Welcome to the 3rd in a series o/blogs I maintain, the number of which is mainly due to keeping up & communicating w/various friends via ea.o/their own special LiveSpace McBloggerBook spots. Eventually ea.blog may end up focusing on separate topics, but for now most entries are simply cross-posted.
My friend, Joey, has been discussing healthier living lately & trying to eat more vegetarian food as a part of this. I've never really gone out of my way to try specifically vegetarian stuff before (nothing against it, it's just never been on my list of things to do) but he piqued my interest when he told me that MorningStar Farms' "Chik'n Nuggets" tasted just like the real thing. Last night I was hungry & didn't really feel like cooking, so I opted to hit the store instead so I could try a couple things from the "Healthy Eating" (a.k.a. vegetarian) section. I finally decided on "Chik'n Nuggets" & "Broccoli Cheddar Veggie Bites". I'll try more later, but figured I'd start w/these:
MorningStar's "Chik'n Nuggets" Joey was right, they did taste just like actual chicken nuggets, didn't even need gobs of ketchup or anything. I'll be getting these again.
MorningStar's "Broccoli Cheddar Veggie Bites" OH.MY.GOD. Let me preface this by saying I kind of have a thing about most things involving green veggies & cheese. THESE were SO good. It was nigh on impossible for me not to eat all the ones in the box in one sitting, seriously. Luckily for me I only baked a little o/ea. o/my choices at a time & saved the rest for later.
I am uncomfortably tired today for some unknown reason & therefore having a Hellish time concentrating on actual work...again. I've really got to do something about this. Maybe taking regular vitamins again would assist?
I am also intensely hungry & vaguely concerned that once my food gets here I might actually try to stuff an entire gyro in my face while planning what to consume next, possibly including office supplies & co-workers. I really need to make it a point to eat breakfast in the morning. This is ridiculous.
I think if you’ve not yet seen 'Hamlet 2' you should really get on that because it's awfully funny & you are missing out.
Speaking of movies, I just saw an ad for the new 'Underworld Number Whatever-The-Hell' that's apparently coming out on Jan.23rd. I had no idea another was in production let alone coming out soon. Is anyone else planning on seeing this? I don't even care if the movie's any good, I'd just go because Kate Beckinsale's gorgeous & I get to see her kicking ass in slick boots, latex, corsets & leather. :)
Y'know, after being off work since the afternoon o/Christmas Eve, it's taking some serious work to really get back into the swing of things. I'm having a really awful time concentrating on anything today & it's a struggle not to roam the internet. I'm compromising by running an industrial Pandora channel in the background and typing this entry up in Notepad during breaks from today’s tasks.
My holiday time off was actually *way* more social than I originally planned, which was fantastic. I spent very little time @ the apt., returning briefly to do laundry or grab something before going back out again. Stayed w/the folks Christmas Eve & Christmas Night, then headed back to the apt.on the 26th. I was supposed to hit one or more of three Christmas parties to which I'd been invited, but for some reason I was feeling kind of off-kilter so I didn’t follow up on either. Had it not been for Michael's unrelenting insistence that I get over to the ALL Tower & hang out w/the crew for once, I'd have likely just stayed home & watched movies 'til I crashed, but I listened to him & ended up having a really good time & feeling better as a result.
Sat.night I just stayed in, apparently the *same* night that everyone else on the planet decided to head out to Spellbound that evening. ::chuckles:: I guess it was a shame I didn't know about it, but honestly I was perfectly happy to just go home, fall over, curl up & sleep that night b/c I was exhausted.
Sunday I hit the folks' house, helped my Mom, then went to Katiedid's where we stayed up *far* too late making 2 mammoth vats of stew while bouncing around the kitchen being rowdy & ridiculous to industrial and hair metal. I was supposed to stay the night in Rockville, but about 6:30a I got a call from Pat. The poor guy'd accidentally locked himself out o/the apt.& no one else w/a spare key was in town, so I jetted (have to remember to get a few things back from Katie's house) & headed back to let him in just before he headed out to work.
Tuesday I went to Hampton w/Katie & Nicholas to visit their friend Johnny & hit up a club. I haven't had that much fun at a club in forever (it's held @ Wave on Wednesdays for anyone reading this). The turnout was full, the dance floor was never mostly empty, the music was good & most importantly it didn't seem that anyone really had much of an attitude about club status/popularity/whatever-the-Hell, etc. The crowd was comprised of a *lot* of new blood, there were all kinds of diff.people enjoying the Hell out o/themselves on the dance floor and I didn't really notice any of the disdainful looks being flung one way or the other that's a bit more obvious in other scenes. It was a great time and I'd love to go back.
Party at Johnny's after the club, crashed out around ??? o'clock, then packed up & headed back to No.VA the next day after a quick stop at Waffle House (hash browns!). Went to Kohl's for my first time on the way back, met Nicholas's parents (they're great & make me want to make them food of some sort), then back to Reston. Showered, changed, then back out to the ALL Tower w/Katie, Nicholas & Dave to hang out for a bit before returning to Reston for movies & pajamas. Good stuff.
Last night no one was really feelin' like wings, so Nicholas, Katie & I decided to see 'Gran Torino' instead, meeting up w/Dave beforehand. I loved this film. I really like Clint Eastwood, always have, but the film itself was fantastic in so many ways and I think there were some pertinent facets of this movie that weren't necessarily advertised as strongly as others. It made me laugh, it made me tear up, it made me slap my hands over my mouth & my eyes but out in shock. I don't really want to go into more detail about it at the moment, so I'll simply say I seriously recommend it.
After the movie we were hungry as Hell, so off to the 24hr.Korean BBQ in Annandale. Sushi wasn't available (damn!) but the food we got was pretty damned good. I got the Jap Chae (basically sliced beef w/sauteed vegetables over glass noodles) w/boiled dumplings as an appetizer and there was NO way I could finish everything, not even close. Everyone seemed to like what they got & went home full & happy.
So that was my holiday! Good times for everyone & far too much food. I'm actually making a New Year's resolution this year (I never bother with these usually) to join a freakin' gym & ACTUALLY GO. I'm tired of feeling blech about my physical appearance b/c I weigh too much and I want to actually do something about it. Plus, even though getting into an exercise routine is difficult for me, I *always* feel better once I've started, so my goal is to've decided on a fitting membership by the end o/Jan. I think I can do that. I'd also like to look into yoga. :)
Have you guys heard about this? It’s a dark, rock musical movie brought to you by Darren Lynn Bousman (director of Saw II-IV) that combines gratuitous blood, gore, and impromptu surgery with a post apocalyptic story (in this case a worldwide epidemic of human organ failures). The movie claims a cast including Anthony Head, Paul Sorvino, Paris Hilton, Sarah Brightman, and Nivek Ogre.
No, really. I fully admit that the first time I heard about it, I thought it was a prank movie. You know, something a group of college kids made up & may’ve advertised on YouTube because the hypothetical movie would be funny. Apparently, however, it’s real and is set to come out Friday, November 7th of this year.
The film (previously a play performed in both NY & LA) is described as follows between the official movie site, IMDB, and Wikipedia:
An epidemic of drastic proportions devastates the planet. Panic erupts and scientists feverishly make plans for a massive organ harvest. Out of the tragedy, GeneCo, a multi-billion dollar biotech company, emerges. GeneCo provides organ transplantation for a profit. In addition to financing options, GeneCo reserves the right to implement default remedies, including repossession. For those who can't keep up with their organ payments, collection is the responsibility of "organ repo men", skilled assassins contracted by GeneCo, ordered to recover GeneCo's property by any means necessary.
At the heart of the story is Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega of Spy Kids), a 17 year-old girl with a rare blood disease who has lived locked up and protected in her house, kept from the world at large by her father, Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head). Shilo battles with her desire to leave the house and experience life while Nathan struggles with his job as a repo man and, more specifically, his next target, a woman named Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman). Born without sight but given the ability by GeneCo at the price of having to sing for the GeneCo Opera, Mag was a friend of Nathan's now-deceased wife, and is Shilo's godmother. She is marked for repossession and scheduled to deliver her final performance for the company.
Meanwhile the Largo family, consisting of GeneCo president Rotti (Paul Sorvino), his daughter Amber (Paris Hilton), and his two sons Luigi and Pavi (Bill Moseley and Ogre of Skinny Puppy, respectively), have their own plans. Rotti is dying, and the three siblings bicker and fight about who is to take the role as head of GeneCo.
The stories intertwine and merge at the GeneCo opera.
I’ve way too many books for specific fav’s., so I just picked 13 at random books from my shelves and listed them. Subject to change at any given moment.
Aside from that, I have a really good sense of humor & will laugh at/joke about damned near anything, ranging from ridiculously morbid humor to outlandish, sub-par slapstick depending on my mood. Life’s too short not to find something to laugh about.
I’m often giddy & silly, other times serious, and occasionally (just every so often) even get a little gushy. I tend to be as blunt as possible, though I try not to be rude, and if I’m angry or annoyed about something may very well discuss at length the positive aspects of fiery defenestration, or the pros & cons of sharp objects vs.heavy, blunt ones.
My favorite teas are Earl Grey & Lapsang Souchong. The former smells strongly of bergamot and the latter tastes like burning leaves smell. Both are equally lovely.
Anything else you’d like to know re:me can either be found in my profile, this blog, or by asking me whatever you like.
1. Anything in the world to do with cooking. I do it as often as possible & almost always in far greater quantities than would likely feed the entirety of Ethiopia for a day. I like to blame it on being from a rather large family, but really it's a bit of a sickness.
2. Smoking excessively, spicy red wine, Jameson, coffee abuse. These often go hand in hand.
3. Romance novels. Oh yeah, that's right, and not just any romance novels, either. I specifically geek over historical romance novels, usually based in England or Ireland, somewhere between the 17th & late 19th centuries, chock full of lords/ladies, bodice ripping & predictable happy endings. It’s kinda ridiculous, but there you have it. For me it's the mindless, mental equivalent of what video games are for most other people, but playing video games usually bores me, so I read these instead.
