Argh..........
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: Learning to fly
Topic: TV, music, movies, etc.

I'm so pissed! I hit a button on the keyboard and half my freaking post disappeared! I guess that I hit "cancel" some weird way. Fortunately I'd only typed about 8 or 9 sentences, but that is still too many.

As I was saying, I don't have much time... I've been busy at work today so I haven't had a chance to post. (but when has that stopped me before??) My throat is still sore, I feel achey and tired. But other than that, I'm fine. Cepacol kicks ass, by the way...I have this sore throat spray, honey lemon flavored. Wasn't so sure about the flavor to begin with, but the numbing action is awesome.

Anyway, there is lots of exciting TV coming up. 24 starts back tonight after the 3 week holiday hiatus. Oh, Jack Bauer how I've missed you! Then, Thursday night the 3rd (and final, sniff sniff) season of the Chris Isaak show starts. It's been a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time since it's been on, I'm really looking forward to it. Amy is having a pampered chef party next Thursday though, so I may miss part of it next week. (Stef just called and asked me if I could pick her up at the airport one day next week--apparently she's going to Florida) Ahh, where was I? Yes, Isaak show and 24.

The week of the Super Bowl is going to be super-$$!! 24 on Tuesday, Isaak on Thursday, Super Bowl (ARGH!! it never fails that someone needs something done at 4:55 every freaking day...) on Sunday -- FOLLOWED by the first episode of ALL STAR SURVIVOR!!! I hope that Rupert is going to be on it, he is awesome! I only watched the first season of Survivor religiously, but last season (Pearl Islands) I watched a great deal of. Everyone loved Rupert from what I understand.

Well I have to go do this last-minute fax, ugh. Maybe more tonight, Kurt has his guitar lesson and I may be able to get some time on the computer!

Playoffs and Superbowl picks and predictions
Topic: Football

I made my predictions earlier, I believe -- Philadelphia and New England...

However, if my predictions below are correct, I think it will be Green Bay and New England.

I want to see football played in the snow, not in a domed stadium. It's meant to be played in the cold weather!

Here are my playoff predictions...these predictions I've made on assumptions from a play-off chart and if I have the home team wrong in any of these, I may have the wrong pick.

NFC -- Carolina at St. Louis
St. Louis almost always kicks ass at home. The Rams definitely have my vote on this one... final score 24-27, it's going to be a close game.

NFC -- Green Bay at Philadelphia
This is going to be the game of the weekend... this is a tough call. The new Philly stadium is crappy, especially when it comes to kicking field goals. Both teams have exceptional kickers, and I'm not sure who will have the upper hand in this game. I'm going to say that it will be Akers because he has more experience in this stadium--his longest FG this year was 57 yards and Longwell's was 50. Both are damn good in my opinion! There are a lot of variables, foremost being the weather. I think that Green Bay has a superior passing game as well as superior running game -- Ahman Green gets it done! However, Green has a fumbling problem which may come into play at a key point in the game. This bothers me. McNabb isn't what he used to be, though -- I don't care if he's come back from his early season slump or not, he isn't the same Donny McNabb as he was last year before he was injured. That being said, if it's windy or there is crappy weather, 21-17, Packers. If it's not windy and the weather is half decent, 30-27, Eagles.

AFC -- Tennessee at New England.
New England wins, hands down, even if Brady is having a bad day, they'll find a way to win. Especially if it's nasty weather. 27-21, Pats

AFC -- Colts at Kansas City
This is going to be another good game, I'm looking forward to it. To be honest, I have no idea who is going to win this one. Kansas City has won something like their last 13 games at home, so that is one thing you could look at. For the Colts, it's going to come down to Peyton Manning. For the Chiefs, it's all going to be on Priest Holmes. Holmes has 27 TDs this year, which is an NFL record (I know who is going to be first on my fantasy draft next year!). Manning has 29 TDs this year, but he's a QB! This game is going to rely heavily on turnovers, I believe. Whoever coughs it up the least is going to win this game. It's going to be exciting, that's for sure. Neither team has beaten a team that the other team has lost to, and they have both been beaten by Denver -- who the Colts pummeled last night.
I have no idea who is going to win, but my bet is that the Colts will win, their schedule seems a little bit stronger than KC's. 34-24, Colts.


Thanks for reading through all of my silly predictions. It's fun to do and it will keep my mind off those stupid Redskins. I'm going to find a new team to cheer for. Like.... Green Bay!

Great weekend, but now I'm getting sick(er)
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Enya -- May it be
Saturday was fantastic! (1/3/04)

I got to sleep in, although I still felt tired when I got up. Kurt and I went to Marley Station to buy some more Christmas gifts -- I had to get something for M.C. and he had to get something for my mother -- since we were visiting them on Sunday. Anyway, we went to quite a few stores, I started by having breakfast at Cinnabon (yum). Don't think that I've had one of those in a few years! We then went to JC Penney's where I found some penguin socks for MC, pantyhose and a nice wrap/scarf on sale for me! After that, Kurt said that he was going to go to Waldenbooks while I went to Sears. In Sears I found the perfect penguin sweater, but long lines. I still made it back to the bookstore while Kurtis was still waiting in line, though. Didn't expect that to happen! I then went in to Bath & Body Works who were having a huge sale! I bought $24.15 worth of stuff that would normally have cost about $60! The best part is that I didn't even really pay for it, because I had a gift certificate. :) While I was in there, Kurtis went to Yankee Candle who were also having an awesome sale and bought a nice candle for $5 and also 2 dozen votives. We then went home, relaxed a little and then watched the Ravens game. At around 6, I started getting ready to go out to our dinner at the Prime Rib. My hair wasn't cooperating very nicely, but I finally managed to do something with it. Kurtis and I both looked smashing, I must say! At around 7:20, we were passing the Ravens' stadium as we listened on the radio to Tennessee driving down the field with a tied game and less than a minute left on the game clock. Several minutes later we listened to the crowd go silent as Tennessee's kicker Gary Anderson kicked a 46 yard field goal (with barely an inch to spare) to win the game. The amazing thing is that he is the oldest player in the NFL at 44, and the two field goals that he made in that game were his longest of the season!! He came up big when they needed him to. We then got a little turned around trying to find the Prime Rib, but located it after a few minutes with little difficulty. Although we were 20 minutes early, we were seated immediately, and we weren't seated by the bathrooms OR the kitchen! We had an attentive waiter (for the most part), and the atmosphere was perfect. The menu was definitely pricey, although that was expected... I ordered a $29.95 filet mignon which was fantastic and Kurt ordered a prime rib for something like $37, which was HUGE and tasty. We had wine with our meal as well, I believe it was Cabernet Sauvignon of some sort. For dessert, they brought out some kind of chocolate pie that was delicious! Kurtis told them it was our anniversary (even though it wasn't!) when he made the reservations, so they brought it out with a candle in it. When we got home, the Cowboys-Panthers game was on. The Panthers proceeded to beat the crap out of Dallas, winning 10-29. What made my day perfect: a perfect shopping excursion, (great deals and finding what I wanted!) relaxing on the coach, the Ravens and Cowboys losing their playoff games, a romantic dinner with huge, yummy hunks of meat and a chocolate treat for dessert!

Sunday we went to my mother's for "Christmas". Exchanged presents, and missed most of the Seahawks-Packers game-- which was the one that we really wanted to watch, of course. Oh well! I'm going to post more about football in another post so that I can put it in the right topic. Not that anyone ever reads this thing, though.

I'm feeling pretty exhausted today, my throat is sore, nose is a little runny and I have an occasional cough. I've been feeling sick on and off for a while, but around New Year's Eve I realized that I definitely have whatever's going around and all I can do now is take vitamins and drink lots of fluids! There's no doubt in my mind that I got it from one of the people here who've been hacking and coughing without covering their mouths. It's disgusting. Of course, now they're all feeling better and aren't coughing as much. Maybe I'll be nice and wear a mask to work so that I won't infect other people.

Kurt and I ate lunch today at Quizno's... on the way there, he told me that I looked pale... I laughed and told him that he looked pale, too... he isn't feeling well, either. Not surprising. Quizno's was freezing, they were getting a shipment and the door was open... it really sucked. Then of course I was wearing my winter coat, and as I'm taking the lid off my chili, a few tablespoons ended up on my jacket and my pants. Kurtis told me I deserved it since I bought him a stain defender shirt -- apparently I needed it today more than him. I guess that I'll buy a pair of slacks that have that stuff on them. It really is quite amazing, I was washing the shirt last night and splashed water on it just to see -- it beaded up and rolled right off! Amazing that it actually works the way that it's supposed to.

More later, perhaps. Work beckons.

posted by a cautiously optimistic Redskins fan at 2:17 PM EST

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I finished it!!!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: 3 Doors Down -- Away from the Sun

Check out MY FINISHED AMERICAN IDOL AUDITION ARTICLE!! If you didn't know, I auditioned for American Idol 3 this past summer (August '03) in Atlanta. My entire account of the dreadful experience is there. Just kidding, it really wasn't that bad. It's a lot better than my original journal, which kind of rambled on -- not unlike my posts here!

This weekend will be semi-busy. This evening Kurtis and I will be watching the Ohio State Buckeyes take on some other team for one of the bowl games. I'm afraid that I don't keep up that much with college football. Tomorrow we have to go shopping for my mom and M.C.'s presents. Yeah, I know, I already bought my mom's presents, but I have to help Kurtis pick one out, and I have to get M.C. one too. My mom said cat stuff. I kind of figured that out already! I suggested to Kurt that we get up early, catch the morning showing of ROTK (hehe, that will be the 3rd time), then do our shopping at Mills. He said we should wait and see it again with the Bobses (aka Bob at work). The Ravens-Titans playoff game is tomorrow and the Cowboys play the Panthers. I hope that they get the crap beat out of them. Tomorrow evening we're going to the Prime Rib in Baltimore for a nice dinner... I'm excited about that. I want to dress up and all that. I'll feel special. :-P~ Sunday the Packers are playing the Seahawks, and dumb me told my mom that we'd be there at 1:30, the same time as that game I think. That's one of the only games that I want to see, too. Figures. The 4pm game is Broncos/Colts, which should be a good game.

Super Bowl: Philly vs. New England, New England win.

Well, it's time to go... yet another Friday down the tubes! Have a lovely weekend, and I'll try to post some tomorrow.

Happy New Year!!
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: 3 Doors Down -- Here without you
Topic: Introspection
Happy New Year!

It seems that I've already bungled one of my New Year's Resolutions; making it to work on time. On New Year's Eve, we didn't do much, just stayed home, ate shrimp and drank champagne. I read a book for most of the evening while Kurtis was on the computer. At 11:45 or so, we turned on the TV and watched the ball drop. From then until 1:30 or so, we watched a New Year's show on one of the channels with 3 doors down (who we're going to see at the end of this month), Hall & Oats, Jason Mraz and a few other people that I can't remember. Yesterday morning I woke up with a bitch of a migraine, and I don't think that it was from drinking too much... I had more to drink than I usually do, but I don't think it was enough to warrant the pain that I was in. I was in bed for most of the day, didn't get up until about 3pm. So of course the rest of the day I just felt weird, finally started feeling semi-normal around 8 or 9, but by that time it was pretty late. Couldn't get to sleep until 12:30, but I thought that I'd be able to get up on time since I'd slept half the day yesterday. I was wrong! This morning Kurtis looks at the clock and says, "It's 8:25." Grrrrreat. Fortunately I'd taken a shower last night, so I wasn't as late as I could have been, but I was still over an hour late (as opposed to my usual half hour).

I'm a little concerned about my bank, I went to deposit the money that my dad gave me for Christmas on Tuesday. Of course, the bank was closed by the time I got there (about 3:30) and it may have been closed all day, I don't know. I used the ATM to deposit the money, which I do regularly with no problem, but since I was depositing cash, I felt a little paranoid -- I usually deposit checks. Anyway, I checked my balance today and the money that I deposited hasn't shown up yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will show up at some point today, but I won't call them about it until Monday, I guess.

Talk about weird weather, it's supposed to be 64 here tomorrow. Now does that sound like January to you? I don't think so!

This morning I was reading my hotmail inbox and my Dear Abby had a great Al-Anon thing in it. Here it is:

WELCOME THIS NEW YEAR WITH GOALS YOU CAN REACH

DEAR READERS: Rise and shine, and welcome to the New Year! This is our chance for a new beginning, the day we discard destructive habits for healthy new ones. With that in mind, I'm printing Dear Abby's oft-requested list of NewYear's resolutions -- adapted by my mother from the original credo of Al-Anon.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will live through this day only. I will not brood about
yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to
overcome all my problems at once. I know that I can do something for 24 hours
that would overwhelm me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will be happy. I will not dwell on thoughts that depress me.
If my mind fills with clouds, I will chase them away and fill it with sunshine.


JUST FOR TODAY, I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct
those things I can correct and accept those I cannot.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires
effort, thought and concentration. I will not be a mental loafer.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be kind
and courteous to those who cross my path, and I will not speak ill of others.
I'll improve my appearance, speak softly, and not interrupt when someone else
is talking. Just for today, I'll refrain from improving anybody but myself.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will do something positive to improve my health. If I'm a
smoker, I'll quit. If I'm overweight, I'll eat healthily -- if only for today.
And just for today, I'll get off the couch and take a brisk walk, even if it's
only around the block.

JUST FOR TODAY, I will gather the courage to do what is right and take
responsibility for my own actions.


That's it for now, I'm working on finishing my AI3 audition article for the Harmonizer. I'll post it here and on my website when it's finalized. It was going to be a 3 part piece, but I ramble on a lot, so I think that it's going to be 4 now. We'll see.

Last night
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Pink Floyd -- Time
Topic: Friends and Family
Last night, I met my dad for dinner at the Pizza Hut in Denton. The drive down went smoothly, except for when the cell phone started ringing and I couldn't get the stupid thing out of the holder. Kurtis told me that Sherrie had called the house for me. He asked me, "Do you know someone named Sherrie?" And I'm thinking, "Sherrie???" The last time I talked to her, she was supposed to be coming to my house and we were going to have lunch or something... but she never showed up. I tried calling her back, but we never got a hold of each other. So I'm wondering why she called me out of the blue. Weird. My guess is that she was bored and was on the western shore, so she needed someone to hang out with.

My dad gave me a cute card and $200, that's in addition to the 2 pairs of shoes that he bought me a month ago. I'm getting a lot of use out of them, too... I had holes in my other ones! Unfortunately, I owe my primary doctor's office $199.50 -- that was leftover from my crappy insurance, I guess. I have an appointment there on the 12th, so the money couldn't have come at a better time. It's a shame that I couldn't spend it on something fun, but that's the fun part of being on your own and having bills. Ugh. Slowly but surely, I've been paying off my debts. I keep hoping to win the lottery, but since I don't buy lottery tickets, that is pretty much impossible. Maybe I'll buy some scratch-offs for fun?

After dinner, I went to Shaff's. When I got there, I was the oldest one there. Very frightening! Fortunately, Heidi and Stacey showed up five or ten minutes after I did, so I was no longer the oldest person there. :) After they showed up, then the McConnells came, including Rebecca - the youngest! That's when I really started to feel old. Adam brought his girlfriend from Ireland, I can't remember her name of course (I'm so bad with names, I swear!) -- she is gorgeous! They seem very happy together, I am happy for him -- he deserves someone who will treat him well. :) I've heard of long distance relationships, but that one definitely takes the cake!

It was weird to see how many couples were there (that had been together since high school); Josh and Tiffany, Jessica and Mike, Jen and Aaron, Paul and Katherine. Josh and Tiffany are engaged, and I think that they're getting married soon, although I didn't ask the date. He'll be out of the Marines in 6 months, and it looks like he's quite happy to be out. Paul and Katherine finally got married after being together for 8 years!

Stacey has a little boy who is now almost 2 years old, Heidi is getting married in January... funny how things change. I found some pictures the other day from when we hung out at one of her friend's houses who lived somewhere between Seaford and Federalsburg. I probably could have talked to people all night, it was really nice catching up with everyone. I'd planned on leaving at 9, and when 10 o'clock came, I knew that I should leave, but I really didn't want to. I did leave shortly after 10...it's a shame that it wasn't on a weekend. Next year, I'll take off the day afterwards (it's New Year's Eve anyway) and stay later. Maybe I'll even stay at my dad's house that night. This year I found myself in the "Old People Room" aka the kitchen. I did however spend some time with the in-between group that was in the dining room, and I warned them that next year they will probably be with me in the "old fogey room". Better go get my walker!

Leslie was the only person there from my class, partially due to the fact that Angie and Tiffany were visiting Christy in Florida. I haven't talked to Stef in a week or so, so I don't know where she was. Last year was the only year that she's come, anyway -- so she's not really a regular. It's a shame, though, because I'd brought her presents with me. I'll email her today and try to set up a date with her, since the next several weeks are already filling up. The Reagan Years are playing at the Funkbox in Baltimore (formerly the 8x10 club) at the end of January, maybe she'll come up and we can go to that. I haven't seen TRY in a long time, and I haven't been to the Funkbox yet. I've heard that it's really nice now... I liked the 8x10 club, though -- it had a lot of character.

We still have no plans for tonight...right now I'm leaning towards getting a bottle of champagne and ordering a few pounds of shrimp from the Kent Island crab company.

The family is leaving today, Kurtis is taking them to the airport at 1:00 today, so I won't be able to say goodbye. I feel bad about it, but there's not much I can do since I have phones today. Maybe he can wait a few extra minutes to leave, their flight doesn't leave until 4 and I doubt that it will take them 2 entire hours to get through security. I don't think many people will be flying on NYE. But I could be wrong, who knows?!

That's it for now, and probably for today... I have a lot of work that I'm supposed to be doing. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Reuter's weird news for today
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Where is the love
Topic: News

Was reading the "Oddly Enough" news today and came up with some intriguing stories, one which was so interesting that I performed a search to find more info.

Nude Barbies are Free Speech stated a federal appeals court that upheld a Utah artist's right to make nude photos of Barbie dolls being menaced by kitchen appliances.

The artist had argued that the photo series, which also included a photo of Barbie dolls wrapped in tortillas and covered in salsa in a casserole dish in a lit oven, was meant to critique the "objectification of women" and "beauty myth" associated with the popular doll.



Reading this article reminded me of a Butt Poets song called "Barbie Q". The Buzz Poets are a Pittsburgh based band that I saw play for the first time a few years ago. I haven't seen them in a while and I'd had their CD stolen when my car was broken into (and I'd replaced it when the car was stolen, of course, so it was gone again)...anyway, I saw their CD at Garrett Park Guitars in Annapolis one day. Here are the lyrics to the song: betty sue gotta run cause shes got a lotta things to do now barbie really pretty and shes gotta go and find her ken now but then the mall turn pink and all the little barbies ran around wasted blonde hair blue eyes cocaine written on their faces so i said burn all your barbies wanna burn you see i cut open a barbie and i found that she was empty inside she had a pretty little body but i couldn't find her heart of her mind burn barbies burn...
You get the idea.

The second story concerns the world's longest snake which is now on exhibit at a park in Indonesia. Excerpt from article: The huge, dark-colored male snake has a diameter of 2.8 feet, weighs 984 pounds and is 48 feet, 7 inches long, according to keepers of an animal exhibition at the Curugsewu park in the small Central Java town of Kendal.

Snake handler Imam Darmanto told Reuters the nameless serpent likes to gulp down dogs.

"This snake swallows up dogs. In a month, it can eat around five dogs," he said.

According to the Guinness World Records, the longest discovered snake was also a reticulated python from Indonesia. It was 33 feet long when found in Sulawesi island in 1912.

Another story was on Phony Paris Hiltons buying pizza:

Phony Paris Hiltons Buy Plenty of Pizza
Tue December 30, 2003 09:21 AM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The simple life has rubbed off on hotel heiress Paris Hilton -- or so one would think judging by the amount of Domino's pepperoni pizza ordered in her name.
"Paris Hilton" is the No. 1 fake name used by people calling for pizza deliveries, according to a survey of Domino's Pizza drivers in Washington, D.C., released Monday by the pizza delivery chain. And 38 percent of those using the name of the socialite model ordered pepperoni topping.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft might want to open an investigation into these findings -- he was No. 2 on the list of assumed names used by people ordering pizza.

Of course, given his conservative bent, he probably wasn't among those answering the door in the nude, who the survey said tend to tip better than people who answer in their pajamas.

According to the survey of 630 drivers, nine percent of people who answer the door in the nude tip more than 20 percent, compared with 2 percent of people in pajamas.

Among political pizza findings, people with "Dean for President" bumper stickers on cars in their driveways tipped 22 percent higher than people with "Bush for President" bumper stickers. People with "Bush for President" bumper stickers were three times more likely to order meat-topped pizzas than "Dean for President" drivers.

The night of the televised wedding of reality show contestants Trista and Ryan was the top pizza ordering night of the year in Washington, according to the survey. The announcement of the war in Iraq was No. 2, the Super Bowl No. 3 and the debut of Hilton's reality show "The Simple Life" was No.4.

And as an example of giving people what they want, the night Saddam Hussein was captured was the biggest tip night of the year. No. 2 was the night Madonna and Britney Spears kissed on the MTV Music Video awards.

Other noteworthy news is that M&M's are going colorless for the next few months; they will be black and white. We'll see how that promotional campaign goes over!

That's probably it for today, I'm leaving early to have dinner with my dad and then will be going to Shaff's for the annual New Year's Eve-Eve drama graduate party. This will be my 6th year going, and it's a really nice tradition. The only problem is that every year there are fewer and fewer people that I recognize!

Spurrier resigning / Redskins
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Football
That bastard Spurrier quit! How dare he! He ended his 2 year stint with the Skins as head coach with a record of 12-20. Yeah, he sure turned the team around.

The Redskins sure sucked this season! At the beginning, it was looking pretty promising, but after the 4th game, things went downhill. They finished 5-11, the same as the Cowboys have 3 years in a row. Now the Cowboys are going to the playoffs. Go figure.

So now my beloved Skins have to get used to yet ANOTHER new head coach. What would be nice is if Dan Snyder just sold the team to someone else and kept his grubby paws off of every decision! The only good thing to come out of this season is that we get a 5th round draft pick.

Their schedule for next year has also been announced and they play the Browns AND the Ravens! I can't wait until next season. :)

Here are the home games:
Green Bay, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Philadelphia and the New York Giants

And the away games:
Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Philadelphia and the New York Giants

One year of Lauren
Mood:  surprised
Now Playing: At the sign of the Prancing Pony!
Topic: Introspection
I just wanted to introduce you to 3 of my looks over the past year. It's hard to believe that all 3 of these pictures were taken of the same person! (me)




I tried to post another picture, but evil Tripod told me that it was too large. Oh well!

And no, I'm not able to just make a normal face.

Figwit and figpeeps!!
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: LOTR -- Evenstar
Topic: Lord of the Rings
I've come across some really funny websites in the past few days...

Figwit Lives!!

FigPEEP!

Lord of the PEEPS!

Elf porn shack! For lovers of Legolas and other elfs (i.e. Figwit)




Figpeep and the Fellowship of the Peeps! :)

Somebody has way too much time on their hands, but that's good because now I can enjoy their creative genius!