Thank you so very much, Great American Diner & Pub – for being a dark cool place to rest these weary eyes of mine after a spectacular late night of boxed Franzia white wine. Thank you for being so large as to quickly seat these weary bones on a comfy booth cushion moments after entering your premises. Thank you for your friendly waitstaff who promptly provided coffee and water – who even asked if we preferred it with or without lemon. Thank you for your cooking staff slaving away over hot stoves to prepare my omlette with italian sausage and provologne with hash browns and wheat toast.
And your free refills of coffee.
Where would I have been without you today?

Weekend of late and wonderful nights. Got home from Megan & Jason’s “Yay Us!” Thanksgiving style party around 4something a.m. Saturday morning – made dinner & brownies with Nik at our own private slumber party before watching Bruno and Milk (which I didn’t make it through, due to quantities of wine & lack of sleep). Drove to the Pub to meet up with Jill for brunch. (Score 1 for #075!)  Cleaned my room & battled back the cold I’ve had which was trying to creep back to full strength after a weekend of drinking…

Started reading An Echo in the Bone tonight. Am going to try and turn in early to get some well earned sleep. Wouldn’t change a thing about the weekend though — fabulous!!!
More on Bruno tomorrow and hopefully a start to keeping my floor clean for 2 weeks to nail down #057!

Mom finally let me borrow her copy of Michael Bublé’ latest album Crazy Love so I could load it into my iTunes. The single Haven’t Met You Yet is definitely my favorite so far - others include Bublé’s cover of Heartache Tonight (I love that song!) and his duet with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes). Downsides include Cry Me A River (Bublé sounds great, but the direction they went with in the song just doesn’t work well.) If you’re a fan – you’ll definitely enjoy the album! My 3 faves were added to my 101 Tracks! 
                                                    Runner up: All I Do Is Dream of You

4/5 Stars

Growing up, my father had the guilty pleasure of watching episodes of the Three Stooges. I thought there would be nothing in the world I would hate more. So when I was presented with the option of watching a Marx Brothers film in high school – which upon seeing the cover I promptly passed it by with a “Heck No!”

Since then I haven’t really had the opportunity to watch a feature length Marx Brothers film – though I have realized their comedy would be different from the Stooges.

Cut to Thursday night when I watched A Night At the Opera – and was pleasantly surprised. A musical comedy, Opera features tidbits of the Marx Brothers’ famous anarchy framed around a story of two opera singers struggling to find sucess & love together. The plot devise is really just an excuse for the Marx Brothers to do their thing – Harpo steals the show with a gorgeous harp performance while stowed away on a transatlantic journey  and his trapeze antics in the final opera house chase scenes are executed so perfectly that it really makes the end of the movie – and the happy conclusion for the two lovers to boot! All three of the Brothers play their stereotypical roles and can really be credited with so much of the foundation of comedic style in film. Seeing their work you can really see how they’ve influenced the industry.

I’ve still yet to watch Duck Soup which I hear is the other of the Brothers most famous & well loved films. I’m happy to say that I’m now actually looking forward to it! So that’s one more down off my AFI Top 100 Composite List! 38 to go!

Les Choristes [The Chorus] is a French film released in 2004 that rolls along like a babbling brook on a sunny afternoon in springtime. It’s just that warm & fuzzy. Stop laughing.

In this gentle drama, music teacher Clement Mathieu lands a job at a boys’ boarding school populated by delinquents and orphans — and run by a martinet headmaster. Sensing potential in the rambunctious ruffians, Mathieu forms a choir to rein in his charges through the transforming power of song, even at the probable cost of his career. The structure of the film relies on the reflections of an older man who has recently lost his mother & is faced with a distant past that shaped his future.

Perfect movie for a night in battling a cold. Yet another foreign film that feels more like real life than an actual film.
You may treat your tourists like trash, but thank you France for making your films as good as your wines.

Solid 4/5 Stars.

4/5 Stars

Sunday night I hopped into bed and started to read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

The style in which The Road is written is not altogether unique. It can be confusing while speeding through passages to assign the dialogue to a character. Is it the man? Is it the boy? I’ve read several books in this style that I have really enjoyed – the dialogue is always just a pain to sift through. But in this case - the style completely pulls a reader into the tense and brutal storyline of a father and son as they journey through postapocolyptic America towards the Atlantic Ocean. To what end, they don’t know. All they have is each other.

A nameless disaster has destroyed civilization as we know it. Nothing remains but scattered pockets of survivors living like animals, half burned forests & towns and a battered highway infrastructure of buckling asphalt. The sheer horror and sense of imminent danger throughout the novel just sucked me in and had me finishing the 241 page novel in one sitting of  about 2 hours.

Anyone who as ever worried for a child – whether its just seeing a child nearly run into the street, or you’re a parent every day – can at least relate in some way to the agonizing the man deals with, and the absolute awe he has for the boy. Having grown up in this wasteland world, the boy somehow has developed a keen sense of right and wrong, wanting constantly reassurance that, “We’re the good guys, right?”  Wanting to preserve some of the boy’s innocence through devastating scenes they witness is all but impossible. Having to teach one’s child how to put a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger if the time comes – be eaten or have it end quickly – is absolutely impossible to reconcile. The book follows their struggles to survive and maintain some form of humanity as they follow the road.

I chose to read this book, as many have recently – to prepare for the upcoming release of John Hillcoat’s film adaptation of The Road. I’m already anticipating the film to be visually stunning.  Hillcoat is a relatively unknown Australian director of whom I’m already a fan. His film The Proposition really shows his talent for using the landscape in a film almost like another character in a piece – and his knack for constant unease and use of violence are exceptional. It’s likely going to be brutal to watch, but I know in the end, I’ll go and see it.

010. Take a multivitamin daily for 30 days. (30/30)  – GOAL COMPLETED!So yesterday I took my gummy vitamins like clockwork and went about my day without quite realizing that – Hey! Day 30! I did it!

 

Got home at 4 a.m. yesterday after going at it all day with fellow alumni and the few kids at La Salle I still know (all while meeting so many new theater kids…sheesh!) Went to the cast party after the alumni happening hour post-Guys & Dolls.

Ran around today gearing up for tomorrow’s date with destiny regarding Goal #039 (Hooray new heels!) and my ducks in a row for my 2nd Lasik/PRK/Visian ICL consultation afterwards.
I came home to find this waiting for me:

Click on the badge to check out Day Zero Listmakers – a great place to find resources, support & other people out there working on their own excellent 101 in 1001 Goals!

5/5 Stars

The first time I read through A Breath of Snow and Ashes I read it ever so slowly – because for the first time in the Outlander series – I had run out of books to borrow from the library. Reading in 2007 and knowing the next book won’t hit stores till late 2009 was painfully similar to what Harry Potter fans experienced between each book release. Now that I’m done, and a new hardback copy of An Echo in the Bone sitting in my room… I’m not sure I’m ready for it!

I’ve also got a copy of The Road from the library that’s just begging to be touched… and obviously a much shorter read. The next few days are going to be crazy for me – so I won’t be getting to either of them quickly. We’ll just see what happens.

At any rate – A Breath of Snow and Ashes was as good the 2nd time around as the first, if not better. It’s extremely complex – I picked up more hints for future plotlines or troubles. I forgot parts and reread them like new. But most of all – the violence that is done to some of these characters really sticks with you. The betrayal and the loss they experience is very sad and very real. At this point, asking me to describe this series is like asking for a quick synopsis about the Bible. Just… no.  

Homecoming at La Salle today! All sorts of fun alumni activities including seeing Guys & Dolls produced by my old theater group.  Will likely see the sun rise…

Shake It Like a Polaroid Picture...

Just as our latest production at the theatre was getting underway – our house manager was trying to get together a playlist to have going in our lobby before & after the show that dealt with our show. He’d printed a list of popular love songs – and love/hate songs. I offered to burn him some music so he didn’t pay for anything on iTunes. Going over said list, I casually remarked which songs I thought I had, or knew I didn’t.

Apparently, owning 2 songs by Elvis Presley – is just not enough. Floyd teased me mercilessly & prompted my trip to the local library, where I was lucky enough to find Elvis Presley: The Top Ten Hits Volumes 1 & 2. Thirty-eight songs later — in addition to my own Elvis tracks (Jailhouse Rock & You Were Always On My Mind, respectively) I know have fourty songs by The King.

I’ve always found Elvis to be a bit of an oddity, particularly as he got older. His evolution was strangely hipnotic. It wasn’t graceful – nothing that involves rhinestones is. But he was a cultural phenomenon.  And some of his songs are exceptionally good. I can even forgive the fact that most people know his version of  Hound Dog instead of Big Mama Thornton’s. And those cheesy movies… Elvis actually grew on me alot after seeing Bruce Campbell’s performance in the ridiculous Bubba Ho-Tep, and then even moreso after reading the Sookie Stackhouse series (fellow readers will understand).

I’ve added 3 highlight songs to my 101 Tracks list in honor of the occasion: All Shook Up, Hearbreak Hotel, & Burning Love.
Now, if I can just get my mom to stop telling me how great the new Michael Bublé album is & actually let me borrow it… we’ll be golden!

011. Have consultations for Lasik surgery. If corneas not too thin – then 
     do it. And now: try Surfing because you can see WTF is going on!

         (Why surfing?)Consultation at Kremer Eye Center went well Monday night. Unfortunately, my corneas are thinner than one might hope when thinking about Lasik. If I had it done, there wouldn’t be enough tissue to ever go back and treat my eyes if there were any further change.

There’s good news though! There are 2 possibilities for me look into in order to yield the same results as Lasik. The first being PRK, the second Visian ICL.

The future is now!

PRK was described to me as being a longer recovery time (about a week) and can range from being, ‘okay’ painwise, or - ‘the worst pain I’ve ever felt’ – these being descriptions from past patients at the Center. It’s slightly more expensive, but still manageable. I would be able to have another surgery later down the line if my eyes got worse again – and it would be for free from Kremer.

Visian ICL (Implantable Collamer® Lens) is my second option, where something like a permanent contact lens is folded up and injected into your eye through a slit and then put in place behind your iris.

These are removable & replaceable if needed -but designed to be permanent. You’re seeing perfectly within hours, experience very little discomfort, and no corneal damage. And protected further from UV rays and all this crazy stuff. It’s more expensive than PRK – and I need to find out if they’d charge me all over again if I ever needed a change or if I’d get some sort of discount as a repeat offender. I just don’t know.

I’ve got another consultation on Monday with a different doctor. (I’m hoping maybe they might have better pricing?)

So it’s not quite Lasik - but if I can get my vision to 20/20 without glasses. I’m still counting this goal as on track and on the way to completion!

010. Take a multivitamin daily for 30 days. (25/30)

Five days to go on the multivitamins without screwing up. I’m proud of me right now!
Better yet – it’s become a habit. I think I’ll just keep going with taking them.

011. Have consultations for Lasik surgery. If corneas not too thin – then 
     do it. And now: try Surfing because you can see WTF is going on!
         (Why surfing?)

Going to my first consultation with Kremer Eye Center in Cherry Hill, NJ tonight at 6:00 p.m.
I’ve got another office I’m checking out next week as well – but I think if the folks tonight tell me I’m not ready, or my eyes won’t take the surgery – I probably won’t need to go to the next one. Kremer’s got a broader service selection with options the other doesn’t – so if they say it’s a no…. It’s a no.

012. Do something to make having flat feet better for you!
         - Visit Podiatrist. Explore custom insert options.

My Dad has flat feet like me – and has no faith in any local podiatrists or the inserts they make. The one that fixed his feet in the 80s has since retired – so I don’t want to pay a $50 copay for someone else to tell me what I already know is wrong with my feet… um, they’re flat.
Found a shop on eBay that has insanely good feedback for thousands upon thousands of custom inserts – they mail you a tray to take molds of your feet and then mail you inserts.
I sucked it up and placed an order. I’ve never been screwed by an eBay purchase before – and I’ve bought EVERYTHING under the sun on there before. I researched, they’re legitimate – and hopefully they will help with sneakers & make #013 happen faster!

039. Find a new less infuriating job with significantly better pay. Even if it
        means a new city, state, or country. 
       (Resumes & Cover Letters,  scattered to the winds!)

I may or may not have a job interview downtown on Monday….cough…
Thanks to a heads up from a friend about this position, I got a lovely phone call this morning. And am now going through the usual, “What will I wear? What will I say!?” motions before an opportunity like this. Crossing my fingers!

053. Learn you’ll never have a sloppy filing system again.
          – Finish transferring all music to external hard drive into
            appropriate folders. 

Bit the bullet and made a dent in file transferring this week. About 700 MB of music transferred & synced back into iTunes. Sooo tedious! I think I’m going to find out how much more I need to move & create a gauge for myself – because at the moment it feels like there’s no end in sight – and I had moved a TON of music before I even started 101 in 1001! A gauge will help.

~*~*~*~

Closer to finishing another book, have 2 movies to watch (one from Netflix, the other the library) and a possible switching of gym memberships coming up in the next few days as well.
Add in all the other stuff going on this week – and it’s going to be a busy one!