A Series of Short, Completely Random Thoughts, All of Which Have Everything To Do With Nothing

Everybody on the planet should listen to Elephants, by Rachael Yamagata. Its pretty. Then listen to Pork & Beans, by Weezer. Not as pretty, but still awesome.

Last night it snowed (!), and our power lines blew up. This has never happened before, and unnerved me greatly. My brother just liked the big boom.

When it snows for the first time in quite possibly forever, you have to go out and take pictures. But, because you are a camera snob, you don't have one camera, you have 3 different cameras. One of which, you have to come back in a change the lens 3 times. Which is a total of 5 trips. You also have to shoot manual focus, but can't since your fingers are frozen because, it doesn't get cold; ergo, no need for gloves. So your pictures aren't blurry, they're.....artsy.

Starbucks Signature Hot Chocolate with Caramel and Sea Salt. Say these words and rejoice.

Truffles are yummy.

When my mom knits, she counts her stitches in German. I will never understand this.

Might possibly have to web address for my pictures (other than flickr). I find this hugely exciting, and will update if any progress is made.

I ordered a Fat Cyclist T-Shirt, and wish it would arrive NOW. Cause I want to wear it. NOW.

Also subscribed to Motor Trend Magazine (I can hear you all laughing), and it still hasn't come. The mail system makes me sad.

Winter is a weird season. Alternatively melancholy and nostalgic, happy and cozy, lonely and poignant, thankful and optimistic.

Thats all the creativity I've got.

Moments of Greatness come cascading through my Soul...

I must first start with the warning this post contains a possibly controversial observation. Forgive me if I offend anyone - I do not utter this sentiment with any malice, just reflecting on the world.

With that out of the way, I have begun driving. No, this isn't the statement (family/friends [which is to say, all of you] you can stop with the oh my gosh, clear the streets, alert the media, take cover! jokes. Seriously. Those were old even before they got to me. Let it go!), its the preamble to the statement. Now, I am learning to drive on a manual, which is quite the experience.

Everytime I pull up to an intersection, I get the "Okay, down shift, down shift, come on you dumb light, don't make me *check mirror* start from a dead stop, what if I kill it?! *check mirror* Somebody is coming up behind me, aww crud, its a Porsche, don't stop close to me, stay back stay back stay back I don't want to roll back and hit you!! Okay, light going, didn't kill it, thats good, okay, up shift *check mirror*, get across the intersection, look buddy, I'm a student driver with a clutch, I'm NOT gonna be the first off the line! *check mirror*, ad infinitum.

Approach next intersection. Repeat. Its extremely stressful, but I love it. Its exciting and its new.

Today, however, due to a myriad of events I won't even pretend to comprehend, we had to take my uncles truck. *An aside - what is it with my family and trucks? My dad has one, my mom has one, my brother has one, my uncle has one, my cousin has one...*

Its an automatic.

I know I sound like a complete and utter snob, but seriously.

The only difference between an automatic and a golf cart is turn signals. On top of that downer statement, its nowhere near as fun.

You completely miss out on the fearful anticipation of stopping on a hill, having to perfect the clutch/brake/gas dance, triumphantly shifting beautifully into 6th....er.....I mean... 3rd, the feel of the clutch as you release making your leg shimmy, getting to use BOTH feet, only having 1 hand on the wheel cause the other is on the gear shift.

All that is just too cool, and you miss that in an automatic.

While I appreciate that driving (being a good driver, I should say) still requires awareness, reflexes, quick thinking and a multitude of other skills, you are just missing something fundamental that you can only get with a manual.

You just aren't as involved with the drive, ergo, in my mind, its just not as enjoyable.

I know that the title for this post has little, if nothing, to do with the actual content. But somebody texted that to me the other day, and it made me laugh.

Singles online

You see that everywhere, right?

Now, if we can do that for people, why can't we do that for socks? Everybody has at least 5 socks that don't have a match. So you put your sock online, somebody has the match and ta da! You now have a pair of socks.

Don't know how you decide who gets the socks, but once you get past finding a match that part is trivial.

VOTE

No matter who, what or where you are, you need to vote today.

Also, don't let other people pressure you into revealing how you voted. Its your business, and thats why the booths have the curtains.

So, vote, ya hear me?

Thanks.

'Ello Polly

Hey Universe, it's me, Alice. Just wanted to let you guys in on a little idea I got goin' on. Here goes.

1. When your phone runs out of battery, don't call it dead. Dead things can't be revived. Everybody should say, the phone is out of fuel.

2. Answer to world peace. Kalzones (misspelling intentional). And custard. Danish kalzones made from the best dough ever, white sauce and a bunch of vegetables. Custard is vanilla, with caramel and pretzels. Sounds strange, but it is the best thing ever.

3. Top Gear every night. I don't know about the rest of the world, but that would make me pretty happy.

4. Free Starbucks Signature Hot Chocolates for everybody. Seriously, its foolproof.

5. Recess for kids. Last I heard, recess was headed out the backdoor and thats just wrong.

6. High heels that are comfortable for more than 17.3 minutes. I know thats a big one, but give it a shot.

7. No more Transporter movies. They are just lame. The only possible redeeming factor is he drives an Audi. But still.

8. Another Harry Potter book. Come on, you know you want to....

9. You should drive on a driveway and park on a parkway.

10. Finally, go share some good karma with Fatty. He needs it.

Thanks.

Yesterday I saw the Secret Life Of Bees.

I had started to book earlier that day ( I was about 10pgs in), and my friends had invited me to go. I decided to see it, despite the fact I hadn't finished it. You cannon possibly understand how that pained me, but I persevered. :)

The movie was very well made; good acting, cinematography, score (I found that was one of the most enjoyable parts), story line, ect.

My favorite character was definitely May Boatwright (played by Sophie Okonedo). I won't spoil anything, but the fragility she displayed was beautiful.

Today, I took my book to work & polished off most of it, finishing it at home. Sue Monk Kidd is truly gifted at word craft - within a paragraph I completely understood the tale she was spinning, and what a beautiful tale it is.

Its got tragedy, comedy, examples of entrapment and examples of release. My copy (which is actually my moms copy, but I digress) is full of Post-It notes, marking my favorite lines or most touching moments.

Those who haven't read the book should pick it up, and those who have should read it again. Also, the movie stays very true to the book. You do miss a lot of Lily's (the main character) thoughts, but overall its remarkably on par with the novel. I would highly recommend it.

Quick question: Can you read a book more then once, for enjoyment?

Personally, I have read almost all my books at least twice & I know that I have read one book upwards of 5 times. They are books I love ( thats why I bought them), so I like to re-read them. Its comforting, and its fun to pick up whatever you might have missed the first time.

But just about everybody I talk to rarely reads any book more then once.

What say ye?