Pet Peeve

i wish people would stop talking about how nestor carbonell (who plays richard alpert on LOST) is wearing eyeliner. HE'S NOT. HE JUST LOOKS LIKE THAT.

that is all.

Wanna Know What I've Been Pondering?

you have to click the picture to see the whole thing... but if you're a LOSTie and haven't seen this week's episode, this might count as a spoiler.... not the part you can see right now, but the whole picture.

HI

so. i am a bad poster. bad bad bad. but the truth is, most of the things that happen in my days these days are not the sort of thing i post, either because they aren't that interesting to read about (like i asked a question in class and other people had been wondering about that too and were glad i asked) or are rather personal in an "i'm not telling everyone in the world about this" sort of way. you know?

my sister did come last week, which was fun, and this weekend my roommate from college/cousin by marriage is coming. it's not like my life isn't interesting, more that it's got enough in it that tons of extraneous thoughts aren't looming, and personal enough that i'm not wanting to blog about it all the time.

but i haven't forgotten you, faithful readers. in fact, i have a little something to tell you about.

it's called fringe, and it's my new love. a brainchild of the great jj abrams, fringe is a delightfully weird combination of x-files and alias, but with a mildly crazy scientist. it is a thing of wit and beauty. just sayin'.

The Heroes Season Premiere

was fabulous. i gotta say i love it when shows demonstrate the complexity of human nature. and, let's face it, there is no true "hero" except Jesus. at least these characters are portrayed as being flawed.

Fact of the Day

this is an excellent episode of law and order svu.

Top Ten Television Shows Currently in Production

i noticed camille paglia has top ten lists (top ten works of art, top ten sculptures, top ten movie lines, etc.), and they are cool, so i thought i would start doing the same on occasion. of course, i'm not nearly as brilliant as camille paglia, but i'm also not as wrong as her on a number of thing that matter (like theology), and that has to count for something.

10. the Office. it takes some getting used to the humor if it isn't quite your style, but it's fun to quote with friends any time.

9. CSI. yay for the forensics! seriously, though, i way prefer the original to either of the spinoffs.

8. Law & Order. i love how relevant a lot of the cases are, and how generally evenhanded they are (maybe excepting religion).

7. Ugly Betty. fashion, humor, awkward romance, ridiculous drama, and some salt-of-the-earth characters. what more could you ask for?

6. Law & Order: SVU. the on-screen chemistry between Detectives Stabler and Benson is fantastic, the cases are raw, and the law is fascinating. i love it.

5. Bones. i watch this gem after the latest season comes out, episode after episode. i can't handle waiting between episodes. the chemistry between Bones and Booth is palpable, and it's physical, emotional, professional, personal - almost every level is electrifying. i love it. and the forensic science is SO interesting. i'm sure a good bit of it is totally unrealistic, but it's fantastic.

4. House, MD. i love house because he says and does things that no one could get away with really. it's like a fairy tale for sarcastic people.

3. How I Met Your Mother. LEGEN-wait for it-DARY. hilarious. not exactly the most moral of these shows, but it probably has the best dialogue-writers of any of them. and the concept is great - a father telling his children in 20+ years how he met their mother - and how he became the man he was when he met her. brilliant. the cast is great, and they are FUNNY.

2. Heroes. everyday superheroes. epic battle between good and evil. surprises at every turn. need i say more?

1. LOST. ok, so i definitely am attached to this show partly because it's a JJ Abrams brainchild, and so was Alias, which is only the best television show in history. the twists, the backstory, the reveals, the drama, the weirdness of it all - i love it.

Fantastic Line from How I Met Your Mother

Ted: Dude, do not pretend you're not the kind of guy who keeps a list of all the girls he's slept with.

Marshall: I have one. It's called my marriage license.

I love milk.

and House. and Heroes. and Law and Order.




and i am learning to love the office.




and my knees hurt. especially the left one.

Ethics, Weddings, and Harry Potter

so my first seminary class was, as promised, like drinking from a fire hydrant. most of the days were spent 8ish hours in class and the rest of the time trying to recover - an entire three-hour class in one week is kinda insane. it's utterly exhausting.

the class was great though - mark ross, a professor visiting from erskine theological seminary, is hilarious and effective as a lecturer, particularly notable given the length of the class each day. he reminded me alot of some bizarre cross between jack mccoy and dick van dyke. it was a blast.

so one of my best friends is married as of this time last week, and another is marrying my cousin a week from today... i'm in the midst of a very wedding-saturated summer. crazy, but true.

i'm rereading Harry Potter again to be prepared for book 7, which i await with baited breath. it's been a great break from all the reading i've been doing for class - john murray in particular is nigh impossible to read straight through.

other things that have happened of note include -
the viewing of pirates of the caribbean 3 twice, both times evoking tears. i LOVED it on a number of levels. maybe i'll post a big long review of it sometime soon, but i'd rather wait a wee bit longer so that i can make sure everyone has seen it who's going to. really, in the end, i'd rather not spoil it - it's great. : )
adjusting to the new roommates and new house and new city and hanging pictures and decorating and doing plenty of other fun things, from visiting churches to trying new restaurants. all of these are going great. it's like yay. : )
i have DVR and can record as much law and order and without a trace and such as i want. tv on my schedule, which is quite bizarre. (do i sound enough like a commercial?)

ok, so that's it for now. not much deep thought ready to spill out onto the pages yet.

A Thought

i'm sure torture, being shot, having fingers cut off, and other such experiences are way more painful that alias would have you believe.

What If CSI Stood For...

...candles still illuminate?

that was just a random way to start this update.

so the chocolate chocolate chip cake was a hit, even though i didn't exactly do it as per the directions. i was short 2 oz. of sour cream, and i forgot the tablespoon of vanilla, but it was still really good. in the future i'll fix all that, use fewer chocolate chips (it was a wee bit overwhelming), and top it off with powdered sugar. i think that'll take it from good to great.

phantom is great. personally, though, i can't figure out why everyone is in love with the phantom and not raoul. helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo - raoul is freakin' awesome. bad boys are SO overrated, mostly because they're BAD. (not rocket science, but you'd be surprised - or maybe not - at how delusional girls can be about these things...)

i got to listen to paige brown's talk on the kingdom from the WIC conference in atlanta while i was prepping for tonight - it was even better this time than the last time i heard her give it (at summer conference a few years ago). that whole concept and the dichotomy of the church and the kingdom is what i want to unpack next fall at l'abri. i'm so excited it makes me slightly more spastic even than normal.

i love milk.

oh, guess what - i'm REALLY sore, but not nearly so bad as in high school. then, since we did frog hops (though coach had to go easy on me because of my back) and wall sits and all that stuff, i would hobble around really badly and have to put my hand down to brace myself before dropping into my chair - i actually couldn't physically sit down. it was pretty awful. i'm glad to say i'm not nearly so bad off at the moment.

i don't like the new blue raspberry jolly ranchers. they taste funny. and my tongue FEELS blue even though i can't see it sitting here, drinking my milk and watching CSI and blogging. i can just tell, you know?

i got my finger- and toenails done today. it was delicious. hopefully it will help me stop picking at my fingers and ripping up my fingernails. they look so pretty - i would hate to ruin them.