Thanksgiving Pictures

A recap of my Thanksgiving vacation to Tampa, Florida will be coming in a couple days. But for now here're some pictures.

Lazy List

How unproductive am I? Jude goes on a trip to Italy and still manages to write a new post before I do.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. For me. Lemme recap. (and yes, you can expect short sentences from here on out. my brain is fried.).

1. GMAT. Taken last Saturday. I did well. Way better than I expected. I did better than any average GMAT needed to get into a Part-Time MBA program. And what saved me was my performance in the Verbal section. I got in the 96th percentile on that. But Math? Whole different story. Without a calculator, I was slow. Didn't finish all the questions. Got flustered. Ended up with an average score. Shocking to me because I did well on my Math SATs. As for the essays, I have yet to receive my score, but it doesn't effect the big number that schools look at. The first essay was on Energy Conservation and whether or not it's likely that one country will act alone in conserving energy. I said No. The second essay asked you to decide if a mayor deserved to be re-elected considering that in the past 4 years the population of his city had declined and the unemployment rate had gone up. I said that neither trend was necessarily his fault. And no, it didn't say whether he was Republican or Democrat.

In a nutshell, I'm glad the whole GMAT thing is over. Load off my mind. Fine, I'll tell you: 650.

2. ND vs. Navy. I made a bet with a couple Navy alums at work that if ND lost I would wear a sailor hat for a day. Whew. So the Navy dudes had to hang a big ND flag outside their cube for a whole week. They got razzed big time.

3. Sunday. Trip to the new IKEA in Stoughton, MA with Lori. Uh, yeah, when we got there, traffic was backed up all the way to the highway. Lori hates waiting. So do I. So we turned around. 3 hour trip for nothing.

4. Monday. LAGUNA Season Finale. How much did that suck? But "The Hills" (a show just for LC) looks groovy.

5. 8 SECONDS. Yes, the Luke Perry bullriding movie. Lori made me watch it. On VHS no less. Turns out it's pretty damn good. Based on a true story and featuring a surprisingly convincing perf from Dylan McKay. 3.5/5.

6. Thursday. Lori, Bill from work, and I went to Warrens' Lobster House for dinner. Bill and I got there early and we decided to play a trick on Lori. We made the waitress bring over 3 empty pitchers and empty glasses to make it look like we had been drinking for hours. When Lori showed up I acted all smashed (Bill was supposed to too, but didn't) until she became very worried for my well-being (which was warranted). She was a little pissed but couldn't believe she got so easily duped. Then we went to my place for a while, watched The Cosby Show (which is classic), and that's it.

7. Friday. Saw WALK THE LINE with Lori. Highly recommended. You've heard/read about the performances of Phoenix and Witherspoon. Much deserved admiration, and not just from a imitation standpoint. Phoenix doesn't look anything like Johnny Cash, Witherspoon very slightly resembles June Carter. But damn if you don't see Cash and Carter onscreen. More music than RAY, and better for it. Not as much about Cash's impact on music as its impact on him. 4/5.

8. Friday night. Went over to Lori's to watch a movie but Robin and Barry were there already. Ended up playing drinking games. But this time I watched my poorly-mixed-drinks intake and lasted all night.

9. Saturday. ND vs. Syracuse. Cmon guys, be careful. What was up with the 1st quarter? It was Lori's first introduction to ND football and they played like crap until we decided to leave to catch HARRY POTTER.

10. HARRY POTTER and the GOBLET of FIRE. Fourth Potter flick, second-best next to Part 3. 3/5. I was tired and almost fell asleep a few times. The three kid actors are at that stage in their acting careers where they are forced to show more range, and can't pull it off too well. But that's ok, they still seem like normal kids, and that's key in fantasy films like this.

11. Sunday. Four hours of yard work (raking leaves that blew up against the backyard fence all season) followed by actual work in the office from 5pm to 1:30am.

BRETT, READ HERE: During my four-hour leave-raking marathon, I listened to all of "The Kink Kronikles" and "Ziggy Stardust." There's 28 songs on "KKs" and I liked every single one of them. I didn't realize how much Belle & Sebastian have outright stolen from them (particularly "David Watts"). Favorites: "Fancy," "David Watts," "Holiday in Waikiki" (Stones-esque), "God's Children" (i like the hippiness), "She's Got Everything" and whatever song that is you tacked on at the end...it ain't the Kinks, i don't know what it is, but it's anthem-y goodness. I like "Ziggy Stardust," because I'm sane. What a great album.

12. Today. Work. And no LAGUNA.

13. Tuesday. Work. And no LAGUNA.

14. Wednesday-Sunday. Florida Thanksgiving Vacation with Lisa, Mom, Dad, Martin and Martin's family.

And no LAGUNA. Happy Thanksgiving, anyway.

Man on a Mission

It hit me tonight: I take the GMAT this Saturday. So my purpose is clear: STUDY, YOU LAZY SONOFABITCH. It is time for some single-minded focus. There's no turning back. No cancelling. No rescheduling. No backing out or succumbing to work pressures. It is GO TIME, motherfuckers.

Tonight I'll put together a good iPod mix of songs to get me pumped on Saturday morning, and right now it DEFINITELY includes the Crouch End broadway mix of Blur's "On Your Own." It's from THE BEACH soundtrack and it kicks ass really really fast.

Alright, so that's my gameplan all week. STUDY STUDY STUDY. So don't expect any updates til after Saturday (not that you would anyway).

Recap of the shit that's happened that's not important because the only thing that's important is STUDY STUDY STUDY (see?):

- Laguna night was on Thursday because Lori was working crazy hours on Monday and couldn't make it. It was a hell of a episode. Jason kissed Jessica and LC saw and she was all "don't touch me, i don't want to ever speak to you again" and Dieter was the best friend ever and called Jason out on it and comforted LC in a completely non-"I want to be your boyfriend now" way, telling her when she was about to cry to "hold it, hold it, hold it." After the glory of Laguna, I made Lori watch TOP SECRET-- which you all should have seen at some point in your life (and if you haven't, don't talk to me until you have). Forty-five minutes into the movie, just as Nick and Hillary are making out in front the giant pigeon statue, Lori falls asleep. She's made me watch LOVE STINKS, IF LUCY FELL, and, soon, 8 SECONDS (I shit you not). I think she owes me another stab at SECRET. It's only the funniest movie ever. There is sauerkraut in my lederhosen.

- Saturday morning my dad and I drove into Boston to apply for the extras casting call of STIFFS. It's supposedly a black comedy about a family who runs a funeral who decide the best way to keep business "in the black" is to start off-ing people. (Eh). The ad in the paper said they were looking for italians of all ages. Hey, that's us! Anyway, my dad I showed up right at 10am and there was already a fairly long line. We filled out our applications, which asked for our general info, plus our height, weight, and availability between Nov. 21 and Jan. 1 -- I said "anytime" (sure, why not?) -- and attached our pictures, which we took that morning. We spent the rest of our 30-minute wait talking about work-life and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (my dad really liked the lesbian episode) and then all the sudden we were up. The casting guy told us the basics: $75 for up to 12 hours/day and that the best way to increase your chances of getting called is to say you're flexible (which we did). Who knows what'll happen. They've got our numbers and maybe I'll nab a spot and get to hang out on a Boston film set for a day, in the cold cold winter, waiting around doing nothing.....hey waitaminute...

- After the casting call, dad and I went to GAP and dad bought a vest (mom called him 'puff daddy' later on), and i bought a couple thermals. Dad got a GAP card, which was stupid, but what does he know? Then we went home to watched the ND game.

- Cool game. Tenn's defense scared me for a bit, but ND's defense came through at key moments. The game was a lot closer than the final score suggests.

- Then we watched a few CURB's, which were all mildly amusing. The storylines aren't as believable, and neither are the people around Larry who give him so much shit all the time. Yeah, he's got a bad case of "foot-in-mouth" disease, but the handicapped bathroom user was a bit much...as was the whole Lesbians-love-Larry thing.

- Next was the new AMITYVILLE HORROR, which was kind of spooky and jolting in that "BOOM, loud music hurts my ears" kind of way. Mom shouldn't have watched it, she already has nightmares about drowning so who needs new nightmares about dead children and tortured indians? When the movie was over, we kind of just got up and went to the bathroom, got snacks, etc, which means none of us were moved one way or the other about it. Oh, did I mention I want Ryan Reynolds' body? I mean, I want to HAVE his body, not touch it. His beard too. Shut up. 3/5.

- Sunday was JARHEAD day, a movie I've been looking forward to ever since the "jesus walks"-tracked trailer came out this summer. It's FULL METAL JACKET with more comedy, a little more humanism, and none of the gut impact. But I enjoyed it. Well-acted, well-shot, and more than a little topical. "We're still the desert," the voiceover says at the end. 3.5/5.

- Sunday night was a crappy "Simpsons Treehouse of Horror," a decent South-Park- inspired "Family Guy" (with a new Stewie-centric opening. what a surprise!) .

- And now bed. And tomorrow: STUDY*

"45-minutes before GMAT" playlist:

1. Blur ~ "On Your Own" (Crouch End Broadway Mix)
2. Spacehog ~ "Captain Freeman"
3. Pinback ~ "Syracuse"
4. The Beatles ~ "Tomorrow Never Knows"
5. Walkmen ~ "The Rat"
6. The Black Keys ~ "Set You Free"
7. Pretty Girls Make Graves ~ "Teeth Collector"
8. Sleater-Kinney ~ "Get Up"
9. Sleater-Kinney ~ "Everything"
10. Green Day ~ "Panic Song"
11. Spoon ~ "Jonathan Fisk"
12. Morningwood ~ "Nth Degree"


*with a break for Laguna, of course.