Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Smartest Woman ALIVE

So, on Sunday night at WE Fest (yes, I promise to stop talking about WE Fest soon and do all those memes that are staring at me from beside the computer) I saw this guy who looked really familiar to me. I start elbowing Thomas and insisting that the guy who played the older brother in Little Miss Sunshine is standing behind me. Thomas looks and doesn't see the guy I mean.

Periodically throughout the night I see him again and become more and more insistant that I'm seeing the guy from Little Miss Sunshine and Fast Food Nation. My friends are non-committal in a sort of yes, dear, I guess that could be him, sort of way.

I go home and IMDB him, discovering that his name is Paul Dano and that he is in a band, and between that and his picture, which is EXACTLY the person I saw, I am convinced in my own mind.

Today the WE Fest Website confirms that Paul Dano's band, Mook, did a surprise show on Monday. I've just called every person that I know to announce that, in fact, I am the SMARTEST WOMAN ALIVE.

I can't believe I missed his band, though. By Monday, I had hit the end of my ability to rock out and was laying in bed eating pizza and watching movies. But I'm still the smartest woman alive.

Monday, May 28, 2007

WE FEST 2007

I'm back.

This weekend was WE FEST in Wilmington, a totally DIY art/music show that lasts all weekend. Thomas was on the board of it, and so we have been recieving CDs from bands for the last couple of weeks. We'd been listening and developing favorites and went into WE Fest this year with a vengeance.

Here were some of the highlights:



Second Dan, an awesome band from New York that has a very driving, melodic, "Old Radiohead" kind of feel to it. They were my favorite from the outset, and I was very excited to see them Friday night. On Saturday, they did a show from Thomas's store's parking lot, which is what you see here. They were awesome people, and very enthusiastic just to be heard and get their music out there, even if it meant playing in the sweltering parking lot of the comic book store. Initially, we had intended for them to do an acoustic set indoors, but since all the other stores in the strip mall were closed, we decided to go ahead and do the whole thing outside. It was awesome. And the awesome was compounded by the fact that the whole time we felt like the police could show up, a la the concert from Apple Studios.



Chris Cubeta and The Liars Club was another great band from New York. I was really impressed with these bands who drove all night to get here in Memorial Day traffic to play for free. What incredible, talented people made up this band. Thomas arranged for them to play a pre-show gig at Lula's (our favorite bar downtown). I was not a believer in this idea, as Lula's is tiny and I thought it would be too crowded...too loud. As usual, I was totally wrong and it was brilliant. I'm hard pressed to say whether I enjoyed them more plugged or unplugged. Excellent lyrics, vocals, harmonies, and seriously, some of the nicest people I've met in a long time. They sound a bit like the Counting Crows.

Other highlights:

The Sammies (The song "Falling Out" kills me).
Olivia and the Housemates (Very nice horns--a bit of a ska feeling to it).
FilthyBird (Awesome girl vocalist: Grace Slick meets Robert Smith).

I had a great time all around and consumed enough beer to fell a small elephant. Today I feel moody and silent because of it.

I kept thinking throughout the festival that I'm so proud of Thomas for getting involved in these things and grateful to him for bringing me out of my shell about them. I would have never, ever gone to WE Fest without him and I had a wonderful time.

I also thought a lot about the fact that although sometimes the ticking of the biological clock in my ear drowns out all other noise, I'm glad to still just be the two of us, going to music festivals and getting drunk and staying out all night.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Apologies

for this mini-hiatus. I have 3 memes stored up and I promise a blogging extravaganza when I return...but right now, I have some real-life shit to deal with.

I miss you, blog.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Meg, Meg, Bo-beg, Banana-fanna-fo-feg

I know you are not going to believe this, but I've been tagged with the 8 weird things AGAIN. For real.
Last night, I was telling Thomas that he had to help me think of more weird things, and I was like, ARE there even any more weird things about me? And we both agreed that, of course there are. Thomas said, "You kill slugs with beer," and I said, "Yeah, but I've already posted about that!"

So here we go...

1. I'm a compulsive worrier. Last weekend I was sitting on my front porch talking with my friend Kathy, when all of a sudden she hugged me fiercely and told me that I had.to.stop.worrying.so.much. I was kind of baffled. I hadn't even really felt like I was worrying; I was just kind of...vocalizing. So I tried to explain to her my theory which is this: the world is a strange and dangerous place. And it will attack you for no good reason. I don't say this to be dramatic; I've just found that it's true. And the world's MO is to catch you blindsided; it wants to hit you with something you've never considered and are totally unprepared for. So, by worrying about a broad range of scenarios all the time, I'm actually reducing the number of bad things that will happen. Or something. My worrying is kind of like backward prayer.

2. I swear way too much. Sometimes it seems I don't know any adjectives except colorful ones. And yet, the thing I'm most ashamed of (vocally anyway) wasn't technically swearing, though the situation might have called for it. I was on a one way street that has lots of diagonal parking. And I was stopped at a light, about 3 cars back, with several cars behind me, when all of a sudden, a car that was diagonally parked on my left side starts pulling out of its space. I had nowhere to go, so I laid on the horn and the car actually sped up and slammed into my driver's side door. After the car pulled back into its space, I wrenched the door open and screamed, "Are you retarded?!?" I still feel bad about that. The woman cried and kept repeating, "I'm not retarded." Oh, god.

3. I'm always cold. Right now, it's 76 degrees in the house and I feel like my fingers are going to snap off my body. Summer is always the time for the air conditioning wars in my house, in which Thomas and I both surreptiously creep to the thermostat and change it and hope the other person doesn't notice for a while. I'm usually reduced to wearing my pajamas full time.

4. I have trouble calling people on the phone if I've never called them before. I'm sure that is a little bit true for everyone, but I'm kind of neurotic on the subject. I don't mind calling strangers (ok, I do mind, but not overly) but I do have a problem calling my own friends if we've never talked on the phone before. Today I was brave and called my friend Steve (we've been friends for 6 years). Saying, "Hey Steve, it's Meg" nearly gave me a panic attack. I always feel like the person is going to say, "Meg who?" so then I worry (ha!) about whether I should say my last name, too, but then, when you've known each other so long that just seems weird and too formal...and oh, it's just so hard.

5. I seriously would die without the internet. When we have trouble with our machine or our internet service, I feel like parts of me are on fire. I don't even do anything that important or fascinating online. I don't even read the news! I check my usually non-existant email; I read blogs and occasionally blog myself; I check the weather, check myspace, librarything and flickr...and that's it. But if I can't do that, I feel painfully isolated from the world.

6. I hate being called Meaghan. I know I've mentioned that before, but it bears repeating, as lately, many of my friends have taken to occasionally calling me by my full name. And it's always weird when it happens, and right afterward they'll apologize and say, "I have no idea why I called you that." And I'm always like, well, ok...THIS TIME. But seriously, don't call me Meaghan. It's not that I don't think it's a perfectly nice name. I don't hate my name. It's just that I'm Meg and I always have been. I don't know who Meaghan is. A long time ago, my high school boyfriend asked if he could call me Meaghan, and I remember deliberating about it and finally I told him that I would really prefer that he didn't, because I didn't want Meaghan to be someone different than Meg, and I'm still proud of myself for realizing that that could happen when I was so young.

7. My mom used to make me peanut butter and butter sandwiches when I was little and THEY WERE SO GOOD.

8. Once I left my sunroof open and a bird pooped on my gearshift.

That's all I got folks. I'm going to have to cultivate some new weird habits for the next time around. Maybe at the end of this year I'll do another compilation.

If you would like to participate in this Meme, knock yourself out. But I'm tagging Andrea
Kim
Joshua
Kathy
and Lauren


In other news, we found out yesterday that Gertie has developed a heart murmur sometime during the last 3 months. (We are positive that she did not have one in February prior to the tooth surgery). I'm sure you can imagine my worry.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Adventures with Wildlife

So, Oscar Peterson is a yellow bellied slider. Thanks goes to my friend Doug for identifying him. I went online to check, and oh yeah, that's him. So I'm happy, because now I know better how to care for him. There aren't very good instructions for "little turtle that must have crawled up from Greenfield Lake." We got him a UV lamp this weekend. He's eating a little more. So far, so good.

We found a litter of 5 kittens in the front yard last night and I am very, very upset about it. I've almost posted several rants about my neighbors and their insistence on feeding the stray cats who are now so numerous that they travel in packs up and down the street. These cats are sickly and flea-ridden and carrying god knows what diseases. They poop in our yards and live under our houses, peeing and pooping under there like it's a huge litterbox put erected for their convenience. They yowl all night and kitten at all times of the year, including January, causing me to have to spend countless hours combing the yard for kittens before letting my dogs out. Because, people, my dogs WILL eat the cats.

It's no life for them. They're always gummy-eyed and being run over by cars. They're not wild because they don't have to hunt, but they're not domesticated because they're not CARED for. Animal control won't come and pick them up--they say they'll come and get them if I rent traps and catch them, but otherwise, it's my problem. The supposed fine for keeping strays is something like $50 for every instance of an unlicensed animal, and $50 for an animal with no rabies shot. I'd love to somehow sic animal control on the neighbors and have them charged for every single cat and kitten within a 2 block radius. Perhaps then it wouldn't be so "cute" to see them all come running up at feeding time.

Look, I don't mean to sound cold-hearted. There are 5 adorable days-old baby kittens in my front yard. Yes, they're sweet, but I know what they are going to grow up into. And I take my responsibilities as a pet owner very seriously.

I tried to capture the kittens, but I only got one (because it's already ill, I think) and it didn't seem fair to take him away from the others all scared and sick, so I put him back and I'm going to try again to get them all together and then take them to the shelter. Until then, it's yard patrol.

In final wildlife news, I'm on a crusade against the slugs that are eating my daylilies. As you know, I'm deathly afraid of worms and slugs are pretty much the same concept. When I unearthed a huge nest of them under the garden edging I nearly died of disgust and fear and rage and shock. So I put out dishes of beer around the daylilies and for the first 12 hours, nothing seemed to be happening. But the next morning, there were 25 dead slugs at the bottom of the beer. I almost took a picture of the death pool to show you, but I also almost puked when I saw it. So I don't think that needs to live on my blog.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Currently

Life is quiet in Meg-land.

Read:
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Shopgirl by Steve Martin
Here We Are in Paradise by Tony Earley

Reading:
Blue Angel by Francine Prose

Listening:

Here Comes Your Man by the Pixies

Slept Through:
For Your Consideration

Actually Watched:
Revenge of the Nerds

Worried about:
Oscar Peterson (isn't eating properly all of a sudden)
Gonzo (screamed when I pet him yesterday)

Rejoicing:
Tax refund arrival

Planted:
Angelonia
Ageratum
Amaryllis
(didn't notice until now that it was "A" day)

Yard Sale-ing Yield:
negligable

Ate:
Chicken Tikka Masala
Tempura fried crab in lueysuan sauce
Spicy Eggplant and Tofu with Thai Basil

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Pender Pines

Yesterday, Jennifer and I ventured out to Pender Pines, which is an awesome nursery and garden center in Pender County.

They have an incredible selection of plants and Jen and I shopped for about 2 hours.

I got: Red Butler (hehe) lantana, a pink penta, 3 gerbera daisies, some bronze snapdragons, and mixed coleus babies. Jen got me some cacti that rule. One looks like it has purple eyes and antenna.

Here I am standing beside our purchases (the bulk of which are obviously Jennifer's).



They have beautiful gardens to walk through, with all manner of ponds and bridges and garden ornaments, including this very awesome sea serpent made of mosses and things:



Finally, we visited their on-site emus. Last year, you could feed the emus. This year not so much. I must admit that it did kind of hurt, but I was still dissapointed not to be able to do it again.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Odds and Ends

So, I want to blog, but not much of note has been happening.

Today is the start of Free Comic Book Day (Weekend) at Fanboy, so Thomas has been absent and/or frazzled all week. I've been lazy. I re-read A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel and remembered how very much I like it. I rejoiced that Beat Box Blake was not kicked off of Idol. I drank some wine.

I went back into my old archives and discovered that some old IHOKians did, in fact, come to find me, but that I never noticed as it was last July. I've unearthed some old pictures of some of these people and have been reminiscing, but only with myself, as I have no way of getting in touch with these fine people.

Gina posted a prom retrospective prompting me to want to write about the prom, but I'm saving most of my crazy prom pictures for my birthday next month. But here are some funny ones, just to tide you over.





Please note my perm (top) and recent baldness (bottom).

All in all, I went to 7 formal dances at my high school and although they were as horrifying as formal dances can be expected to be, I would still go to one now. There's a great element of camp, and also I like to dress up and then make fun of myself later. Thomas and I started dating when my friend Michelle held an 80's prom for her birthday (5 years ago this weekend, incidentally). I still like to tell people that Thomas asked me to the prom.



I loved shopping for that hideous dress. I had my mom fed ex me my crimping iron. Thomas got me a corsage so big it actually dwarfed my boob. It was awesome.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

By the Book

Today I've been thinking about my schedule.

I'm a person who likes a plan. It's not that I don't love spontaneity; I do. And it's not that I'm not brave about new things, because I'd like to think that I am. But in my ordinary, day-to-day life, I like to know what's about to happen. Though I think I'm a bit more rigorous about my schedule than most people.

Here's how it goes:

6:00 am: Wake. Feed dogs and turtle. Pee and brush teeth. Let dogs out. Check email. Let dogs in. Take shower, blow dry hair, dress. Make salad for lunch. Water back garden.

7:10 Go to work. Stop at gas station or grocery store if necessary. Write tests, distribute folders.

8:30-2:30 Teach

2:45 Walk a mile.

3:00 Visit Thomas at Fanboy. Head home.

3:30 Feed dogs and turtle. Water front and back gardens. Eat snack. Check bloglines, myspace and email. Clean turtle's cage.

4:15 Grade student work.

5:00 Walk 4 miles, with various people.

6:00 Watch/help Thomas prepare dinner

7:00 Eat. Watch TV.

9:00 Get in bed. Read. Sleep.

Begin again.

This is every day of my life. Today, 3 minor deviations caused stress: I forgot to put on deoderant (um, it's 90 degrees out and I smell horrifying), I forgot to write tests for my students last night and had to write 5 this morning at 7:30 and, last but not least, I had an extra minute between watering and leaving this morning so I called to check my bank balance and realized I was about to overdraw by 10 dollars.

This has cast a shadow over my otherwise predictable day.

How wedded are you to your schedule?