And that's what friends are for....

So Christmas has come and gone. Not too much has changed other than I have a new bounty of cool gifts to play with over the next few months and I'm pretty sure that I have lost years off of my life by dealing with my family. Honestly I love them, but the holidays seem to bring the worst as well as the best out of all of us! So that's what friends are for; they're there to take you away from the family madness and remind you that it's ok to be selfish once in awhile and not worry about being the world's #1 daughter. As Sudha has already brilliantly concluded, the only relationships that seem to thrive over long-distances are the ones you have with your family.

One of my new favorite stories is from two night ago when JT kept me, Sudha, and Sam waiting on his doorstep for 10 minutes. Granted, 1) we didn't call before going over there, 2) he had a ton of family in his house who were already asleep at 10:30, and 3) well there isn't really a 3.

Thanks goodness it was unseasonably warm outside and I didn't mind staring at his barely cracked open front door as he proceeded to freak out in front of us about people being asleep in his house. Things that were said within those 10 minutes:

JT: "Well this is just unexpected. I don't know what to do"
Me: "You could let us into your house. If not, we can just go to my house, but I'm trying to stay away from my family"
Sam: "Well, can we just take some beer then?"
JT: "But you've got to be quiet"
Sudha: "What, like we've never been in mixed company before?! Like we don't know how to be quiet...."
Me to Sam after JT had run away from the door for the third time: "Call Daphne [JT's sister], she likes you and she'll let us in"
Daphne: " Why are you guys standing on the doorstep?"
JT: "oh... this is just so unexpected"
Me: " We brought movies-- Batman Begins and the Family Guy Movie"
JT: " The Family Guy movie?!?! Ok, we just gotta to be quiet in the basement"
Sam: "Look, it's not like we've got a 6-piece band with us"

So we were finally let into his house where we spent a very relaxing, family free time watching the Family Guy movie. Even though he has already seen it three times before, JT laughed harder and louder than any of us-- he was a 6-piece band in himself.

The funniest comedy you're probably not watching

Now you all know how much I love my tv. Usually, once I write off a show, I don't give it a second chance, cause after the first season it is most often downhill creatively. But, you gotta watch Arrested Development! I was recently convinced to give it a try and I have to say, this stuff is funny! Problem is, you really need to watch the first couple of episodes to get into it and understand what is going on-- probably the reason why the show is getting cancelled. Most people tune it, don't get what is going on and turn the channel. There are only a few episodes left though and they are pretty damn funny-- Scott Baio's role as the lawyer "Bob Loblaw" is funny simply for the fact that they get to say his name out loud and refer to the Bob Loblaw Law Blog.... genius I say... Also the youngest son's fake arm makes for hilarious slapstick humour scenes. So, if you originally wrote this show off like I did, rent the first season and then catch the last new episodes on Monday nights.

Funny Political Quotes

This is a great page for funny things that are either taken out of context or actually true. My favorite one is by Wolf Blitzer when he was reporting on the Katrina tragedy:

"You simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals...many of these people, almost all of them that we see are so poor and they are so black, and this is going to raise lots of questions for people who are watching this story unfold." --CNN's Wolf Blitzer, on New Orleans' hurricane refugees


Taken from another blogger:
"And they are so black"?? What is that supposed to mean? Can you imagine if Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity had said this? There would be cries of "outrage" and breathless demands for an apology.

Way to go Wolf.....

At least it wasn't their food.....

So check out this story: Man gets paid $5 to drink detergent by a Waffle House cook who called it a "Christmas Milkshake"-- now on life support

So if you note, this story comes from McDonough, which is where we all live. At least it wasn't the Eagles Landing WaHo cause I don't know what I would have done. With the no smoking rules in effect here, that location has become our Peach Pit/ Central Perk whenever we come home. Now, you should also note that the man was treated at the Henry Medical Center ER. And because of HIPAA regulations, JT has informed me that I would not be able to know or tell whether my dad treated this guy. Either way, he's probably gonna die because of this practical joke. This makes me sad. The Waffle House should be a haven for people from all walks of life.

Time spent in the Waffle House so far this week: 45 minutes :)

Syriana what.....?

So yeah. Don't see this movie. Or if you do see this movie, prepare to be dazed and confused throughout most of it.

I saw "Syriana" last night with JT and Sam-- a future doctor and a Middle East studies scholar. Add in my school psych smarts and you think we would be able to get this movie. Umm...no.

So maybe the fact that we were inebriated when we saw it didn't help. I mean JT's opinion doesn't really count since he passed out for about 2/3 of it. After Sam caused a commotion by trying to quietly open his bag of peanut M&M's, only to have them comically fly everywhere after the bag finally ripped open, he and I settled down to try and figure this movie out. Our thoughts:

#1-- George Clooney really packed on the weight for this role
#2-- Since the movie was funded by a liberal organization, we were expecting more in the way of political persuasion and really it didn't seem to be persuading anything but more confusion (my own personal thought: it was half-assed, which is to be expected from a liberal organization)
#3--Maybe the first 5 minutes was the key to the whole movie and since we missed it, that's why we were confused.
#4-- JT was funny all passed out

Before you think we were drunk and just didn't get it, the woman in front of us was so confused when the movie ended that she felt compelled to stand up and annouce to the whole theater, "I didn't get that! Did anyone else get it?! I really didn't get it at all." I just kind of stared at her cause I don't know that my pride would have allowed me to stand up in a crowded theater and make that sort of declaration. Kudos to her.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution gave it an A-. It seemed to be well filmed and acted, so I can't say that I hated the movie. I just was kind of confused by the pacing of it all. At any rate, go see it if you must cause Matt Damon is pretty cute in it at least. Stay tuned for my review of "The Family Stone" and my visit to the new Georgia Aquarium.

So Ana Lucia is nuts in real life....

So not only does she do psycho things on "Lost," but she also seems to have drinking and driving issues. I just hope she pulls it together and that this doesn't affect her role on the show. Her character was really starting to get interesting. Anyway, read the article from MSN.com (here)

I nearly lost my life in the library

Well not really, but almost. The night before my last exam I nearly had to spend the night in the library. On my way to the library, I was on the phone in a 3-way with Lee and Sudha which was definitly amusing and distracting. I got out of my car at 9:30pm and talked to them till I got to the library. I walked through the front doors and sat down at a computer to look up a journal I needed. Then I took the elevator down to the dungeon that is the first floor. After climbing on the shelves to reach the book that I needed to get from the very top shelf-- yes I'm short, this is no surprise to anyone that I needed to do this-- I sat down at a nearby table and studied until 11:30. After numerous intercom announcements about the library closing the bottom 4 floors, I packed up my stuff and moved to the main floor, which was going to be open for 24 hours. By 1:30am I was feeling pretty good about myself and decided to head home. I couldn't find my keys. Crap. I figured I left them on the first floor which was now closed. So I calmly make my way to the main desk to see if someone could help me go get them. All of the staff had gone home and they had hired two random security gaurds not affiliated with the university to watch the place during the night. Here is the conversation I had with them:

Me: Hi, I need some help. I think I left my keys on the first floor when I was studying there earlier. Is there anyway for me to get down there and look for them?
Guards: No
Me: Umm....it's kind of important cause my car keys and my apartment keys are on that key chain.
Guard #1: Well, we don't work here. There's no way for us to get in.
Me: Is there anyone we could call? An emergency phone number?
Guard #2: Umm....no.
Me: Well do you have any suggestions?
Guard #1: Umm..... no.
Me: What about campus security? Can't they get in?
Guard #1: Let me check the papers we have..... Nope, there's no number for us to call.

So basically, if the library caught on fire and all the students started running around naked and having orgies, there was apparently no one that could be called. Now I was starting to panic.

Guard #2: Isn't there anyone you can call to pick you up? Someone on campus you can stay with?
Me: I don't live on campus and I don't know anyone that does. I don't think anyone would want me calling them during exam week at 2 in the morning to come get me and take me nowhere cause I don't have my apartment keys either.
Guard #1: Well I guess you'll have to stay here till they open again at 7 am.

What the hell?!?! How more unhelpful could someone be?!?! Anyway, so I start re-tracing my steps. I thought maybe I was so distracted by the phone call that I may have left my keys in the car and not even locked it. As I'm staring through the locked windows of my car, a campus security car rolls by and wants to know what I'm doing. I tell him that I have a small problem, explain what happened, and ask if he can help me.

Policeman: Sure. I can get you in. Jump in the backseat and we'll go back.

So I had my first experience being in the back of a police car. Boy do they not want you to have any legroom back there. It was very bizarre. And why couldn't I get in the front seat? I think he still thought I was trying to break into my own car.

We go back to the library and he takes me through the UNLOCKED doors down to the first floor. Why couldn't they have just told me they were unlocked?!? Poor man wasn't all that slim and he was huffing his way down the 5 flights of stairs. We take a look around and find no keys. Well we huff our way back up the stairs-- I'm out of breath too at this point cause I can't remember the last time I exercised. Kickboxing got replaced with paper writing about 2 months ago. Anyway, the cop decides to check the LOCKED staff office. Well, what do you know. There are my keys, with a note saying "found near computers at 9:45" What the hell!?!?!?! What is the point of locking someone's keys in an office and then going home? Why wouldn't they leave them at the front desk? Why not make an annoucement with all the other million announcements before leaving to go home?!?! People have no common sense. Granted I should have looked after my keys first, but still..... come on..... As I'm leaving,

Guard #1: Wow, you're pretty lucky that the cop drove by. We don't normally call them unless someone gets locked in a room.
Me: Yeah. I'm pretty lucky (you lazy jerk, that couldn't get off his ass and help me out when you totally could have! Who gets locked into a room anyway?! I bet you've gotten locked in a room before cause you're such an idiot. I really wish Wendy's was still open. I could really go for one of those bacon mushroom burgers. Maybe I should get one of those tomorrow. I wonder who came up with the mushroom burger anyway? Dave Thomas? I wonder if it was the last sandwich he designed? Hmm.... Maybe I should stop glaring at this guy and go home)

So anyway, that was my library disaster. Thankfully I didn't have to sleep there like a weirdo all night long.

Walk the Line

Go see this movie. Right now. Seriously.

I wasn't too sure I wanted to go see a long movie about "The Man in Black", but I walked out of there feeling the same way I did after seeing Million Dollar Baby (but a little more upbeat) thinking "Wow, I'm really glad I saw that." For those of you that don't remember, I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to see Million Dollar Baby cause I wanted to see some other mindless movie that I can't even remember now.

Joaquin Phoenix (yeah...I have no idea how to say his name) and Reese Witherspoon both sang the stuff themselves, and on the whole were incredibly believeable. The movie is a tad long, but I didn't look at my watch once-- Unlike when I saw Pearl Harbor and Charles tried to jump across all 7 of us to strangle Sam for lying to him about the 4 hour running time...

This is great Wikipedia entry about the history of the song "Hurt"
Johnny Cash covered the NIN song right before he died and it is one my favorites.
An interesting article about the many sides of Johnny Cash

And there we were....

A U.S. Marine squad was marching north of Basra when they came upon an Iraqi terrorist, badly injured and unconscious. On the opposite side of the road was an American Marine in similar but less serious state.

The Marine was conscious and alert and as first aid was given to both men, the squad leader asked the injured Marine what had happened.

The Marine reported, "I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway here, and coming south was a heavily armed insurgent. We saw each other and both took cover in the ditches along the road. I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein is a miserable, lowlife, scumbag, and he yelled back that Senator Ted Kennedy is a good-for-nothing, fat, left wing liberal drunk. So I said that Osama Bin Ladin dresses and acts like a frigid, mean, bitch of a woman!"

He retaliated by yelling, "Oh yeah? Well so does Hillary Clinton!"

"And, there we were, standing in the middle of the road, shaking hands, when a truck hit us."

This was taken from another funny blog-- check them out!

Peanut Butter Kisses

This is just plain sad....

Girl in Canada dies after being kissed by her boyfriend

Add this on to the list of things you need to find out before kissing someone. STD's? Peanut allergies?