Growing up is hard to do

i've been doing a lot of thinking about getting older. and i don't mean older as in 30s and 40s, although i think about that too - but older. this year for the day of caring, we were at a nursing home and our job was to visit with residents and assist with an ice cream social. i spent the entire day wanting to cry. confined to wheelchairs, children rarely visit, minds disappearing... i don't want to live like that. but then i read articles like this and suddenly aging sounds pretty cool. i'm lucky that 6 out of my 7 grandparents (divorces and remarriages do wonders to increase the ranks) are still incredibly healthy and active - most likely more so than me, though that's not saying much. so i hope i will lead the fun life that my grandparents do, and not the "keep your chin" up life of my friend june.

on an entirely different note, looking at pictures of maeve and natalie make me want to go make one of my own. i told you long distance relationships have their upsides. in all seriousness, the garvs and the wicks occupy realms of readiness that johnny and i often feel as though we'll never occupy. but who knows - you can't predict the future. unless it's to say that the baby's room would be decorated in a green/underwater theme. but really, that's a given.

i got this "bad girl" calendar for my birthday last year and i wish i read it daily, instead of 2 weeks at a time - cause the day's entry would have made a lovely insert in the berfday card for jess, who shares a birthday with dorothy parker. the poem is as follows. ahem...

"i like to have a martini
two at the very most
after three i'm under the table
after four i'm under my host"

if that doesn't make a girl want to drink martinis, i don't know what will. oh wait, yeah i do. it's tipsy olives and a martini set. duh.

by the way did anyone notice that her birthday was on 2sday the 22nd? and did that make anyone else think of harvey dent? no, well, i'm using it as a segue to discuss "the dark knight," which i know all of you have been dying to hear my thoughts on. i'm nervous. oddly enough, less nervous about heath ledger and ryan phillippe than i am about news that katie holmes will again be in the movie - this time with a bigger role! what's up with that? the same chick is never in a batman movie twice. and she sucked. ah well, they could always have justin timberlake play dr. fries/mr. freeze and then cameron diaz can make an appaerance as mrs. snow globe.

check us out

and i think i know why this is. it's all the overachieving pmbas who have to write papers on friday nights and instead find links like this.

awesome

i just got back from a 90 minute pedicure. if that isn't enough to make all right with the world, i don't know what is. and there are huge garage sales all over allentown, so i can shop, while still enjoying the beautiful weather. all is right with the world, indeed.

a simile is like a metaphor w/o the analogy

or is it the other way around?

i have to tell you - this long distance thing sucks. i'm not whining, it's just that well, it sucks. i'm lonely and i hate being in my apt. lately. the really sucky thing is that i'm the kind of lonely where sometimes being with people makes me even lonlier. wierd, right? it's not the worst thing ever, it's not impossible, it'll be fine. it's just kinda like stubbing your toe when you should be dancing.

for some reason, on my way home, i decided that getting promoted to the really good jobs is like getting to be queen. there's a lot of people who have to die before you get to. or, you can switch countranies and move up the ranks over there. or, you could sleep around til you find someone who just gives you what you want with no real title. i don't know if any of this is actually true, but it amused me.

i also heard two excellent pick up lines on the way home. "hey, white girl!" and "baby, if you were helping me sell pillows i'd sell a thousand a day." maybe next time gents, maybe next time.

hooray for weekends!

well, i don't know about you, but i had a lovely weekend. it all started with the dictionary game on friday - and i'd like to give a hearty thanks to peter for setting it up. i had fun, once i got over my fear of wine. and i learned some new words and some new definitions of old words.

i watched my dad (cool dad, not bio-dad) build a pond in 6 hours, possibly less. well, i helped. i mean, someone has to sit in a chair and fetch beer. seriously though, my dad is a true nature artiste. really, truly, he rocks. and i made a little turtle looking doodad out of rocks, so i guess i rock too.

on sunday i went to the eden corn festival and played hick. my mom said that there was no way anyone would ever mistake me for a hick, to which i replied, "aw mom, you always see the sweetest things. now enough talking - let's go git us some kern!" mmm, i tell you, there is nothing like eden corn festival corn. it's just so buttery and yummy and freakin' good. and the complete lack of hicks had my mildly disappointed. ah well, there's always the erie county fair for that.

not to make you think that my weekend was all bliss, i got somewhat burned. no big deal you say, it is. i was wearing SPF 50! do you know how much of a freak of nature that makes me?! seriously though, i had a great time during my foray outside of city limits, and i'm really looking forward to doing it next sunday too. btw, maddie's a go for the ren fair.

i feel like blogging

but have nothing to blog about. work is, well, work and all of you who read this already know about my personal life, or will shortly find out when we go to 44. so, i'll fall back on an old favorite. art history. and you thought i was going to say batman. he comes later.

no really, art history. i love old art and i love learning about and talking about and trying to explain to people why it is so beautiful and moving. to my credit, i've once spent hours explaining this to someone. to his credit, he was only trying to sleep with me. to both our credits it worked. it's ok johnny, i'm talking about you. to me, art is like real life, only better. and i'm not talking about any of that modern crap - that stuff sucks and i will debate for hours on how that's not really art. or i could debate on how it technically is, but the point is - when you look at something and it actually causes emotions other than boredom, that means something. that's an accomplishment. for both you and the artist. not everyone is capable of seeing beauty. it's sad, but true. actually, it's not really sad, it's more of just a fact of life. but the reason it's like real life is that it just cuts through all the crap and gets right to the core. if the artist wants to show you how incredibly passionate and all-encompassing love can be, it can be done with the simple way the light touches a woman's neck. and despair - look no farther than the cracked cobblestone. and drama? well, look no further than my favorite technique - chiaroscuro. that's italian, yo.

and so, i think that's why i love comic books so much. not only do the artist's use chiaroscuro all over the place, but they make me laugh and cry. ok, it's really more smirking and saying "oh, no!" but you get the point. and they cost a hell of a lot less than a caravaggio.

speaking of comics, my original intent was to keep an updated list of the library up here. truth is, the list has gotten far too embarassingly large to post. if you want to read something, ask and i'll let you know if i have it. or, which is far easier, come over, wash your hands, and peruse the shelves. that's right, i said shelves.

score 2 for allentown

so johnny just called, "how'd you fare in the black out?" "what blackout?" "the one that alex and jess just had." "ha, didn't happen here - score one for allentown!"

and we have sweet tooth now and you don't. so now we're only down 465389712 for the win.

restoring my reason to live

ok, there really is no reason to get that dramatic but when johnny called me, and everyone else on the planet emailed me, to state that it was official that heath ledger would be playing the joker in "the dark knight," i started to cry. on the inside - where it counts. not really, but it was close. then johnny, who started my whole fall into despair gave me some uplifting news. apparently, in "the brothers grimm" he plays criminally insane and whacko very well. so well that johnny said, "he can do it gabby, he'll be a good joker, i swear." well, good. of course, now i have to go see that movie. either way, i heart christian bale.

besides the multiple communications surrounding archnemesis-es, three people who i was thinking about emailing today beat me to it. it was awesome. i am the most popular person ever. for today. hooray!