Happy new year!

2008 ten.

Ten things I learned this year, in no particular order except the last, most important one:

• Kids grow up really fast. Especially when you're not around them constantly.
• Beets turn your pee pink.
  
• Movers are GODS.
  
• Portland and its geographic extremities are wonderful places.
• Given the right employees, I can be a very good manager.
• My country IS a better country than that.
• Owning a house is not for me right now.
• I should live in Alaska, I am green (generally speaking), my pirate name is Mad Jenny Bonney, I am I am I am Superman and I can do anything, and I am a colon (: not the organ thankfully).
• Unemployment is probably only fun when it's voluntary. But man, is voluntary unemployment fun.
  
• It is totally possible to pick up and move (solo) to a new town where you know one person (barely), get a job in an unfamiliar industry (during a recession), and live to tell the tale (for the most part).

I don't normally do this, but...

... ahnnn indeed.

What's the Czech for "brilliant"?

Year of the Dog: Not something I would normally go for, but I loved Chuck & Buck and The Good Girl (by the same producer), and John C. Reilly and Laura Dern have never steered me wrong. (If nothing else I figured Peter Sarsgaard would be his usual creepy self. I was right.) I was surprisingly impressed with Molly Shannon's performance but I didn't get the point of the movie until I watched the "making of" bonus material. And then I got it, and then I really liked it.

Once: A lovely musical drama. Must buy soundtrack immediately.

OK, back to House House House House House House House House House House...

Thumbs up squared.

I was already bored by 8:30am this morning so I got online to book tickets to two other movies I wanted to see. I used the last of my pumpkin carving prize plus a couple extra bucks, and I almost didn't see the first one because I almost didn't find the super secret holiday mall entrance. As I was composing an angry "Fandango why did you lie to me all these $%^&# doors are bolted shut there is no way this theater is open today" email in my head, I found the magic door. Merry Christmas indeed!

Both movies were amazing in their own special way and I am ending this crazy slightly lonely Christmas day in a much better mood because of them both.

Slumdog Millionaire: It's ultimately a love story. (Yes, I am recommending yet another love story. I think I'm going soft in my old age.) But it's also a story about survival and family and the "ties that bond," so to speak. The kids who played younger and youngest Salim and Jamal were four of the most amazing child actors I have ever, ever seen. My heart hurt for them - the actors, not the characters - because many of their scenes were so very intense. The older Salim and Jamal were fantastic too, and the total high at the end (when the credits start rolling) was perfect. I need to queue some Bollywood immediately. Any recommendations?

Frost/Nixon: Absolutely stellar performances by everyone. And I mean everyone. It could not have been any more perfectly cast. And also? I did not expect this movie to be funny. I expected to walk out of it hating the former Prez even more than I already do. Like with W., that was not the case. Damn you, Hollywood. Damn you! If I turn into a Republican, I am totally blaming you.

A pretty good Charlie Brown Christmas.

The extent of my decorating this year, put up sometime Tuesday:

Yeah, that tree is about 18" tall. And fiber optic, only I don't have enough outlets in my ancient apartment to actually plug it in and enjoy the lights. So this is what we got. The true miracle of Christmas is that it's still erect and decorated after 48 hours. Good kitty!

My family actually succumbed to my gift certificates and/or "give to your favorite charity" wish. Which meant no {insert local sports team whose sport I do not watch} clothing... for the first time in about 5 years. Hooray! I got some surprises too, so thanks for those, YKWYA.

Her Maj got some decent loot:

I had some stellar sushi for lunch. I saw two fantastic (almost entirely free) movies.

I missed the fam and friends more than I thought I would, but I was sooooo happy not to have to travel in SNOWPALOOZA 2008 that it really almost didn't matter.

All in all... see subject of post. Happy etc. etc. to you and yours!

Still wondering why this is an issue. Still.

I took advantage of the snow day and the mandatory fun movie gift certificate prize to catch a Milk matinee. (Sadly, I forgot the cookies. Ba-dum-bum.)

Dear readers. Run, do not walk. From what I've seen Van Sant can either be dead on or way off - usually there's no in-between. Milk was dead on. The audience was riveted. There weren't that many people in the theater, but it occurred to me afterward that no one left to use the bathroom during the whole 128 minutes. And everyone - everyone, young and old, male and female, presumably gay and straight - was sniffling at the end.

Going into it, I knew that Harvey Milk was the first openly gay public official and that he was killed by someone who claimed the laughable "Twinkie defense." Having seen it, and knowing that it took the opinions and perspectives of many of his friends into account, I am so sad that I could not know him and be a part of what he created. What an amazing loss to the world... I wonder where the gay rights movement would be if he were still alive.

James Franco needs an award of some sort. (Has he always been so fantastic? I've only seen him in the Spidermans and In the Valley of Elah. And Freaks & Geeks eons ago but that's now queued for reviewing for other reasons... Must queue everything else immediately. Er, everything except Tristan & Isolde that is.) Josh Brolin's drunken blathering in that one scene deserves a super special award. And hello - Tom Ammiano's cameo? I wondered if he would make an appearance, and boy, did he.

Speaking of awards, pretty soon the annual Oscar Poll will be sent out. Mark my words - Sean Penn's statue goes without saying. I will eat a cookie if I'm wrong.

Early Wednesday three.

Three PSAs, in no particular order:

• If you cannot drive in the snow, DO NOT DRIVE IN THE SNOW.
• If you cannot drive at all ever, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THINKING ABOUT DRIVING IN THE SNOW.
• If you hit me with your shopping cart one more effing time I swear to God, Allah and everybody that I will punch you square in the face.
  

I'm pretty sure that PDX insanity about Arctic Storm 2008^TM has progressed to PDX stupidity-bordering-on-utter-Darwin-rudeness. Tonight exiting the grocery store I actually saw someone point to someone who slipped on the ice and say "Oh my God that guy just fell" and keep walking to their car. (I, of course, walked over and asked him if he was OK.)

Otherwise how fun has this storm been! Fingers crossed for a frozen turkey - that would be three snow days in a row.

Last CCL post.

I felt bad about posting that scandalous photo yesterday so on my way home from checking out the latest snow-related insanity, I stopped at the pet store and bought Her Majesty a Christmas catnip candy cane. I left it in my backpack because Christmas isn't until Thursday, but pretty soon she almost knocked the coat rack over trying to get at it so I let her have it early. Here is the extent of her interest in the candy cane:

On the other hand, she will sit on top of a magazine on my coffee table and do this for very long stretches of time:

I would really love to know why this is fun to her.

Anyway, the catnip candy cane action really wore her out, so then we took a nap.

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OK, really, I'm done with the crazy cat lady posts for a little while. It's a slow day here in Portland. And also, I wanted to try out the blogger video option for future reference. The next video I post will be AMAZING. Promise.

Oh, and also for the record...

4Q08 goals are hereby suspended until further notice. Granted I got a bit of a late start anyway, but a week of sick + probably more sick to come from PDX SNOWMAGEDDON 2008 + actual PDX SNOWMAGEDDON 2008 means I am not running 10 miles, or getting to the Rhodie Garden, anytime in the next two weeks.

Temporary new deadline = my birthday. Three weeks late ain't so bad. I may substitute other goals by 12/31. Playing it by ear. Thinking outside the box. Blamestorming. Mouse potatoing. Couch potatoing. CLMing. We'll see what happens.

That is all.

CCL update.

In case you're interested in ginormous vet bill news, last Monday after the ultrasound they determined that Her Majesty did not have cancer. So we've got that going for us. It's more likely pancreatitis or my favorite, IBD. That's inflammatory and disease, not irritable and disorder. For the record.

The pancreatitis test was initiated on 12/12 and can take 10 business days so I should hopefully know this week. If it comes back negative, it means IBD treatment starts and Her Maj gets a fucking job already. If it comes back positive it means I get another ginormous vet bill and she REALLY gets a fucking job already. Either way it's a lose-lose for her.

Fortunately, both are reasonably treatable, although there is apparently a shorter life expectancy with pancreatitis (3 years - which, for a 10 yr old cat, is pretty good actually).

She's been eating and drinking regularly and other than being freezing, as everyone in Portland has been this past week, she's acting totally normal. I haven't washed a puke-covered blanket for over a week. I think she's gained the lost weight back. We have spent much quality time on the couch with the down comforter plowing through the Netflix queue these past few days. This is all good news.

Whatever the case I am now 100% certain that she is going to milk this for all it's worth. Because I got a photo of her hideous shaved belly today. And now I'm posting it for the world to see.

Street cam update.

You may recall that last Sunday it snowed all day, but the streets only had a dusting of snow. Yesterday it snowed all day with a slightly more respectable outcome:

But still, really? ALL DAY and this is all we get? In Maryland ALL DAY snow means at least three feet.

The kids were having a blast at Laurelhurst Park:

I almost wished I had a plastic toboggan... until one of them ran into a tree.

Now, there's a Google weather image I haven't seen before...

Snow day = mass movie consumption.

Thumbs go down for The Invisible. I get what they were trying to do, but the last 10 minutes were (a) completely unrealistic - whereas the other 80 minutes where he walks around as a ghost were, of course, completely feasible - and (b) completely cliche. Your time would be better spent watching Donnie Darko for the nineteenth time.

Thumbs go up for Neverwas. If you enjoyed Finding Neverland and/or you enjoy the brilliance that is Ian McKellan, you will probably like this movie. Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, William Hurt were all great. Even Nick Nolte was fantastic - and when do I ever say that?

And then there was American Gansgter, featuring my old friend Stringer Bell. I can't remember if that's the only reason I wanted to see it, or if it was because it was a true story. He was killed off about 10 minutes into it, so I turned it off last night in disgust. This morning I watched the rest... Eh. Overly ambitious, too long, I couldn't follow who was who in the Italian mafia... And again with the police corruption.

I think I'm going to move Everest: Beyond the Limit up in the queue. Maybe watching will remind me that I could be colder...

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

Living Life task #2: contact old friends. For this one, I was to think about three friends I haven't contacted for over a year, and pick one to reach out to. It's all about time getting away from us and actively trying to not let that happen - a great reminder that we could all use every so often.

Of the three people I thought of, I didn't have a phone number or email for one, I didn't actually want to talk to the second, and I was afraid of what I would get back from the third. But I had the third's contact info handy so I shot her an email.

Sure enough, her life has been a tumultuous mess since we last spoke a few years ago. She unloaded on me over the course of a few emails, I said I was sorry to hear about all that, and that was it.

It's strange to think that this is a person I spent a good chunk of my spare time with between ages 11-17. Our lives are exactly opposite - she stayed put, not I; she got married (twice), not I; she's gone uber-conservative, obviously not I. The other people I spent a good chunk of time with during those ages also stayed put and got married, but I keep in touch with them and they voted my way this last election.

Maybe not strange. I met her in church. I met the other people in places other than church. I wonder if there's a connection...

Task #3 is to push myself with exercise. I think the 6-mile run that nearly killed me the other day counts. Excellent - next!

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Re: subject - L. P. Hartley said that.

Belated Friday five.

Five ways to procrastinate writing ANOTHER last minute grad school recommendation, in no particular order:

• Look through middle school and high school photos for more embarrassing photos of others to post on Facebook.
• Lament the huge chunk of savings it's going to take to pay this month's credit card bill. Damn cat.
  
• Watch it snow (well, "snow"... pansy-ass Portland snow) and try to decide if I should brave the streets for wine to go with spicy eggplant pasta tonight.
  
• Put on layer after layer after layer after layer because the heat hasn't come on all morning.
• Blog.
  

Welcome to winter in Portland.

Lovely.

I love this.

Back into my hopeless romantic closet now. {SLAM!}

2008 soundtrack.

Songs that held some significance for me this year.*

• Sons and Daughters - The Decemberists: They played this at the '06 Warfield show. They played this at the PDX Obama rally. They played this at their November '08 show. "Hear all the bombs, they fade away." Chokes me up whenever I hear it, and I've heard it A LOT. And I heard A LOT of people singing it at their most recent show. Change is coming, yes we did, etc., etc. is it 2009 yet?!
  
• The Luckiest - Ben Folds: I only got into this guy this year. WTH is wrong with me? He's amazing. Oh, and my future husband better future love this song because it's the only one I will future dance to at our future wedding.
  
• Wish - Nine Inch Nails: got me through many, many boring runs and many more to come, I'm sure. (And some work stuff too.)
  
• Roam - B52s: still a fantastic song after all these years. Follows the CA->OR migration theme.
  
• Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day: this came on when I started the car on the way home from my last CHM BBQ as an Oaktown resident... I know it's intended to be a break-up song but {sniff} I love you guys! Still think of that moment when I hear the chords.
  
• Chinese Translation - M. Ward: Hands down my favorite song by this guy. I listen to it whenever I need to make a decision, and somehow I seem to make the right one.
  
• Kiss Off - Violent Femmes: can't go a month (er... week?) without listening to this song. See them next time they're in your town. Yes, they're eight million years old. Just SEE THEM.
  
• Van Helsing Boombox - Man Man: this is a fairly tame song but these guys are insane. I love them.
  
• Rakim - Dead Can Dance: rediscovered these guys after a many-year hiatus. Hauntingly wonderful.
  
• I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today - Brian from Avenue Q: "Not that you probably care much about my underwear, still, nonetheless I gotta say, that I'm not wearing underwear today!" I sing this at work a lot (while wearing underwear and all other usual clothing).
  

I totally stole this idea. Except I was too lazy for YouTube... You can find all this on last.fm, or email me and I'll hook you up. With bonus material. :) Thanks Squeaks!

OK, your turn? Yes, you.

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*Not necessarily released in 2008.

Reader poll.

So, I donated some handmade holiday cards to the company's holiday silent auction for charity. They raised $8 for the Oregon Food Bank.

(It probably cost me $20 to make the cards, not counting the cost of my precious time on this planet. The 40 assorted blank holiday cards I also donated raised $12.50. But whatEVS. Some people in need got some much needed mac & cheese and soup so it's all good in the end.)

Reader poll: does this count as "selling handmade cards for real, actual money," also known as #14 on my List?

I'm thinking not... but I could use a second opinion.