Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Candy

I have not eaten dinner tonight. I have no plans to eat dinner. This is because I have just eaten a large number of Hershey's bars and Peanut Butter Cups. Lots.

No really. I mean lots.

I was sitting outside waiting for trick-or-treaters, because my doorbell is sketchy, and my landlord, in a joking fashion, asked today if I was going to sit outside. When I went to get candy, I saw some other people sitting on their porch, so I thought it was a good idea, and I didn't have to keep coming down the stairs. So I sat there for a couple of hours, reading the newspaper...talking on the phone...

I enjoyed myself. It was chilly, but that's what fleece is for. But now my landlords feel really guilty and keep calling because they feel bad that I was sitting outside. I'm like "It's OK. I was fine." I came in because the kids were getting older and more greedy. One actually came up and said "give me lots of candy before the others get here." She ran ahead of her friends, so she could get more candy...and then proceeded to wait for them...and try to put her bag back in front of me for even more.

Right. I knew that it was time to go in.

Here's something fun...Cleaning the Kitchen For Dummies! Actually, there a few expletives on this page. Don't let the kids go! Click on the book cover for the info.

Happy Halloween!
10/31/2001 07:12:00 PM link | talk

Public Transportation

So today I went downtown for a job. Which means I could not drive. Which is harsh because I hate riding the bus or the eL. It was all about being incredibly crowded today. But this does not stop people from having loud intimate conversations. This scary drag queen (I say scary, not because she was poorly made up, but because she was about 7 feet tall and had a voice lower than mine) had a very heated argument with someone on her cell phone about how she can't be bossed around and how she will do whatever she wants to do. Sometimes she doesn't even listen to her mom, why would she listen to that ho?

It was a long conversation too, finally halted for me when I got off at my stop.

Only on the bus.
10/31/2001 03:14:00 PM link | talk

Tuesday, October 30, 2001
Big Wheels

So the people next door have just demolished the garage in their backyard. This is a harsh thing to wake up to: Big loud machines crushing a fairly sizable building. While I'm trying to sleep. I'm not sure why they have decided to knock down a building. I certainly hope it's not so their annoying little children will have more space to ride their godforsaken big wheels around, also waking me up, because they play at the ungodly hour of 7 am. Does everyone see the lack of god in their lives? They are godforsaken, ungodly, and I would not heistate to say hellbent on waking me up.

I blame it on the Jehovah's Witnesses who live on the other side of my house.
10/30/2001 11:17:00 AM link | talk

The Saga of the Dress

Yes. It's time. My camera has finally been installed, so I have pictures of that fateful day...

Here's the story:

Amy and I are going to a wedding. We go to breakfast and get back around 11:30. We're going to leave at noon to be at the church by 12:30 for a 1:00 wedding. So I'm in my room changing, Allison is on the phone in the kitchen, and Amy goes into the back room to iron her dress.

Her polyester dress.

As I'm getting dressed, I hear Amy calmly say, "Oh. My. God. I think I just ruined my dress."

I run to the back room to see Amy standing over her dress, iron in the air, pointing to the very large hole that is, of course, in the middle of the front of her very nice, very new black dress. The picture below is a piece of paper sticking out of the hole. If you look closely, you can see the iron marks.



I go to Allison and ask her to get off the phone because I know that I can't handle this on my own. She springs to action, running and getting some scarves and pins from her bedroom. We proceed to fashion a shawl/sari/wrap/scarf sort of thing to attempt to cover up the whole. It doesn't look good.



Amy finally squeezes into one of Allison's dresses, not as nice, not as new, and definitely much less in her size. She still looks beautiful, but the dress does constrict her chestal region if you know what I mean. Amy looked down and said, "Oh look. I have a uni-boob."

Only Amy can say things like that.

The wedding was a great time, especially after Amy told every single person there about the dress. No one would have noticed the change, but it was way more fun to laugh about the whole "dress debacle" as it is now known.

So there...what you've all been waiting for. Almost two months late. Which reminds me that I've never called the people from Chicago that I met at the wedding. I suck.

We came home and decided that there was no way to fix the dress. Amy told me to keep it...that she didn't want to see it ever again. It had been hanging on the window pane in my room, and did a nice job of blocking out the light from the back room. So I fashioned a crude curtain, simply by cutting up the back seam and ripping out the shoulder straps. I didn't do any finishing sewing, because hello. It's a dress. It's like The Sound of Music, only backwards.



Upon hearing of my new window covering my mom said, "Why don't I just buy you a curtain when I come up for Thanksgiving?"

OK. And yes. We do.
10/30/2001 12:14:00 AM link | talk (1)

 Monday, October 29, 2001
Manila Envelopes

Jenny was disappointed that I had nothing to say yesterday, but I spent the whole day catching up on old TV. Can I just say that Will and Grace isn't funny anymore? Every single joke is about sex. I sit there, watching silently, hoping that maybe it will be as funny as it used to, but it never is. The only saving Grace (pun not intended) was that Parker Posey was on last weeks episode, and I love Parker Posey.

Big scandal on Survivor last week. I haven't seen it yet, since my tape won't arrive in the mail until Wednesday. It's hard having to wait.

So remember how I moved here to have a theatre career? Well, when anyone asks why I moved here, I tell them because so many friends from school are here. Because I don't want to say that I'm an actor, since I haven't done squat about acting since I got here. I can say that I've been settling in, and trying to make money, which is all true...but I think two months is enough time to settle in. And money doesn't seem to be a huge issue at the moment. (Oh it's still an issue...don't get me wrong...but I'm not going to be evicted or have my electricity shut off as one previously might have thought.) Which means that it's time to get moving on that whole career thing. While I'm still not ready to audition, I can start working on some new monologues. And this morning I sent out two ten-minute plays to a contest, and an application to direct The Blue Room at a college north of Chicago. I don't expect a lot out of these, but at least now I've used more than one of my 100 large manila envelopes.

Also, hellamadprops to the workers at the Graceland Postal Station here in Chicago. Not only do they have a cool name, but they're all really nice. Go visit them and bring them presents or something...
10/29/2001 12:41:00 PM link | talk

Saturday, October 27, 2001
Take Off Your Pants

So last night was closing night for Ivona. Most of the time when a show closes, two things might happen. 1. Strike. Which can last for hours and hours and render you completely incapable of having any sort of fun afterwards. 2. Drinking. (Not to be confused with the "cast party" in which lots of strangers show up and the party is filled with three times as many people in the cast. It's the cast/crew only "we've been together for three months and now we won't see each other 3 times a week, and so we must sit here on this ratty couch and share beer and other substances and relish our last night together" sort of gathering.) However, the Strawdog had variations on this theme pretty much every night, so it wasn't all that different than usual.

The strange thing about this closing night hurrah is that no matter how much you promise...you're not going to hang out with show people after the show is over. There are exceptions, but really. You're not. I also tend not to hang out with people who indulge in those "other substances" on a regular basis, which means that most of this cast will not be at the front of my friend parade. I like most of them...but most of them are over 30...weird...

That did not stop last night from being just like a frat party. They pulled out the drinking games. One of the girls kept telling the guys to take off their pants. Eventually, they got two guys to do it...then she and another girl put the pants on their head and ran around the theatre. One of the guys put on a tutu since his pants were now acting as someone's hat. Perhaps if I had not driven to the theatre, and thus could have had more than one drink, this might have been funnier to me. Instead, I sat with some calmer people on the side of the room and watched the madness unfold. I laughed at the initial pants run...but then the fun waned.

Hmmm...most people would say that is the time when the fun should begin...
10/27/2001 12:27:00 PM link | talk

Friday, October 26, 2001
Freedom 01

I'll give a cookie to anyone who recognizes the title reference...

Today Allison left for her two month tour. Tonight my show closes. After Sunday the Profiles website will hopefully be done.

I won't know what to do with myself. Luckily, I have a lot of TV to catch up on. :)
10/26/2001 05:53:00 PM link | talk

Thursday, October 25, 2001
Survivor Week 3

I completely forgot that I had to make my Survivor picks before 5:00. Luckily I made it. I will admit that I did not peruse the message boards as much as I did last time, but the message boards proved to me not so reliable last week. And the servers at surviiivor.com were down again last week, so my pooly chosen picks and team change never happened. So Lex has been returned to my team, and I have, again, 1000 points. I would have been in 472nd place last week. Obviously everyone else made the poor choices I made.

Anyway...I have voted for Clarence to be booted, mostly because it's obvious they want him to go away (someone votes for him every week...). And I want him to go away. Mama Kim is weak, but I think they'll keep her around for a few more episodes. The message boards had it between Clarence and Brandon, and a number of other sites had it down to Mama Kim or Brandon. I've decided to trust my instincts. Although Brandon annoys me immensely, I think Samburu is the stronger tribe and will win the Immunity and Reward challenges again. And that whole Lindsay injury thing...based on the clothes she is wearing in the previews, everyone seems to think that she'll be around for a few more episodes, but that she may be hospitalized a little later.

That's all. I have to tape the show and watch it next week. That's no fun.
10/25/2001 04:12:00 PM link | talk

I'm Back

I guess I wasn't gone that long, but I realized that I didn't write anything yesterday, mostly because I had nothing to say. I worked a long shift in River Forest, which took up most of the day anyway. Oh well.

This week I've been getting in touch with people from my past. That sounds much more dramatic that it actually is...I've just been tracking down old high school and college friends and calling to catch up. It turns out that a couple of high school friends actually live in the city, so I'll probably get together with them soon.

Today I went to Arlington Heights (a suburb north of Schaumburg, home of Ikea) to have lunch with my friend Tim. Tim and I have a special bond because he gave me my first shot. And the second...and a few more. But I won't give exact numbers because my parents read this. I will say that, to this day, I can't drink peppermint schnapps, and when I'm sick, I can't even brush my teeth, because the taste of mint makes me want to hurl.

Anyway...it's good to see old friends. I know I'm not really that old, but at my age, not seeing someone for five years is a pretty long time.

Also a special hello to Anita, a reader from Michigan, who is the first person that I had not previously known who posted a comment. Yay Anita!
10/25/2001 03:43:00 PM link | talk

Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Good Chi, Scary Lesbians

I did all my laundry, put up some posters and rearranged my bedroom. Hopefully that will improve the stagnant chi that has been sitting around the apartment for the last few weeks.

Here's the scary lesbian story I entered in the Halloween writing contest. Go read it and tell me what you think.
10/23/2001 05:34:00 PM link | talk

Attack of the Ladybugs

It seems that Chicago has been infested with these weird brown ladybugs. We have them in the house all the time. Tonight it went overboard. I killed a total of NINE BUGS! I decided that it was time for me to do something about it. I'm fairly certain that the bugs were getting in the kitchen through the gap between the window unit a/c and the window frame. There was no way to close the gap, so I had to remove the air conditioner.

Of course, now I have nowhere to put the air coniditoner. It was convenient in the window, because most of it was outside the house. But now I have this big metal box that I have to find a home for. It's currently resting in the stairwell that goes to the first floor. This stairwell happens to be filled with empty boxes, so the a/c is balanced on the stairs and a bunch of broken down boxes. I don't think it will move, but I have this nervous feeling that my landlord will go in there and say, "Hey Micky...why did you take this out of the window? You weren't supposed to do that." And I'll say, "But the bugs..." And he'll say, "No Micky. Put it back."

And then the bugs will rejoice.
10/23/2001 12:47:00 AM link | talk

Monday, October 22, 2001
In the Navy

In my constant quest for health (and my constant love of magazines) I manage to read about three fitness magazines per month. Rarely do I pull $3.95 worth of info from each magazine, but once in a while I find something that I actually care about. (Improving my golf swing is not one of them.)

Since the Body For Life stuff was so not working out (I think I quit after the fourth day.) I gave up that plan and just tried to monitor eating and try to do something exercise-y every once in a while. And last week I happened upon the Navy Seal workout in one of my magazines, and it promised me that I could get a good workout without using weights, getting on the eL to go to the gym, or going out where it is cold and running around the park in an unsightly attempt to jog. It said I could do everything in the comfort of my living room.

I don't know about comfort, but I was at least able to attempt all the exercises in my living room. Um, some of those things are really hard. How do Navy guys do them lots of time every single day. It was hard enough for me to go through one circuit, and even then, I think I messed up on four of the 11 exercises. And I'm supposed to do two circuits without resting between ANYTHING. Yeesh. I have no doubts that this plan will put me in better shape...but it may kill me first.
10/22/2001 12:13:00 PM link | talk

Sunday, October 21, 2001
Sundays

I generally don't like Sundays. I feel like I do the most work on the weekends, so I have a hard time justifying not doing a lot of work once in a while. Usually Allison's not home during the day, so it's easier to get things done, but when I woke up, she had already started watching Sex and the City and we have about 50 episodes on tape, so obviously the TV watching would last for a long time.

So long, in fact, that it's almost time for me to leave for the show tonight. And I've gotten absolutely nothing done. I don't even have the desire to blog anything. I'm just too lazy today.
10/21/2001 04:53:00 PM link | talk

Friday, October 19, 2001
Equus

After spending the last two days installing and uninstalling and reinstalling things to my computer, I did not have the urge to install my digital camera. Which means no pictures. Which means that I am putting off telling the Saga of Amy's Dress for a little longer. Have patience, my dear. Because we do.

But to appease Catherine, and to blow off some steam from prententious clients breathing down my neck, I thought I'd tear down Drake Theatre's latest production: Equus.

I enjoy Equus. I've done it before. I drove for 7 hours to see this production. And let me start by saying that all of the performances were very good. Especially Tiffany, Tommy and Brett. And the freshman girl who played Dora. As for everything else...

It was heinous. I've seen better blocking at Arrowhead Stadium. And we know how good the Chiefs are this year (and for the past five years...maybe ten...anyway, they suck). To allow someone who obviously hasn't studied basic directing in decades to direct a show that he's been wanting to design for years is an abomination. The director and I don't particularly like each other. I don't even know how it happened. I have a respect for the man as a good lighting designer. Well...I can't even say that, because his lights were awful for this show, and he was never prepared at a tech rehearsal. But I have been in other shows where his end product was nice. He also has a habit of taking over every aspect of a show. Which was why the costumes and sound weren't great. I bet he didn't allow the designers any kind of creative process.

Equus is Latin for horse. (Or something like that -- please don't go looking it up.) The playwright talks about how important it is for the actors portraying the horses to have very elaborate ceremonial prosthetic horse heads. The director read these notes and decided that the playwright's reasons were trite. He opted to have no horse heads at all, and just to crimp all of the pretty freshmen girls' hair. Yeah. That'll make 'em look like horses. He said, "It's not about the horses."

Hello. It's called Equus. They might as well have just called it "Horse". Of course it's about the horses. And of course it's about the psychiatrist. But the horses are the tool that the playwright (award-winning playwright, mind you) uses to tell the story of the psychiatrist. And one would think that one would listen to what the playwright has to say about HIS OWN SHOW.

I could go on, but the background of this page is only so long, and we don't want the graphic to repeat itself at the bottom. I'll end this post (which hopefully no one from Drake who matters reads) with a little bit of the director's notes:

"I won't attempt to tell you about our production; in a few moments the actors will show you our interpretation of this Tony award-winning play. [obviously someone thought that the playwright did a good job...] What I will do...is to remind [nice grammar] the audience that this is a production produced by a dedicated group of students...highly dedicated to their art and craft. [arts and crafts? what is this? camp?] (Then he goes on to tell how long all the students have been working on this show...how many hours a day, how many days a week...nothing out of the ordinary for Drake Theatre, but I'm SURE he's the first professor to ever give credit to the amount of time students work...right.)...

I can't write any more. His pretention is so outrageous and so undeserved that I have to stop. Hellamadlove to Drake Theatre and the students that worked on this show. But honestly.
10/19/2001 04:23:00 PM link | talk

Finally!

After days of struggling and going to bed at ungodly hours...the Profiles Theatre website is finally online! So instead of me telling any stories (or talking about Survivor), I'm going to go to bed, and resume blogging tomorrow. Nite nite.
10/19/2001 01:49:00 AM link | talk

Thursday, October 18, 2001
Computers suck.

I've spent too many hours the past two days trying to get my computer to work like it did a few weeks ago. I got rid of Internet Explorer 6 (which blows), installed Internet Explorer 5.5, which promptly messed up my Microsoft Outlook, so I had to reinstall it a number of times, only to find out that I had to, once again, install IE 5.5 to get it to work properly. This whole process has taken about 4 hours out of my life that I will never get back, and hours that I certainly don't get paid for. It does not make me happy.

What makes me even less happy is that I was talking to a friend last night about her new laptop that she got at the Dell Outlet. She proceeded to tell me that the laptop I want is only $750. That's like half off the regular price. But still about $725 more than I can afford. It's so not fair. Why does everyone else get all these cool computers, and I have to be stuck with something that isn't even made any more?

Granted...it's better than what I was stuck with before which was an eyesore from the Gateway House of Broken Laptops. My plan to become independently wealthy needs to go into high gear here. I can't wait my proposed two years before the money starts rolling in.
10/18/2001 12:15:00 PM link | talk

Survivor

I was wrong. I was charged 30 points for kicking out Lex. But I think it was worth it. (Watch him win now...) In his place we have Carl. Just because. I didn't have any old people (well...oldER) on my team, and an old guy has made it to the final four both seasons. I don't know. I just got tired of Lex. I think it's all the piercings. They make me nervous.

This week I kicked Linda off of the Samburu tribe. Instead of eating bugs and stuff, there is a shot contest with blood. I hear she chokes. Literally and figuratively. After reading all the message boards and stuff, it comes down to her, Frank and Brandon. Since she annoyed me the most with her Mother Africa crap, I hope she goes. Frank and Brandon also annoyed me, but her pretentious stuff can only last for two episodes in my book. I'm going to be bitter if she sticks around much more than that.

I'm almost caught up with all my TV from the past few weeks. But I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes of Felicity tonight. I think I missed a whole wedding. Oh well. It's hard being me.
10/18/2001 01:41:00 AM link | talk

Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Oops.

Archives are back. Don't ask me where they went.
10/17/2001 03:59:00 PM link | talk

Survivor

I haven't watched the premiere yet (probably tomorrow...or, since it's already tomorrow, later tody...) but I can already tell that I made some bad choices. Luckily, since the surviiival.com servers went haywire last week, none of our scores counted. So I can make some changes to my team without being penalized.

I made good choices with Kimberly and Silas. Not a bad choice with Ethen. But Lex gave me negative points. That's what I get for being superficial and choosing him based on appearances alone. I guess I was right when I said America would hate it if he won. Apparently, so would the rest of the cast. I forgot they were Americans. My bad. So Lex is off my surviiival team. After I watch the show, and peruse a few more message boards and spoilers, I'll make a more informed decision. I was, however, correct in guessing that Diane would be voted off. Good for me. Although, it's always easy to guess the first few.

Incidentally, if my selections had gone through last time, I would be tied for 405th place out of 7656 contestants. It's a good thing I get to change my team. More updates later this week.
10/17/2001 12:54:00 AM link | talk

Tuesday, October 16, 2001
Cable Part II

The good news is that I get a new cable box on Friday. For free. And a friend from work (Thanks Megan...) taped Angel and is letting my borrow it. And the internet is back up after a really long system outage, the second one in less than 24 hours. Grrr.

I don't guess there is a lot of bad news. I'm making cookies with Jenny tomorrow. That should be a good time.
10/16/2001 11:47:00 PM link | talk

Cable

As we know, TV is very important to me. I can't help it. But my stupid cable company is making it awfully difficult to see the shows I like to watch. Here's the problem.

When I set the VCR to record something I have to leave the cable on the channel. But the channel won't change automatically. So I have to record on one channel all night. This sucks because Buffy is on every night on FX at 6, and other shows are on other channels at 7 or 8. I could make due with recording other shows at the end of my Buffy tape and then watching them the next day, but since my VCR won't change channels on its own, I find that I'm not leaving the house at that pivotal block of time between 6:50 and 7:05. Really not good if I have a change to work at 4 and won't be home until 9. Not fair. And since Buffy's on a new channel now, and Angel's on Mondays, that adds another night of confusion (and sadness, because Allison made me miss Angel yesterday, by not pushing the timer button that I kept pointing out to her...but oh well, at least it wasn't Buffy).

So I'm currently sitting on hold with the cable company to complain. We'll see how that works out.
10/16/2001 10:37:00 AM link | talk

Monday, October 15, 2001
Snow in KC

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha.

This brings me to an interesting thing that I bet all of you people in Kansas City wish you had right now: "Seater Heaters", introduced to me by the lovely Terri S. I had plans to write about them later, but since it is a time for gloating, I will share now. There are heaters in the seat cushions, so if you're cold, you can just fire up the old seater heater, roll down the windows and have a great time, all warm and toasty, but with the fresh air. They're pretty cool. I haven't tested them in snowy weather, because it hasn't snowed here yet (ha), but I bet they'll be fun. It's nice to be out in snow, but it's also nice to be warm. This way you can have both.

My next car will totally have them. Well...maybe not my next car...but the one after that.
10/15/2001 09:39:00 PM link | talk

Mondays

I think the reason why I can't bring myself to do any work today is because I worked on Saturday. So this still feels like Sunday to me. It's one of those laze around doing nothing, watching tapes of Dawson's Creek and eating chips and salsa sort of days. So I feel less guilt than I did earlier today. Everyone deserves their weekend. Mine is just on a little different schedule.
10/15/2001 05:24:00 PM link | talk

Chamberlain of The Refrigerator Appreciation Society, Scrum-Diddly Micky York

It's amazing what one can find to amuse onesself when one is avoiding work. Check out the random title-name generator for hours of fun and procrastination.
10/15/2001 03:29:00 PM link | talk

Less tired

Yeah...still nothing exciting has happened. But I entered a Halloween contest. You should enter too.

Hellamadlove to Kelly for sending me the movie Bounce (love to Gwyneth) and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer script book. (Vol. 1). She rocks my world.
10/15/2001 01:06:00 PM link | talk

Tired.

I'm trying to think of something witty to write this morning but I'm just too tired. It's been a long weekend. You understand.

And if you don't, then screw you. I don't want unsympathetic people like you reading my blog. So there.

I'll talk to all of you nice people later. :)
10/15/2001 10:29:00 AM link | talk

Sunday, October 14, 2001
South Side

So yesterday I worked the Northwestern-Minnesota game. Terrible weather, lame crew, and kind of a bad game. Hopefully next week will be better.

After that I had the show, but then...I ventured into the South Side of Chicago!

Which was really not that big a deal. I went with some high school friends to a party in Hyde Park. (We took the highway all the way there. I didn't see a single gang member.) It's actually a really safe neighborhood, because it's all college students. And the party was filled with college students. Some of them were born in...1983.

1983. My Lord. It was at that time that I truly felt old, because I realized that I was the oldest one at the party. There were a few other people there, luckily, who weren't in college either, and we discussed the difference between "grown-up parties" (a term to be used very loosely...I'm not that old) and "college parties". Our main distinction was that grown-up parties never really have a dancing room anymore. It's usually a sitting room. But these children of the 90's (geez) kept running into the living room, turning off the lights, pulling out their glow in the dark toy thingies and saying things like, "We need some really good trance," (that's a bizarre kind of London club music, for those of you not in the know...and why would you want to be?) and "Whose house is this?"

A rap song with inappropriate lyrics came on. I actually heard, "We can't dance to this. It's too romantic."

An 18-year-old white boy with spiky hair and a glowing thing in his mouth said this. I'm all for equal music for everyone, but really. There has to be a line.
10/14/2001 01:10:00 PM link | talk

Friday, October 12, 2001
Breaking the Law

I'm not going to use any specific names or dates in this story, but I will tell you that I was so not the one with the law breaking. It's just a funny story.

So I'm driving around a part of town where it is hard to park. (Gee...in Chicago? Weird.) And I find a space. Yay! As I'm backing into it, someone else zooms up behind me and takes the space. My car was already halfway in, but they took it anyway! So I honk my horn, and the woman proceeds to flip me off.

We were stunned. Eventually we drove to a pay lot. And when we passed by her car...I won't name names...but there was some key-ing involved.

I know! Such blatant vandalism! Such disrespect for other people's property! But I have to admit, it made me feel better. I wish I could see the look on her face when she sees it. Technically, I haven't seen it either...but I heard it. It was not a quiet sound.

I have a feeling my parents will be e-mailing me about this, but really, what could I do? It's not like they were my keys.

Hee hee. That'll teach you to take someone's parking space.
10/12/2001 11:50:00 AM link | talk

Thursday, October 11, 2001
Hellamadlove

to Jenny Stetzler for the India Arie CD I got in the mail today. It rocks!
10/11/2001 04:43:00 PM link | talk

Surviiivor

As proof of how lazy I am today, I've spent the last hour updating my Survivor picks at surviiivor.com, based on TV Guide profiles, predictions based on weight loss and facial hair growth, and message boards of who other people like or don't like. My chosen team is made up of Ethan and Lex from the Boran tribe and Kimberly and Silas from the Samburu tribe.

Here's how I chose them: The issue of TV Guide that I bought had Ethan on the cover. I think that's good karma. Lex has lots of tattoos and piercings. It will make America mad if "one of those people" won. I think that would be funny. Silas has a hat like Colby. Kimberly gets the Elisabeth vote and I wanted Elisabeth to win last season, so maybe Kimberly will give me my wish.

I voted for Diane to leave the Boran tribe tonight, since she reminds me a lot of Debb and has a ponytail on the side of her head in her official headshot. That's inappropriate.

On a side note, if you type in "Elisabeth from Survivor" into hotbot, the number two match is a porn site. She's not on it, they just stole her name. I feel bad for her. Check out her real website. I bet that will make her feel better.
10/11/2001 01:17:00 PM link | talk

Oh Well.

I just checked. I can't move to Canada. Not that I had plans to do so. But it's harsh to know that they won't even allow me to make plans.
10/11/2001 12:20:00 PM link | talk

Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Who knew?

Who could've guessed that I actually would have spent the whole day working?

OK...I did take two hours out to go see Serendipity, which is very good, by the way. Although, you should keep in mind that I like all movies. Even Simply Irresistable. With the magical crabs.

Yes. Magical crabs.
10/10/2001 11:57:00 PM link | talk

Tuesday, October 09, 2001
Robots

In case I couldn't convince you enough that I spend too much time on the computer...this is what robot I really am.

Click here to find out what robot you really are
10/09/2001 11:17:00 PM link | talk

Micky's New Home

Welcome to Micky's ad-free website. You should bookmark it now. Granted, it's not as cool as having my own domain name, but it's free. And there's a fun new thing here!

See where it says "Oh yeah?" underneath this post? If you click on that you can comment on what I've written. Cool huh? Now when I ask questions like "Who really reads the New York Times anyway?" you can click the link and say "I do, you idiot. Along with millions of other people." And you can read the comments of other people who yell at me.

Because apparently I don't spend enough time on the computer as it is.
10/09/2001 03:07:00 PM link | talk

Monday, October 08, 2001
Weird Censorship

So in between finishing my tape of tonight's Buffy and watching Friends at 10, I caught the last 15 minutes of The Craft. And in the end when Neve and that other girl who I keep calling Rosario Dawson even though that isn't her name, come back to apologize to Robin Tunney they say, "Sorry about that plane crash thing. It was just a glamour. It wasn't real."

And they bleeped out the words "plane crash".

I understand sensitivity, but really. The movie is 5 years old. Everyone who has seen it before knows there's a plane crash. I'm not sure if they edited that scene out (the one where Robin sees the crash on the news), but if they did, they eliminated an important piece of the plot.

Does this mean that we can't ever say the words "plane crash" or "terrorist" without someone getting mad? It's one thing to bleep out the F word, but it's completely another thing to bleep out regular words. What are we going to do? Erase them from the dictionary? Stop giving them to kids on spelling tests?

I know I have all these other funny posts promised to you, but I can't help but say something about this. It's not like I can write to the good people at TNT and complain. Well, I suppose I could...but I'm not going to. I have my cause, but I'm lazy. I'll post something funny soon...I promise. :)
10/08/2001 10:45:00 PM link | talk

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I'm busy today. But this will make you that much more excited about the post tomorrow. Try and stay calm.

E-mail me if you need a Micky fix. :)
10/08/2001 04:57:00 PM link | talk

Sunday, October 07, 2001
It's my birthday...la la la la la la la

That's a little song I just wrote minutes ago called "It's My Birthday".

It's a good song.
10/07/2001 11:53:00 AM link | talk

Saturday, October 06, 2001
It's my party.

I was thinking that I hadn't posted yet today. But then I was thinking, who cares? Tomorrow's my birthday! I can do whatever I want! So stop reading this and go buy me a present!
10/06/2001 05:35:00 PM link | talk

Friday, October 05, 2001
I'm back

I think I spelled traveling wrong. Anyway...I'm home. How many people knew it would take us 7 hours to get to Des Moines from Chicago? We didn't. This means that I am too tired to post a full review of the show. I will say, however, that it was everything that I wanted it to be. And more. Ha.

I will assign the job of reminding Micky to post a review next week to Catherine, and the job of reminding Micky to post the saga of the "Amy's dress/Micky's curtains" debacle to Amy. Ooh, I'm racking up the assignments. I'd better get to work.

And you'd all better get to shopping. Love is not an adequate present. I want tangible goods, unless you have a written excuse. I'll be at home on Monday waiting for a UPS package, so you still have time to schedule a delivery. :)
10/05/2001 11:12:00 PM link | talk

Thursday, October 04, 2001
Travelling Micky

That makes me sound like Waltzing Matilda or something. Anyway...I'm off to Des Moines for a day to see some friends and a hopefully disastrous production of Equus, that crowdpleaser about a boy who sleeps with his horse, and then kills him.

Yeah. Now you can't wait till I get back tomorrow.
10/04/2001 07:02:00 AM link | talk

Wednesday, October 03, 2001
Stupid.

I know I've already posted twice today, but this story could not wait. I just spent a half hour on the phone with tech support because I lost my modem connection, and the computer said no drivers or network protocols were installed. I tried to reinstall them with no luck, so I called my good friends (?) at Ameritech. We were trying to work all sorts of mojo with new CD's and stuff...when he mentioned something about how strange it was that the USB port must somehow be dropping the connection.

It was unplugged.
10/03/2001 02:51:00 PM link | talk

Obsessed with TV

I think it's obvious that once the fall season rolls around, I'm not going to get much work done. Oh, I suppose I'll do a little work, but you know my VCR is going to be working harder than I am. And I'll probably stay up awfully late, watching tapes of shows that I missed while I was attempting to do something productive.

As testament to the lack of work that I do once fall TV starts, I've been taking tests at e-mode and other sites to figure out which TV characters I'm most like. I took my two favorites (mostly because those were the two that were offered...). Here are the results:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike

"You're a rebel with a capital yeow! But even though your closet is chock-full of skeletons, you've also got a side that's mushier than the softer side of Sears. Maybe it's that special someone who holds the key to your rapidly expanding heart--and hey, if the Grinch can turn things around, we've got faith in you."

For you losers who don't watch (and mom, for whom it's too scary) Spike is a vampire who can't kill because of a microchip in his head. He also has a big crush on Buffy. I suppose that much is true, but I'm not sure I have even a lowercase yeow.

Friends: Chandler Bing

"Could you be any more like Chandler? The most lovable wiseguy around, you've got more than a little Bing inside you, don't 'cha? Front and center in your Chandler-ness is that unstoppable wit, keeping everyone in stitches (or at least deflecting uncomfortable situations). And like the Chan-Chan man, you'd never leave your pals out in the cold. But your generosity is so inconspicuous that people often don't even notice it.

Romantically, a soft, sweet, heart and charming, insecurity rule. You might, however, be held back from love by that nagging little fear of, well, growing up. Ya think? But, like the adorable Mr. Bing himself, it's just because you care so much and don't want to let anyone down."

I have long suspected that I was actually Chandler, and now I have the proof. You know that Emode is purely scientific. I have also long suspected that I watch too much TV, and the fact that I dreamed about Friends last night is probably also proof. I dreamed that Monica and Rachel and I were all going to a Catholic School. Before they showed up, there was adventure and intrigue, probably a spillover from a Buffy-type dream that I don't recall. But at the end, we were talking about schedules, and it's not clear to me whether they were students or actual nuns. Rachel said something like, "I so hate Mondays. Sometimes I'll take Monday off and I won't come back till the end of the day Friday." And witty me (in a Chandler-esque fashion) said "Note to self: Sign up for all of Rachel's classes."

I am hella funny. Hella.
10/03/2001 01:32:00 PM link | talk

4am...again

It is completely inappropriate for there to be hours this early.

I just got back from taking Allison to the airport. We left at 4. She didn't have to be there until 5. We got there at 4:30, because the airport is only a half hour away. Obviously there was no traffic at this hour. Normal people are in bed. But she was worried that she'd be late, so we had to leave an hour before she had to be there.

At least it's not me sitting at the airport for two and a half hours before my flight. And then three hours in a car. All for her no call-no show boyfriend who owes me such a big birthday present.

Big.
10/03/2001 05:04:00 AM link | talk

Tuesday, October 02, 2001
Buffy Day!

I find that I'm too excited to do anything important today. I've been waiting for months for this day, and it's finally here! Nothing can make me unhappy. I don't care that my package still isn't here. I don't care that it smells like Raid in the back room. I don't care that I'm out of French Onion Dip. Because Buffy is alive!

Now I'm sure many people will be thinking, "Wow. He's really pathetic." Well you can shut up. I do realize the difference between make-believe and reality, which is the difference between me and the dorks that Wil Wheaton writes about in his blog; the ones about te Star Trek conventions. If there were a Buffy convention, I would just talk to the actors with respect, and probably a little bit of awe. I wouldn't say, "Now in episode 8 of the first season, "I Robot, You Jane", you referred to Jenny Calendar as a technopagan. Did you realize the ramifications of such a nickname, and the effects it would have on society in years to come?"

No. Those people are dorks. But I think it is a testament to the acting on these series that have convinced so many people that it's real. I always look at the quality of the show, and the acting, and the general production. It says a lot about their abilities to put on a good show, for me to have such a strong devotion for it.

I'm making excuses for myself. I will stop now. I love Buffy, and there's nothing you can do to change that. So there.
10/02/2001 10:27:00 AM link | talk

Monday, October 01, 2001
Table!

It's finally happened. We got a table for our kitchen. For the past month, we've either eaten standing up, or in the living room. We don't have any TV trays or a coffee table or anything, so it's basically been eating on our laps. Not incredibly comfortable, so I've been doing the stand up thing most of the time.

The chi in our kitchen has totally changed. In a good way I think. It was previously dominated by the metal element, since all the ways and cabinets and appliances are white, but now...

Wait. Maybe white is water. I forget. I haven't been reading my books lately. Anyone want to take bets on how long it takes for mom to e-mail me with the right answer? (Hi mom...)

Either way, adding that bit of wood in the mix has made things very nice. And we have something to eat on every day. And we got some fun placemats that go with the dog posters we have in the kitchen.

Yay for tables.
10/01/2001 11:04:00 AM link | talk