Science (non) Fiction

A random list of things I currently love:

~ Sugar-free popsicles - yummy, especially in the heat we’ve been having.

~ Robert Sean Leonard - also yummy I’m watching House season 3, so I get to see lots of him as Dr. James Wilson.

~ Over the Rhine’s new album, The Trumpet Child - so awesome and beautiful.

~ Gail Godwin’s books - Father Melancholy’s Daughter was incredible, and Evensong is also enjoyable so far.

~ COBigelow Mentha Lip Tint from B&BW - yummy (again) and light color.

OK, I finally bit the bullet and cut my hair - it was soooo hot at that length, and had no body at all - so we cut a whole hunk off for Locks of Love, which Rebecca demanded to document. For those of you who won’t see me for a while, I am providing here picture evidence of the new look.

Last picture with long hair:

The big cut:

New ‘do:

…aaaaand now I have ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ stuck in my head. Maybe you do too. I’ve been getting really random songs stuck in my head lately - songs that have no reason to be there - songs like ‘Baby got back’ that I shouldn’t even know all the words to (but I do). It wasn’t even playing on the radio in lab, it just suddenly appeared out of nowhere and I found myself humming it as I was making media. Then someone walking by heard and asked what I was humming and when I stopped to think about what I was humming, I was shocked to realize it was ‘Baby got back’. And it chose to stay there all day - nice for me. hehe.

In other news - my parents are heading up to Wisconsin for a vacation/’quick dash to see everyone’ trip - they are (I’m pretty sure) taking the cute new Civic they just bought - it’s a lovely dark blue and very nice. My brother is happily working in Los Angeles, looking into getting his own place with a friend or two, and getting some good experience in production by working on the set of The Biggest Loser as they wrapped the current season last week. I told him he has to get a nice enough apartment/house that I can come and visit once I get a real grown-up job and can take a vacation.

Things I’ve done lately: saw Top Gun at an outdoor movie showing (fun!), saw Paris Je T’aime with some girlfriends (sooo fun and a cute movie! 18 short films set in Paris in one movie!), got Dawn moved into her new camp in Reidsville (she has her own nice big room) and hit a new high score in Wii bowling (for me, that is - 228, baby!). Lots of fun, but I need a little down time, if only to do some laundry and cleaning.

Have you ever had the sudden realization that the way that you see something is not the way that some people see the same thing? That your impression of something, be it a person or a situation or whatever, is quite different compared with perhaps the person next to you? How do you reconcile something like that? I’m having trouble trusting my feelings/impressions about things when they can be so radically different from person to person. Is that just par for the course in life?

From Over the Rhine’s newest album, The Trumpet Child, here are the lyrics for the title track - simply amazing, even without the powerful trumpet accompaniment. I strongly recommend the album, which has probably become my favorite of their albums for me so far - track me down and make me play it for you on my iPod, if nothing else!

The trumpet child will blow his horn
Will blast the sky till it’s reborn
With Gabriel’s power and Satchmo’s grace
He will surprise the human race

The trumpet he will use to blow
Is being fashioned out of fire
The mouthpiece is a glowing coal
The bell a burst of wild desire

The trumpet child will riff on love
Thelonious notes from up above
He’ll improvise a kingdom come
Accompanied by a different drum

The trumpet child will banquet here
Until the lost are truly found
A thousand days, a thousand years
Nobody knows for sure how long

The rich forget about their gold
The meek and mild are strangely bold
A lion lies beside a lamb
And licks a murderer’s outstretched hand

The trumpet child will lift a glass
His bride now leaning in at last
His final aim to fill with joy
The earth that man all but destroyed

OK, so it’s been too long since I updated, but there’s been a lot going on, some of it just not blog-worthy or blog-appropriate. (that sounds slightly dirty, sorry.)

~ My college sorority had a reunion a couple weekends ago in the mountains of Pigeon Forge (which, incidentally, is like Myrtle Beach in the mountains - and if you don’t already know how I feel about Myrtle Beach, I should tell you that I HATE it.). We ate a lot, reminisced, looked at oooold pictures and went to Dixie Stampede - a lot of fun, but very little sleep was had with that many girls in one house.

~ We are now looking seriously at a December graduation, largely dependent on my productivity over the next couple months, as well as my committee’s mood at the time of our meeting. But I’m looking into job possibilities and have some good ones so far, though nothing is definite yet. I will almost certainly have to leave the area, which makes me sad, but there will hopefully be a chance for me to return sometime soon. We’ll see…

~ The brother is working at Sony pictures right now - he’s been making some good contacts with people in the industry and helping with some indy productions (is that right?) - he’s looking for a place to rent, possibly with a couple friends he’s got who are currently or soon will be out in LA, so that’s exciting. Maybe they will find a place big enough that I can come out and visit after I have a real job. (please?)

~ I got to spend some time with some girlfriends this part weekend - it was a really nice, relaxing weekend, nothing super-structured or formal, and I had a really good time - drinking wine, talking, playing with the new bunnies (!) and watching movies.

~ My friend Dawn and I are going to try to run a 5K in the fall, so I really have to get back to training - I haven’t really run since the early spring, so I’m way not ready right now - and I pulled a muscle in my lower back a couple weeks ago, but that’s almost completely resolved now, so I have no excuses. I even bought new running shoes, since I’d worn through the backs of my previous ones.

~ I’ve slipped back into my habit of reading several books at once, so that has changed my reading pattern a bit - it takes me longer to finish an individual book with several going together, but then I finish a bunch all together. It’s largely because of book clubs and when the library happens to get certain books to me, but I should really go back to my original rule of one at a time. Anyway, after finishing the Harry Potter series (finally!!!), I’ve moved into Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, mourning over the completion of my beloved HP children’s series. I’ve gotten really sucked into them (I’m almost finished with #2), though I don’t think they compare all that well with the complexity of Harry Potter or some other children’s series - they are quite enthralling on a plot-level, and the major children characters are precocious but sympathetic. (Plus, I’m listening to them on CD in the car, and one of the major characters is voiced by this guy who sounds EXactly like Colin Firth!!! Awesomeness!) I’m also reading Bel Canto for a book club, and I’m constantly struck by the beauty of the writing - and I have to admit, I’m rarely focused on the writing over the plot, but I’ve definitely stopped reading several times and sat there stunned by the incredible way in which things have been described. I’m about halfway through, and I’m looking forward to our eventual discussion.

OK, that’s enough for now - this fall is shaping up to be a very busy time for me, but I will try to keep this more up-to-date than it’s been the past couple months. Even if it’s just what I’d reading or what I’m doing.