasn’t even in the movie for more than about ten lines for most of it, so how am I suppose to feel any empathy for her or any feelings of a man discussing his regret over the sub-affair he had with his wife? There was just too much unexplained and disconnected.
Both characters were French, yet, they both had American accents (yes, Keira faked an American accent and appeared topless, which still didn’t save the movie, by the way.) The husband gives his wife a new garden which she plants full of lilies when they become rich from his silk egg trading but, then, when the whole town is poor, everyone pitches in to “restore” the garden and plant trees, but somehow “there was enough food for everyone.” Um…how? If they planted crops in their backyard, fine, but that was never explained. The metaphor for her garden and the richness of their love and prosperity didn’t work.
And who the heck is Beatrice and her husband who died? That’s fine that she serves at the house for the wife to have company, a child to watch after and some help with the chores but, why are we suppose to care about this? If Beatrice’s husband was the guy who use to work for the silk trader, who stopped speaking and then left, then I can see the connection with her husband and the main character but, again, without some explaining, I’m not gasping the significance.
Then there is the lust the husband has for a Japanese woman, or, as the Dutch gun trader who ends up (presumably) dead, she isn’t Japanese. He never has an affair with her and only sees during two visits, plus she can’t speak to him, but he wants to risk his life to save hers? I was thinking that in the book this is all probably a symbol for Western imperialism, wanting everything in the East that he can get his hands on and capturing it for his own but since this is never clearly fleshed out, again, I didn’t feel anything for the situation.
And the whole thing with the letter that supposedly his wife sent instead of the Japanese girl. The lady in Paris said that she translated it from English to Japanese for her but how did it end up with a postmark from Japan as he said it did when it first arrived? That made zero sense to me, unless she sent it through some other trader who was in Japan. I don’t get it.

Sunday, today, I watched Sylvia again. This was only the second, maybe third, time I’ve seen it since it came out in 2003. I liked it but I’m just not able to let Gwenyth Paltrow be Sylvia Plath. Since we know Paltrow as this high self-esteem movie star and Plath as a brilliant, mad, artist, the two paths just can’t cross. I think if they picked an actress with a lesser known persona, I could buy her as a darkly depressive poetess. But since I, as every other female on the planet my age, knows Plath inside and out, there are very high standards for how she would be played. I loved the way the movie looked and Daniel Craig did a great job as Ted Hughes and the chemistry the two had together was great. However I think someone else should have played the Plath. Maybe once someone gets the idea to make a movie about Assia Wevill now that Lover of Unreason has been published, (a book I still can’t get through, by the way) the three biographies can be shown a little better with different actresses and a different viewpoint to the whole love triangle.
I will say, thought, that Gwenyth Paltrow’s voice was suitable for the role. She has that clear, precise diction that Plath always had in her voice recordings.

And that’s it for updates. I have to send the movies back in the mail and buy cigarettes. It’s cold out again and I’m sitting here with my flannel penguin pajamas on. You can always tell a native Floridian from the tourists by the way they bundle up when the temperature drops below 70 degrees. Venturing outside is a sort of sport for us to experience the bit of seasonal change. I can’t imagine living again in 20″ of snow like it has been in Columbus. I think this is about as much cold as I can take so I stay indoors and do my household chores. The laundry is done now and the week is ahead. Not that I had anything special planned but you never know what things I may write.
That’s why I keep trying to hook in to some sort of inspirational media, be it books (right how I’m still reading Who Do You Love?) or movies about writing. It makes me think in a more literary sense, not to sound silly about it. It’s just that exposing myself to words being put together so nicely by one, gives me the openness of believing I can do it just as well, if not better. So many times I’ve heard people say that blog writing or journal writing is a waste of time, but I tend to disagree. Updating a blog is writing to an audience; a readership that all writers want to have in some way. I always find a sense of satisfaction in writing an entry. It’s not the same satisfaction of finishing a story, that’s true, but it’s still completing something and delivering something to the masses, even if it is in some tiny speck.
I don’t expect my premium blogging skills will make any mark on the world. (But I’m sure I’m not the only one who admits that they hope for just that; otherwise why would we be so interested in blog stats and ads and link sharing and networking to being with?) The same idea goes with writing published, paper material. There are millions of books out there and I can work and pray and hope that at least one of mine will be recognized as “good” among them. That’s why I don’t think having a blog is anything to snort at and neither is journal writing. I’ve heard so many people say that putting a lot of time and effort into a journal isn’t really work but I tend to disagree. Without my handwritten, private journal I wouldn’t be able to plot out every unabashed idea in my head and get the flow of forming the sentences for my stories or my essays. That’s just a piece of the whole puzzle. Not that I’m saying that solid, published, finely edited piece of work isn’t the trophy I’m running toward. It’s just that blogging about movies and books and music and stupid events in my life into one entry helps me form something literary that fits into the box of “short stories.” I take pride in all of it and I enjoy doing all of it, as do a lot of people who like the art of keeping a blog. If its purpose, above anything, is for personal satisfaction then it’s nothing to be scoffed at, in my opinion.

And round her house she set
Such a barricade of barb and check
Against mutinous weather
As no mere insurgent man could hope to break
With curse, fist, threat
Or love, either.

“Spinster” by: Sylvia Plath

Photo credit: mayr

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Trust me, Jack, you don’t want to see my file March 7, 2008

All right, let’s talk about Lost.

First of all, I loved Desmond’s episode The Constant. It was wonderfully edited and it didn’t waste time. There was moment after moment that kept me engaged in everything that was happening. So now with that episode we get a good sense of how the Survivors are “trapped” in time or, as the enhanced version pointed out, “unstuck in time”, in reference to Slaughterhouse Five, one of my favorite books. I love them for adding that in.
So I’ll just run down the list of things we’ve talked about in email today:

Please do not waste my time with any more flashbacks about Juliet. I don’t care about her or how much Ben likes her. They could have talked about that in some little conversation and been done with it. Totally worthless episode.
Michael is probably the “man on their boat” and he never got back to the real world, but just stopped at the boat, told them what was going on and, hence, they got more information from him about everyone there. Whether or not Ben did this on purpose isn’t clear but he would know once Michael left, the closest thing would be that boat and he would stop there in hopes of a rescue.
They may also have Walt on “the second island” to test him. The fact that he is taller is just something they had to discuss because the actor grew up in between seasons.
However, the fact that past, present and future could all be happening at the same time would make sense as to why people can see those who are dead.
It also explains the polar bear fossilized and why Walt can show up whenever he wants…he apparently has special gifts that are connected to the time travelling ability. Maybe he can just do this one his own.
I like the theory that Walt is the one in the coffin who Jack goes to see and Walt’s ghost is the one who Miles talks to at the grandmother’s house. I’m totally buying that theory right now because Walt is key in all major events. Him being the catalyst for Jack’s guilt and need to return to the island would make perfect sense. So Walt would be one of the Six?
But I’m still confused about Claire. For starters she hasn’t shed a tear for Charlie since hearing he died for her, mind you. And now she’s willing to be a negotiator for Locke? I’m still not convinced that the Aaron that Kate has in the future is Claire’s Aaron. If she was told before the crash that she was the only one who could protect her son, then there is no way she would hand him over to Kate. Unless she dies and, honestly, I’m okay with that too.
It annoys the crap out of me that all the Survivors just go along with something without worrying about it. Yes, they’ve been stranded on an island for 90+ days, but just hopping in some strange old guy’s helicopter is just ridiculous. I mean, Sayid can handle himself, but Jack’s just sort of “Okay, no problem,” when he should be concerned.
Which brings me back to the whole time Jack was with The Others, hanging out with Juliet and Ben at those houses while Kate and Sawyer were prisoners. We stopped trusting Jack and then he redeemed himself by going against Ben and trying to get rescued. But no one talks about that shady time with Jack’s character, which makes me wonder if Ben told Jack that if he doesn’t hook up with Juliet and protects her, then he can leave the island. I think Jack has some info that he’s hiding to protect Kate and everyone else.
Charlotte needs to be shot. After she hit Kate over the head, she should have been shot.
And why isn’t anyone mentioning that weird look of recognition that Kate gave Charlotte when she first saw her and Faraday at the stream? It was a deliberate, odd, brief exchange of looks like, “Holy shit, it’s you!” But no one else is commenting on that so maybe it was suppose to be a look of “What are you doing?”
It’s been brought up as well that Locke is really looking weak and insecure by letting Ben lure him in the way he has been. Good point. I seriously doubt Ben is going to “tell you everything” with one Red Sox’s tape and a file about Penny’s father.
And what the hell was up with that anyway? Why would Penny’s father be spending money to find the island and then having someone (Desmond, who the hell is that blindfolded in the video?) beaten up killed? And who taped that in the first place?
And Ben lies! Where the hell are “his people” and The Others if that stupid widow of Goodwin can bring a message from Ben to Juliet, saying to stop Charlotte and Faraday? Are they on the “second island” and he’s still communicating with them without Locke knowing about it? I’m with Locke. I don’t trust Ben or Charlotte or Faraday (even though he and Desmond have to stay alive for one another now) or Miles or Juliet or Jack for “choosing” Juliet, or any of The Others. Obviously Locke is right about this and Jack is so freaking stubborn he just won’t listen to his instincts.

Anyway, I love that it at least seems to be coming together and we’re moving on into another phase of the story of the island survivors but, again, that damn Juliet episode last night made me stop feeling a real progression coming on. I’m still saying they’re going to do episodes, if not a whole season, of the Six back home and the ones they left behind on the island. Even if they don’t name Locke or Sawyer as one of the Six, it doesn’t mean they died.

Oh and one last thing…notice how there’s always something about Florida in this show?

Photo credit: mdumlao98

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You see I’ve got this soul it’s all fired up March 6, 2008

When I think of things that make me a suitable match for domestic partnership with a guy, I try to think of the positive, female qualities that I possess: kindness, honesty, loyalty, intelligence, sense of humor, education, etc. Cooking, however, is not on this list. I managed to successfully start an actual fire in my microwave last night by keeping a fillet of frozen fish in on high power for just a bit too long. As I was getting out the dishes, I thought I smelled something, okay I’ll say it, fishy and when the timer went off I opened up the little microwave door and a huge cloud of yellow smoke billowed out. I have a small apartment so the smoke filled the entire place. The smoke detector went off (this is why I took down the ones that are attached to the sprinkler system) and I immediately had to turn on every fan and vent on in every room, open the patio door and try to get that nauseating smoke out. I sprayed every possible air freshener imaginable but today I am still getting a whiff of that nauseating smell every once in a while. My guess is the icky smell has gotten into every soft surface I own and I can only keep cleaning and spraying and airing things out until it finally goes away. Disgusting.
Needless to say, I am never cooking frozen fish in the microwave again. My positive attributes paid off and I’m smart enough to learn that some things really do require a stove.

This was the conclusion of a nice day where I randomly wrote a nice, concise five page story that just came out of the blue. I love when that happens. I thought of the opening sentence, sat on my patio with my pink legal pad and throughout the day, let the bits and pieces come together. Now, if every day could be like that, minus the fire in the kitchen, I would be the most content person on the planet.

In the same subject area, my professor wrote me last night saying he would call me to follow up on my manuscript today. I emailed him back this morning and told him to call any time but now I’ve realized that from 8-10 I’ll be busy. It’s Thursday, you know, and Lost is on. Supposedly after the Sun and Jin episode we’ll learn who all of the “Oceanic Six” are so I’m excited to see if my predictions were right. (I’m predicting that Jin dies.) I’ll have to write at least a small follow up entry tomorrow after I’ve watched the last two episodes tonight and get caught up with the Desmond episode.

Today I had a phone interview with an investment company. The ad at Career Builder said it was an office job in one of the towns nearby (still a 30 minute drive for me) but I had to call the company’s 1-800 to set up the interview, which I found odd. Then I had to print out, fill out and fax back a 12 page application. Today during the phone interview I was made aware that the job only offers a salary of $25k tops to start and that’s low for even an entry level job around here. Not that any job wouldn’t be great but even the jobs at the university (for which I have another interview in a couple of weeks) starts at $28k and they’re only asking you to have a high school diploma and run a desk. In a large investment cooperation you would think they would want a more competitive salary if they’re hell bent on recruitment, you know? I’ll just keep my prayers on the university job (if it’s a good one for me) and not worry about the one I am waiting to hear back from after this phone interview.
Phone interviews are pretty stupid too, by the way. They ask all sorts of hackneyed questions, type up your answers and then put them in your file. Why not just add these questions to the application and let me type them out myself? The purpose is to screen potential employees and I can understand that, but if they want to see if they want you to come in for a face to face interview, why not eliminate the second part of the process and get down to the face to face interview at the local office in the first place?

Let’s see…oh yeah…my school hasn’t given me any word on my current loan application and I still haven’t paid for my current class. I don’t know how long they’ll let me keep taking classes with an overdue bill but I’m still set up for everything through November. All I can do is hope that they let the bill add up and when the loan comes through later on, I can pay it off then. I’m excited about my last three classes because they are literature oriented. I contacted the English department chair and she said that my theme class would be on Utopian literature. How cool!

IBar has the Wednesday night 80’s Ladies Nite again. Very nice for the preparation for summer, I must say.

Oh yeah, and Sunday afternoon I went with Fran and the girls to see The Other Boleyn Girl, which lifted my spirits a lot. The movie did have obvious elaborations and rumors intertwined with the historical accuracy (I’ve never read the books so I wasn’t expecting anything) but I liked it a lot more than the critics did. It’s not The Tudors by any stretch though. I don’t think anyone is going to be a better Henry VIII than Jonathan Rhys Meyers, no matter what kind of drinking binges and rehab he has to go through after each season. His Henry is much more sympathetic, interesting, realistic and engaging. The movie didn’t give Eric Bana a chance to compete with his performance (even though I love him). I think J. R. Meyers is always going to be Henry VIII from now on. No contest.

Some of the Converse @ Target stuff was on clearance so I snagged the dress I wanted. I rationalized that I need it for my upcoming interview and Easter mass, which is ridiculously soon.

All in all, I’m on an upswing, which is very nice. I’m hoping whatever little tricks have been working stay with me each day until I can get back into working again and have something other than myself to worry about twenty-four hours a day. I think reading short stories and then getting the fervent belief that I can write just as well, if not better (as my ego-centric alter ego believes) is really keeping me abreast of my main goals. With that in check, everything else falls in a sub category and the lack of job and lack of boyfriend doesn’t prevail as much. It’s a very comforting feeling. Too bad it doesn’t always stick around when I need it (which seems ironic, doesn’t it? As if a man is something to replace that feeling of comfort. Hhmm…)

Photo credit: losermike

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