It's All Happening

I've Moved!

2010-09-15T21:42:00.001-05:00

For those who still have this blog in their RSS reader, you can find me over at natalie-stone.com these days. Or you can reach me at natalie [dot] stn [at] gmail [dot] com.

Test, test

2009-09-28T10:30:00.001-05:00

Just seeing if this works...

There's a reason for things

2009-08-12T08:23:00.002-05:00

I just read an article entitled, "In New Film, Urban Chickens Come Home to Roost." I may be blowing things way out of proportion here, but doesn't it seem to you like we stopped farming in cities for a reason?

I have no real issue with using abandoned urban areas for growing vegetables. That seems like advanced gardening to me. But animal husbandry is a *groan* horse of a different color. Animals, when properly tended to, may not be much of an issue. But the scope of disaster for people who do it wrong, yeesh! Can you imagine all the exciting disease outbreaks that could await us?

I know that people who handle this responsibly wouldn't have as much trouble with this sort of thing (for all those respectable urban farmers reading my blog), but laws are made for abuse, and this seems like an area that would be very dangerous. These are my thoughts on urban farming. Aren't you glad you know now?

Is this me?

2009-08-10T14:28:00.002-05:00

I'm beginning to worry about my online rep now...

Sometimes I get bored...

2009-07-08T15:46:00.000-05:00

Jen sent this to me, and I thought it was fun. It's a quiz where all of your answers have to start with the first letter of your last name. Here's mine. Not thrilling blog content, but get over it.

What is your last name? Stone

A 4 Letter Word: Stop

A Boys Name: Sven

A Girls Name: Sara

An Occupation:Seamstress

A Color: Silver

Something you wear: Shoes

A Beverage: Shasta

A Food: Salami

Something found in the bathroom: Sink

A place: Shangri-La

A Reason for being late: Sleep

Something you shout: Stop or I'll shoot!

A movie: Sleeper

An animal: Sphinx

Bad Luck Comes in Threes

2009-06-26T09:50:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, when it was officially announced that Farrah Fawcett died, one of my co-workers said, "I wonder who's next?" It's a bit of a newsroom legend/old wives' tale that bad new, particularly deaths, travel in threes. Who would have guessed that MJ would be next?

I have to say, I liked Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. They will both always be a part of the pop culture that surrounded me as an American, but MJ was bigger than both of them for me. MJ was a quintessential part of being a child in the 80s. I heard on the news last night that his first TV appearance was in 1969. That's 40 years of public life, and his public life was a part of my private one.

For me, MJ stopped being of interest to me in the mid-90s. After that, things got a little too weird for me and most people my age. While I'm certainly sad to see that he'll never make a big comeback or transition back into the realm of normalcy, I have to say that his death won't likely affect me much more than the initial shock. MJ is already a part of my past, and I was never a part of his life. It was a one-way street that I've stopped traveling.

But that doesn't mean I won't sing along. Don't ever think that.

(I was going to put in the video for Billie Jean here, my all-time favorite, but I can't embed it. You should check it out anyway because it is SO good.)

2009-01-14T10:30:00.004-06:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

Guys, I cannot even deal with how cute this is. The closer on the story is a little schlechy, but COME ON a dog and an elephant who are FRIENDS! You cannot make this stuff up.

The video below I stole from Taylor's blog, but it's just too weird. Needed to share.

I will post my resolutions soon, really I will...

The Spineless Wunder...

2009-01-02T16:13:00.002-06:00

Oh, dear...

An Eventful Couple of Weeks

2009-01-01T17:51:00.003-06:00

Well, 2008 decided to go out with a bang for me. Since a blog is a place to start a conversation (even with comments, blogs are naturally one-sided), I'm going to give you the run-down on what happened and what remains...

Dec. 22: Dinner party at our house. Gift exchange, too much champagne, good times had by all. Great to see such good friends before leaving for Huntsville.

Dec. 23: World's worst hangover, haircut, chiropractor, packing and driving to Huntsville.

Dec. 24: Christmas shopping with Dad, Christmas with the McCutchans. Really not that weird without Dad, oddly enough. Elaine, my aunt with whom I have nothing in common, was very low-key this year. Refrained from saying anything to raise my blood pressure (like the time a few years ago when she told me that it was stupid to study history because it already happened...).
Dec. 25: Christmas morning with the fam at Mom's, great family time, good gifts and the treat of brunch with Grandaddy Charles. GC did let us know that he's planning to live to 104, since his oldest sister was that age when she passed; he's 95. Again, I kick myself for not being related to him by blood. No Stone family Christmas at Grandaddy's this year, as my cousin Michelle was hospitalized with pneumonia.

Dec. 26: Chill. No shopping even. Excellent dinner with Mom, Mammaw, Pappaw, Sara and her boyfriend Tadi. Delicious food followed by Mexican Train.

Dec. 27: Head to Atlanta with Mom. See the Tut exhibit, do some great shopping.

Dec. 28: Visit Michelle in the hospital, see the Georgia Aquarium. Drive back just in time to miss the Stone family Christmas, that I had not been told was happening.

Dec. 29: Sandy, one of my parents' dogs, gets very ill, spend most of the day watching her.

Dec. 30: More time watching Sandy, lunch with Mammaw and Mom at Taziki's (hooray!), drive back to Nashville and begin the plumbing fiasco. Find out that our homeowner may not be able to afford to fix the problem, as in the house may get foreclosed on can't afford it. Cannot use toilets or showers.

Dec. 31: Visit houses that we may be moving into this weekend, should the plumbing situation worsen. Birthday lunch for Jen at J. Alexander's. Prep for NYE party at our house, after much debate over whether it's a good idea to have a party when you have to go to the neighbor's house to pee. Amy Harlan comes into town, friends arrive, 2009 rung in watching Eddie Izzard.

Exciting times...Next post, New Year's Resolutions. Boring, but helpful for me...

Christmas

2008-12-15T12:21:00.002-06:00

Apparently, I'm having a wistful day. I saw this Onexposure photo on Smashing Magazine today, and I adored the quote, "Beijing, China, but it could be everywhere." 'Tis the season, I suppose.

This is a recent Twitter from Merlin Mann:

"If I were Jesus, I'd make a rule that nativities had to use live ducks. Because ducks hate costumes, and Christmas should be hard but funny."

Christmas is always an interesting time of year for me because my family is not majority Christian. We don't really celebrate the "reason for the season," and it's easy for me to get caught up in the tradition and gift-giving. I think that both of these things can be positive, but they are not inherently so. However, I love getting to spend time with my family and the people who understand me best, in many ways.

One of my all-time favorite Christmas movies is Home for the Holidays with Holly Hunter and a host of other excellent actors. There is a wistful, nostalgic tone to the film that I have appreciated since I was a teenager. (I feel a little emo saying that...) Christmas is hard in our family, and it will only be harder this year with trying to figure out our "new normal." I'm a little apprehensive to be honest, but that's nothing new.

In past years, I've been tempted to make myself an advent wreath to remind me of why I celebrate Christmas: the birth of Christ. Not my family or tradition or gifts. The birth of my Lord and Savior. I'm a little late, but I might make one anyway. What are your Christmas traditions?

I am embarassing...

2008-11-18T16:43:00.001-06:00

Bipartisanship

2008-11-05T10:04:00.008-06:00

bi•par•ti•san |bī'pärtəzən|
adjective
of or involving the agreement or cooperation of two political parties that usually oppose each other's policies : educational reform received considerable bipartisan approval.

DERIVATIVES: bi•par•ti•san•ship |-ˌ SH ip| |baɪˈpɑrdəzənˈʃɪp| noun

This is a great article that someone posted on Facebook. I recommend you read it.

This is the first time in my three voting presidential elections that the candidate I chose won so I'm excited about that. But I have to agree with the author; this election was extremely acrimonious. Now is not the time to rub it in that you won or lost. Which means I won't rub it in your face that the government is extremely Democratic this term, if you promise to stop calling me comrade. Deal?

For my fellow Nashvillians

2008-11-04T10:22:00.004-06:00

If you haven't already, go vote!

If you don't know where to go, check out this info from the Election Commission.

Alright, I've ACTUALLY voted. Now let's see what happens, folks.

I'm so tired

2008-10-19T11:07:00.009-05:00

Of the election. I think election fatigue is going to become a diagnosable medical disorder one of these days. Here is my lament, and it's not related to a candidate so don't think I'm going to tell you why I'm voting for who I'm voting for here. We picked the wrong way to choose the men who run for President. When Washington was elected, he didn't campaign. The people wanted him, and he acquiesced.

We used to nominate people in a more honest fashion. We looked around for the best and brightest and said, "Him! I want him to lead us!" And then there was an election, and then we had a President. It wasn't an office you prepared your whole life for in the same way that it is now. You spent your whole life living as a good and honest servant, and people responded. They weren't perfect, but no one is. So, despite advances in technology, I'm just wondering, could we go back to the late 1700s? I would still like to be able to vote, though, and wear pants, which could be tricky...

Good grammar. Who needs it?

2008-10-07T16:28:00.005-05:00

Hilarious op-ed piece from the New York Times on Sarah Palin's speech patterns. I know that this kind of negativity isn't exactly productive, but it sure is funny. Because if we can't agree to pick on people who who willfully ignore the conventions of the English language, the communists have won, folks.

That diagram, by the way, is the Preamble to the Consitution.

For the Pledge of Allegiance, head over here.

Woot.com

2008-10-03T12:24:00.001-05:00

Woot.com is an ecommerce site that sells one item a day. What makes the site unique is that their one item a day is always told with an interesting "pitch." Take today's gem, for instance, they're hocking a blood pressure machine; the pitch? That it will help you review movies more scientifically. I can't help but love it. I've included the text below because each day is something new on woot.com, and this description will be gone by Saturday. So if you're looking for a new site to waste time on instead of working, this is a good one...

STFU Maltin

Maybe it’s Death Race. Maybe it’s Eagle Eye. Maybe Wanted. This year everyone has one pretty lousy action movie that they still very much wanted to see. That’s the dirty little secret of the movie industry. Namely, that the system used by movie reviewers is completely unscientific.

You can throw out “four stars” and “six thumbs” all you want, but what does that mean? There’s really only one measure of thrills and romance, and that’s heart rate. So we’re proposing an new system based on the Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor.

With the ability to measure Systolic, Diastolic and pulse rate, the Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor can finally tell us which is more exciting, the first time Jason leaps out of the bushes in Friday The 13th or when Freddie grows to a hundred feet tall and eats Johnny Depp in Nightmare On Elm Street. The built in memory stores up to sixty readings, so you can poll your friends to find out who is the better leading lady, Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct or Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not. And once you get those readings, you can move them via the USB connection to your Windows PC. The Hypertension Data Management System lets you break down the measurements by hour, day, month or year, making sure we can finally have a guide to movies based on real numbers, and not some jerkface who thinks Blade Runner was lousy. I mean, honestly, Leonard Maltin.

With the Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor, you can find that guy who hates the Batman movies and shut him up once and for all. You can even use the irregular heartbeat indicator to see if you’ve got an irregular heartbeat. Good to know before you get in the popcorn line. And having visual cues will really help you understand what changes your blood pressure.

Don’t waste your time trying to explain the complex nature of chaos and order and how they entwine in a unending dance. Pull out some hard figures like a geek should! The Prevention DS-2200PV Ultima Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor is your ticket to winning every movie debate conclusively. What’s better than being right?

Too good to ignore....

2008-09-30T13:26:00.012-05:00

This really was too good to pass up.

In other news, I had a pretty fun-filled weekend. I went to a toga party on Friday night, which was fun, although it did make me feel a little old. I went with Bekah, but most everyone else there was about 21-23 and very enamored of drinking too much. Still entertaining, though...On the plus side, I did get to help Bekah make her toga so that was fun. I also spent the night with Bekah because, joy of joys, our hot water heater broke over the weekend! (Hooray for our landlord, though, it was fixed by Monday evening.)

Saturday morning, I went to talk about Til We Have Faces, which is shaping up to be a really interesting study. (More on that later, I'm sure.) After that, Bekah and I grabbed lunch at McAlister's and checked out the TJ Maxx Home store. Bekah got a super cute hat, and I got a new pillow! (Sadly, I left my new pillow in Huntsville on Sunday. [fail]) After that, we went on a bike ride, my first pleasure ride, since last time I was trying to get to work.

Then, I went home and took a cold shower (because the hot water heater was still out at this point) and packed up to head home to Huntsville. I got in around 9:00 and hung out with my parents for a bit. I wish I could have been there a little longer because we are entering the final days that they will be sharing a house.

[more lol celebs!]

Sunday morning, Dad and I took off for Prattville to watch the LPGA tournament they were hosting. We were hoping to get in 9 holes at a course in Birmingham, but no such luck. The tournament was pretty interesting, though, even if it was absurdly hot. I did get scolded by a player for taking a picture while they were taking a shot. (It wasn't intentional. Her sound guy looked like Santa Claus, and I needed to capture him on film for posterity. So I wasn't looking when she was putting, and I clicked as she was about to hit the ball. No harm, no foul, though. She made the putt.) It was good to hang out with my dad for the day. I got back into Nashville around 10:00, exhausted.

All in all, it was a very sunny, happy weekend, and I hope I can pack in as much fun over the next few weekends while we have fabulous fall weather.

I'm so hardcore

2008-09-24T12:21:00.012-05:00

For those of you not in the Nashville area, we are having a bit of a gas shortage. It's a little surreal, but interesting in a, "Someday, I'll tell my kids about it," kind of way. The downside is that for the last 4 or 5 days, I had no gas, and none of the stations close to my house had any fuel. Which meant that I couldn't really go anywhere, including church and work.

I had to miss out on church. No worries, I can listen to the podcast today. But Monday, I rode my bike to work out of necessity. Big thanks to my sister, Sara, for giving it to me for my birthday this year. This is something I'd been hoping to start doing so it was more like an adventure than a trial.

Overall, it was a very fun experience. I loaded up my messenger bag with a change of clothes and a little bit of makeup, because I really am that vain, and took off. The ride itself isn't too bad. It's a little less than 4.5 miles. There's a stretch that's on a main road where I rode the sidewalk, which you really aren't supposed to do, but no one seemed to mind. I made it to work in about 30 minutes, with another 10 minutes of clean up time on arrival.

I did have a minor spill on the way in to work. Clip-in pedals, for the uninitiated, are both a boon and a hindrance on the road. On the pro side of the equation, you stay connected to the bike, allowing you to pedal more easily, particularly on hills. On the con side, if you don't clip out when you stop (or if you clip out on one side, but pitch to the other because your messenger bag thought it would be an opportune time to shift), you will fall. And you may hurt yourself. I got a pretty awesome bruise / scrape about the size of half dollar just below my right knee and another on my left that was smaller but bled a little.

The ride home was a little more difficult, as it was mostly uphill and there was more traffic. I did a little more sidewalk riding (sorry, pedestrians!), but I also didn't fall so a success on that front.

Later that night, I was walking home from community group and the gas station just down the road from me had gas. I had to wait a few minutes before I could fill up, but not too long. The moral of this story is that I should ride my bike to work because it's not difficult and it doesn't take too long. We'll see if it sticks...

Five Things

2008-09-18T21:34:00.004-05:00

I've been reading 5ives.com lately. So here's a little list of my own.

Five Things on my nightstand whose presence is only explained by the fact that I'm still organizing my room.
1. Three-sided architect's ruler
2. Disposable chopsticks (unopened)
3. Matches
4. Screwdriver
5. Gold acrylic paint

Tomorrow is my birthday party, and there will be bowling. Hooray!

If you can't think of anything nice to say...

2008-09-15T11:02:00.001-05:00

You post a funny video. I'll be back soon. Really.

I want this

2008-08-27T17:25:00.001-05:00

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

If you aren't familiar with Quicksilver (and you're on a Mac), you should get to know it. I don't keep a ton of apps lying around these days, but they've never been easier to open.

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

2008-08-14T17:45:00.005-05:00

Ah, Orwell. Cantankerous, but usually right. Thoughtful essay on the downfall of modern English in political writing found by way of 43folders.com. Many a salient point here for anyone who writes regularly, or worse, for a living.

This made me laugh

2008-08-07T17:17:00.005-05:00

more graph humor and song chart memes

Twilight

2008-08-05T15:46:00.003-05:00

OK, OK, no one is surprised that I devoured this book in a day. I like vampire stories. I can admit that. I'm starting in on the second book in the series tonight. (Unless I can hold off until tomorrow. I've got In Bruges at home, and I really want to watch it...)

Anyway, I decided to start look at some of the promotional materials for the movie since it's coming out in a few months and this book probably wouldn't have crossed my radar otherwise. I'm a little apprehensive. The book is really engaging, but I'm not sure the movie is going to be at all how I imagined the story.

The main issue is this: the movie looks like Buffy. The way it's shot, the costumes...even the titling is reminiscent. Don't get me wrong. I love Buffy, but it's not all how I imagined the world of Twilight. Buffy, for all that it was, was low-budget. (I mean, it was big budget for television, but I think you catch my drift.) You can see that in the fight choreography, the lighting, even the quality of the film. So the fact that the two resemble each other is bothersome to me. The book has sold remarkably well so there's not way that they had trouble getting enough funding for it to be polished. Beyond that, Twilight isn't at all about kicking ass and taking names. It's about how awkward it is to be a teenager and the sheer electricity of falling in love for the first time. There are times that Buffy touches on those topics, but they're meant to be rare moments. Awkward teenage love does not lasting television make. (I mean, My So-Called Life got canned after one season.)

Also, some of the casting, actually, most of the casting isn't to my liking. I mean, I love Peter Facinelli, but I would never have made him Carlisle, and I feel that way about most of the siblings in the Cullen family, as well. Robert Pattinson is great, particularly since he reminds me of Robert Sean Leonard, and the girl playing Bella is growing on me.

We'll see...Alright, I'm going to return to being 25 years old now and not 15.

Marketing to Teens

2008-07-30T15:37:00.005-05:00

I'm working on a proposal right now on how to improve the appeal of a site we recently put out. This site is aimed at teens with the benign purpose of helping them to make healthy life decisions. But the numbers kind of suck, in terms of visitors, so we're trying to improve that.

So right now I'm doing some research on how to "grab" teens. I stumbled into the PBS site on their series "Merchants of Cool." There is this one guy, and every time I read his stuff, I find myself nodding in agreement. Mark Crispin Miller. He's described as "a media critic and the author of Boxed In: The Culture of TV." Listen to this little gem about how media content and marketing to youth has changed:

"And there's another development that I think is significant. If you look back at the youth markets of, say, the 1940s and the 1950s and the 1960s, you're struck by a very important difference, in that the figures who tended to be admired by those masses were somewhat older. Kids admired James Dean. Some like Brando. Elvis Presley looked like he was around 20. The Beatles were in their early 30s. The rock musicians of the 1960s and 1970s were a little bit older. They weren't peers of 13- and 14-year-olds. Now, the young tend to be presented always and everywhere with what is, in a way, the most seductive thing there is, and that's a mirror. There's a mirror held up to them all the time. It's the mirror as constructed by advertising and TV, but it's the mirror that tells you that you are all there is to be, or you could be, if you bought what we have to sell."

The mirror concept was really interesting to me, and he touches on it a few times. I'm a big dork, and I could listen to this kind of stuff all day. You can join me in dorkery, check out his full article here. While the article didn't help too much with my research, it was very enlightening.

Yes, we would.

2008-07-09T14:37:00.006-05:00

Clearly someone wasn't paying attention in history class...

This is from a protest in San Francisco, regarding the Olympics in Beijing this summer. This is the reason I'm so bothered by people saying history isn't important. Not just because if we don't know, we may embarrass ourselves in public, but also because we're prone to repeating the same mistakes. Which I feel is aptly demonstrated by this photo...

My neck is all tingly

2008-06-27T20:12:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, in my quest to find my dad a birthday present, I went to Brookstone. There was a chiropractor's office giving out free massages, and that's why my neck is all tingly now.

OK, there's slightly more to it than that. The free massage was conditional on filling out a "questionnaire." Basically, I got sucked into going to a chiropractor for a free exam, free x-rays and a future free massage. And it's pretty interesting stuff. It turns out that my neck is out of whack, which I could have told you for free. Well, they told me for free, too, now that I think about it...

Anyway, it turns out that my usually crappy insurance actually covers chiropractic care, and I can go and get my spine adjusted for the low, low price of $9 a session. So I got sucked in by the novelty, I can accept that. My first adjustment was yesterday, and it was noisy and slightly violent. Which I can get behind. My neck doesn't necessarily feel better today, but it does feel tingly. And I'm more conscious of my posture, which could use a little help. I'll keep you updated as my progress continues.

Also, I'm moving for the next couple weeks so if you want to lend a hand, just let me know!

Friends

2008-06-18T18:33:00.002-05:00

So usually I blog about myself. Because I am selfish...

Today, I want to give a shout-out to some of my friends. I'm going to start off with Jen, Haley and Jackie, mostly because they're likely to actually read this.

Jennifer: Jen and I shook hands at 2:00 am to seal our decision to move to Nashville together. I love this about our relationship. Jen is an adventurer and a unique soul. Most people's reactions I can predict, but Jen still surprises me pretty regularly. While she's incredibly grounded, she still has a surprising amount of childlike wonderr. She also shares my anger issues. ("All men love a woman filled with rage.") Beyond that, she's solid friend. She'll tell me if she thinks I'm doing something wrong, but I know she's always on my side. Oh, and she has great taste in music.

Haley: Haley gets offended when I say that she kind of reminds me of a middle school sleepover, but I mean it as a compliment! Haley is full of life, brimming over, even. She will draw me out if I'm having a terrible day or let me complain, if I need to get something off my chest. If it weren't for Haley, I wouldn't get out as much as I do. And she gets me involved in other people's lives, too. Haley loves serving as a connection point between people, which is a powerful thing. Another thing I love about Haley? She agreed to be my roommate before she ever met me. She's a fabulous hostess and a great cook, too.

Jackie: Jackie and I have similar histories, which is nice, because our background isn't typical. We can talk for hours at dinner, leave the restaurant and talk outside for another hour before we realize that we should have stayed, gotten dessert and kept talking. (Which brings up another point, Jackie will always eat dessert with me!) Jackie is also one of my first "grown-up" friends. We didn't meet until we were both out of college, and unlike other friends, most social occasions we share involve alcohol. And Jackie deeply loves Disney, which is incomprehensible and highly entertaining to me.

Nell

2008-06-15T14:02:00.001-05:00

For the last 10 years or so, my great grandfather, Grandaddy Charles, has been dating a woman named Nell. They started seeing each other a few years after Grandmommy (my great grandmother) passed.

Nell was quite the character. For the first three or four years they dated, she wouldn't let Grandaddy Charles sit next to her in church. It was just too scandalous! Then she wouldn't marry him because it was silly for two people their age to get married. She was fiery and independent, just the kind of woman for Grandaddy Charles. So he pursued her relentlessly and never let her rebuffs deter him. Every time I came home, it seemed, there was a new story about Nell and Grandaddy Charles.

This morning, I called my dad, and he told me that he was at Nell's funeral. She had moved to a nursing home a few weeks ago and had died suddenly in her sleep this week. Nell was quite old, and while her death was sudden, it wasn't necessarily surprising. Well, it seems Nell had one last trick up her sleeve...

For years, Nell had told us that she was younger than Grandaddy Charles. (Not a difficult task, he's 95.) It turns out Nell had been feeding us a line. She was 98 when she passed, and we all thought she was 92!

What's even funnier is that in the program for the service, she had them put down that she was born in 1916...except that she was born in 1910...which it said elsewhere in the program...Her reasoning for telling everyone she was six years younger than she was: she thought people wouldn't like her if they knew she was that old. Nell was a great woman, and I'm glad to have known her, if only through her adventures with my great grandfather. I hope that when I go, there are as many stories to tell about me as there were about Nell.

Sometimes your body tells you it's time to stop...

2008-06-14T13:54:00.003-05:00

Last night, I fell asleep at 8:00 pm on my couch. I woke up this morning, still on the couch, at 7:00 am. I guess I was more tired than I thought. There's been a lot going on lately.

I'm in a show right now, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, and it's a little draining. I play a teacher who is teaching children in a Jewish ghetto in WWII. Take a wild guess as to whether or not rehearsals are taking a toll.

In addition to this, I'm moving. Which is good and bad. Good because I'm exicited to have someone to talk to when I come home. Bad because I love my place, and I have to move because I can't afford it. We just found a place this week. Hopefully, we'll sign the lease next weekend, and it will be ours. Until then, I'm a little uneasy.

On top of these two items, my first major project since my promotion is due in a couple weeks. Things haven't been going too smoothly on the project recently for a few reasons, which I won't go into here. (But give me a call, and I'm sure I'll give you an earful...)

And I'm having serious problems with my allergies. OK, that about covers my litany of complaints. Wow, this turned all livejounral-y on me...

I'm such a sucker for these comics

2008-06-05T20:56:00.001-05:00

marriedtothesea.com
I promise to post a real update soon.

Research is funny...

2008-05-21T13:03:00.003-05:00

I found this interesting, even though anyone who's gone to college could tell you this:

Study: Sleepy Brain Prone to Sudden Shutdowns

Another term that I've heard used for this is "microsleep." Basically, your body is so tired that your brain makes you sleep for milliseconds at a time when you're in the middle of trying to function normally. Ever been working on something and suddenly jerked your head up as though you were just waking up? That's your body telling you that if you don't sleep soon, it will make you, like it or not, no matter where you are or what you're doing.

A Busy Week

2008-05-19T13:01:00.003-05:00

Normally, I like to keep things pretty chill...pretty much all the time. In college, I used to run myself ragged, but in recent years, I have learned not to take on too much (sort of).

Which is what made last week so interesting. Monday night I had an audition; Tuesday night my little sister was in town. Wednesday Haley and I had lunch at La Terraza; Thursday was another exciting installment of Lost and The Office. Friday I watched the Simpsons Movie. Saturday Jen and I got makeovers from Haley, and I went to the movies. (Iron Man is great!) Sunday, I had church, then picking my sister up from the airport, then more hanging out with Sara, then Brandon's CD release party. I'm exhausted!

That said, it was a great week! I just hope I don't fall asleep on the couch as much this week...

2+2=5?

2008-05-07T12:33:00.003-05:00

A little peek into my life yesterday, in the form of a word problem (tax not included).

At Taco Bell, one soft taco costs $.89, a medium drink costs $1.39 and a large drink costs $1.59. A value meal of three soft tacos and one large drink costs $4.49. If Natalie goes to Taco Bell and wants 3 soft tacos and a drink, what is the most economical way for her to purchase them?

Answer: Natalie should buy 3 soft tacos and a medium drink. This will cost $4.06. If she gets 3 soft tacos and a large drink, it will cost $4.26. The value meal is the most expensive option at $4.49.

If You Haven't Seen This...

2008-05-03T21:23:00.003-05:00

You should take a minute to check it out. It's a side by side comparison of the trailer for the first Batman movie and the new Dark Knight. They're amazingly similar...

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Also, bizarre that the first Batman came out almost 20 years ago. To me, anyway.

A Brief Update

2008-04-30T21:28:00.003-05:00

Merger: We're almost through it! We go live tomorrow, and I am almost done with all the work I need to get done...Almost...

O'More: I get to model for the O'More College of Design Fashion Show next week. Good thing I haven't been eating well or sleeping much lately.

Home: My parents are finally getting a divorce. I'm not upset about it yet, which seems strange to me. I feel I should be upset. I know my little sister is. Maybe it just doesn't seem real yet. We'll see.

Birthdays: My mom's is tomorrow. I've got her present already, but now I've got to get her a Mother's Day gift. And then I have to figure out something for my little sister's birthday, which is in 3 weeks. I have some ideas, but I'd love to hear yours...

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

2008-04-26T23:18:00.003-05:00

I just watched two pretty hopeful movies, but they made me sad. I guess it's just that kind of a day. For a Saturday, it was pretty eventful. (Take into account that on most Saturdays, I stay in bed for as long as possible, then take a bath, then read for a few hours. If at all possible, I don't got anywhere I can't walk.)

First thing this morning, I went to a preliminary fitting to the O'Moore College of Design's annual fashion show. I had a lot of fun trying on clothes and looking at all the beautiful designs. I'm not sure that I'll actually be in the show, but I hope so, mostly because I want to see how all the pieces turn out (quite a few of them were missing seams, fasteners or even the bottom half of the outfit).

After that, I went to lunch at Tossed with my friend Jennifer Enss. We did a show together about a year ago and don't get to see each other too often, as she lives in Spring Hill. I had a crepe, and it was excellent, surprisingly enough. Then we went and got gelato at Nucci's. I think it may be my summer obsession this year :9 Then we tooled around for a bit and did some shopping. I was very well-behaved I might add. No splurging.

Then I came home and watched Lady in the Water (finally) and Holiday. I really enjoyed both, but they made me a little sad. Lady made me sad for M. Night's character, although I loved the movie. Holiday made me sad because sometimes I wish I could commit to living that way, and I'm beginning to worry that I can't. Overall, though, it's a great old classic, and I highly recommend it. (Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, come on!)

There are some other things I want to talk about, but I'm going to save them for a later date, as I am tired, and they are serious.

All nature sings

2008-04-17T14:05:00.002-05:00

and 'round me rings the music of the spheres...

Sometimes I feel bad about myself...

2008-04-12T20:45:00.004-05:00

And then I watch reality television.

Tonight, I was watching Extreme Makeover. Don't ask why. I was bored, OK? ANYway, there was a girl being made over who was 26, and had never been kissed. While I think that is sad, what was sadder was that she was still hung up on things that happened to her in eighth grade. EIGHTH GRADE!

I'll be the first to admit that middle school is an awkward time. It certainly was for me. And some of my schoolmates did some pretty rotten things to me. Everyone thought I was weird, and most of them didn't like me because I was smart. However, as a 25-year-old woman, I'm happy to say that I don't really think about that anymore. Which is not to say that I'm not neurotic. I'm just saying I try to keep my neuroses connected to at least the current decade.

I was talking to our clinic manager at work on Friday (I work for a behavioral health company, if you didn't know), and he said, "It seems to me that people are just getting sicker and sicker." Sometimes I wonder if that's true. Are people more mentally ill now than they were 50 years ago? Or are there just more people? Or does it tie back to the fact that there is less stigma for the mentally ill these days? I mean, I think some people would say that homosexuality is rampant nowadays, but I would say there were probably proportionally as many homosexuals in the past. It's just that now gay people don't have to live in fear as much as they used to.

I wonder if it isn't a little cool to be in mental anguish these days? Think of all the moody MySpace photos you've seen in the last few years. I mean, emo is an entire lifestyle built around feeling unhappy. I'm as prone to this as the next person. There's something about being sad that I think we all secretly like. Otherwise, why would we do it so often? There's something selfish in sadness, but it's hard to say what...I think that's the bottom line. It's the only time we can be selfish without giving ourselves a hard time. I mean, we're sad, OK? It was a bad day. Can you blame us for being upset?

This is not to say that your friends will agree that you can't be blamed for being sad. It can be a bit tiresome to deal with someone who's always depressed. That's why Debbie Downer is funny, right?

:(

2008-04-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

I guess I wasn't Earnest enough? No Oscar Wilde for me.

The Importance of...

2008-04-08T22:32:00.005-05:00

So tonight I auditioned for The Importance of Being Earnest.

Let me say two things: 1) I love this show, and 2) I loathe auditions. It's been awhile since I was last in a show (October), which means it's been almost 6 months since I last auditioned for anything.

Let me explain my loathing a little. (I mean, clearly you have nothing better to do, you're reading my blog...) First, there is the impending sense of rejection. In all likelihood, you won't get the role. It's a matter of statistics. Then, there's the awkwardness of the "friendly" competition. You want to tell that girl who just read that she did a good job, but you don't want to make her nervous/uncomforable...or help her get the part. What to do?

The other issue is this: how do you gauge how you're doing? OK, for some people, this probably isn't an issue. But for me it is. Like tonight, I felt alright about how I did for my readings. My accent was solid, which wasn't the case for all the auditionees, but other that I didn't really know. I seemed to be loud enough, but I felt a little stiff. My first reading was good, my second was...eh...and I have no idea at all about the third. After the third, the group I was in was dismissed. So I'm thinking I was mediocre, but I know the director so maybe it'll go my way. As I'm leaving, my friend Zach stops me and tells me that hands down I did the best reads of both nights of auditions. Um...!!!

So maybe I don't loathe auditions as much as I thought...but maybe I do. I still had butterflies on the way in, shakes during and a racing heart after. This can't be good for my health.

I should know soon whether or not I got the part; I'll let you know.

Inflation and Wal-Mart

2008-03-31T12:32:00.001-05:00

Check out this article on consumer spending habits.

I have to say, I've felt the pinch lately at the supermarket. Items that used to cost $2 now cost $2.50. Which wouldn't be a big deal...except that most everything I buy has gone up like that. I remember in college, when the price of milk started rising. It was unsettling. Part of me felt deeply offended that, as a poor college student, I had to reconsider the amount of milk I drank. Another part of me wondered what that was like for young families who couldn't reconsider.

I still feel a little affronted when I have to downgrade the items I buy. I read a book a while back called Trading Up, that focused on how the American consumer was trending toward buying "luxury goods" in some arenas (Starbucks for coffee, Vickie's for undies, etc.) and saving money in other areas (only buying paperback books, using generic hand soap, you get the picture) to support their luxury habits. What was interesting at that time (about 2 years ago) was that every market or consumer good had the potential to become a luxury item.

Now that we're in an economic downturn/recession, I wonder how much that has changed. With consumers looking left and right for ways to save, how many of the luxury items are they downgrading? How is this affecting marketing efforts? How is it affecting jobs at companies, like Starbucks, that make the items people can live without? These are interesting times. Everyday is like a social experiment!

On the plus side, this is the first year that I've been able to buy discount Cadbury eggs since 2003. Apparently, they are a luxury item that some deemed unnecessary this Easter. But not me :)

Mawwiage is what bwings us togever today...

2008-03-25T21:55:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about marriage off and on lately, but more on than usual. This is not to say that I've got someone picked out...A friend of mine likes to say that you don't get to our age (25 for me, 27? for him) unmarried unless there is something wrong with you. I used to take great offense at that, but I do less and less lately.

See here's the thing. I'm terrified of commitment, and I have been for years. My parents have a rotten marriage that's been festering for years (I hope my mom doesn't see this...), and my one serious relationship ended because he "didn't think we were ever going to get married." And he was right. I wasn't ready to get married even though I loved him.

And I think that's the crux of the matter: love doesn't seem to be enough.

This doesn't apply to God's love, but I think it does for human love. We're conditional people, and we love things and people conditionally. I love you as long as you don't embarrass me. I love you as long as I don't find someone else more attractive. I love you as long as you don't make me change. I love you as long as you're successful.

Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe I've had more bad experiences than good when it comes to romance, and that combined with the house I was raised in, has left me a touch cynical. Maybe because of that, I choose relationships that I can sabotage when they become uncomfortable. Maybe I avoid them entirely so that I don't have to worry about being hurt. Maybe there is something wrong with me. Who knows?

On the other hand, I hate to be lonely. And it's not good for man to be alone. I adore the idea of having a companion in life. Because it's nice to have someone to come home to, to comfort, to occupy your time, to sacrifice for. And it's even nicer if they'll do all those things for you, too. I mean, I suspect there is something to this marriage thing, since so many people seem to be doing it these days.

What do you think?

Also, check out this article. Interesting stuff...

"Do you like sex and travel?"

2008-03-11T22:16:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I watched The Matador. I saw this movie in theatres and immensely enjoyed it. If you haven't seen it, it's a movie that's about what you would do if, while on a business trip to Mexico City, you met and befriended an assassin. The movie isn't quite what you think it's going to be, and it has some great scenes. So check it out.

Anyway, there's a line in the film that I love: "Just consider me the best cocktail story you ever met." I think I want life to be made up of many incidents that could lead to that line being said. I want life experiences to be fun, easily summarized and great to talk about at parties. But the truth of the matter is, that if everything that happened to me met these criteria, I would probably be severely lacking in character. In many ways, we are the sum of our experiences.

I know this isn't new ground, but it's something that I come back to every few years. I told Sam once that for most of college, my main life goal was to do something cool as an adult. He said that wasn't necessarily such a bad life goal. Well, let's be honest, it kind of was. And my last job was cool in some ways, but it made me miserable and showed me that whether or not it's cool, work is still work. You should do something you like that maybe even serves a purpose you can "get behind," as it were.

So now I work for a behavioral health non-profit. We do something that I believe in, and I get to do work that I enjoy. And I have a truly great team of co-workers. So I feel like I'm starting to get back on the right track.

Then, I saw this. Maybe there's no hope for my character.

toothpastefordinner.com

*FYI: Toothpaste for Dinner is a great webcomic that I make a point to read daily. It's not uplifting, but it's usually hilarious. Check it out. Maybe it'll make a great cocktail story one day.

Tornadoes

2008-02-05T22:38:00.000-06:00

Today, Nashville set a record high of 72F. I knew it was going to end badly.

OK, that's not quite true, but I always perk up when it goes from cold to warm anytime between November and April. I grew up in Huntsville, and it's pretty much a tornado-fest down there. In 1989, we had one of the world's deadliest storms. It killed 21 people, all told. However, when you live in a city that gets that many tornado watches and warnings, you tend to get desensitized to the "threat" of severe weather.

I'm watching the Weather Channel right now, and they're freaking out. Apparently, this is one of the top five tornado systems on record. So that's fun. I hope it doesn't hit us again because frankly, I'm going to bed. And no severe weather can stop me.

Blessings...

2008-01-28T21:47:00.001-06:00

My history with this word is a bit tenuous. You can ask Haley about an excellent story she has pertaining to blessings and email. I find that the word blessings is a bit of a land mine. It falls into the Christian-speak category for me, but nonetheless, blessings are a part of being a child of God. (Another from the list of my least favorite Christian terminology.)

Even though I feel like God blesses me pretty regularly, it's hard for me to tell people about it. Take for instance my car problems this weekend. If you know me, I've probably called you at some point because I am stranded by the road somewhere (for the many of you who have taken pity on me in my time of need, thank you). This Friday, I had a little car odyssey.

My car wouldn't start when I left work, which was great since I was the last one at the office. As a matter of fact, the car was completely dead. Jen was kind enough to come pick me up. Through some bizarre twist of fate, my dome lights kicked on before we jumped the car off, and it decided that it was happy to start right up. Well, after we went to dinner, it died again. It died real good. Jen carted me around until we were miraculously able to get my car to start by jumping it off. I then drove it to Auto Zone (AZ), where I was told there was nothing wrong with my battery or alternator. So it was probably my starter that was busted. This didn't make sense to me since the problem really seemed electrical. To top things off, my car decided not to start again as soon I had gotten the part specs and walked out of AZ.

After this, I had a somewhat emotional conversation with my father about whether or not I should trust the diagnostics from AZ. I tend to get upset when things like my car break. I like to think that I'm a pretty strong, independent type of gal, but the finer points of mechanics escape me. About this time, the woman from AZ stepped outside and said, "Is it not starting again?" I nodded. "I'll go get my jumper kit," she said as she turned back to get said kit. This is where the blessing kicks in.

She put the jumper on, and the connector to the red side of my battery lifted completely off the battery. She peered around the hood (I had gotten back in the car to turn the ignition) and said, "I think I know what the problem is."

OK, so maybe you wouldn't class this as a blessing. You might even class it as stupidity on my part for not making sure the connector was tightened in the first place. But here's the truth: to me, it was a blessing. It meant that I wouldn't have to cough up what would probably have been major cash for a VW electrical repair. I even felt a little validated that knew enough about how my car worked to know that the starter wasn't the problem. What I didn't feel was that I should shout from the rooftops that God blessed me this weekend by resolving my car problems.

Recently, a friend of mine told another friend of mine that it felt like it had been a long time since God blessed her. To me, that seems strange. I feel like God blesses me frequently, consistently, even when I don't deserve it. Even in my periods of darkest depression and disbelief. But then, maybe she's more vocal about the blessings when they do occur. And it's hard for me to say which of those things is better. Maybe both...maybe neither...