Listen to the sound of a whole other O*

It's about to be 2-OO-6 and I just want to say that each and every one of you who take the time to read my thoughts and drop me a comment here and there make my day, every day. This year has not been my most favorite for reasons I'd prefer to shove in a deep, dark hole, but one very spectacular thing happened: I made friends all across the country, and even a casual drive-by friend or two across the ponds, despite my realization that it is very difficult to make friends outside of school. I've been honored to be there to share so many important moments of your life with all of you. The best, the worst, it's all good because you let me share your experiences. Not at all a comprehensive list, here are some of the very special moments you shared with me that left a mark:

Moving in together with your sweetie
Becoming an aunt
Getting a divorce from a man who wasn't worth your time
The pink elephant acknowledged
Trying for babies
Making babies(!!!)
Adopting furry kids
Book exchange
The Busty Nuns - Sister Mary Michael, Sister Mary Kate, and their blinged bibles
Getting engaged(!!!!!!!)
Going to the ER, but coming out the other end (hehe) just fine
O-C-D and other mental excitednessesses
PMS
Getting a new car (for better or for worse)
A great day
A shitty day
Missing a soldier serving our country
Missing a loved one who passed away
The shock of that one moment in time that took someone near and dear away
Getting back your test results
Moving on with your life, despite life trying its hardest to keep you down
Getting drunk
Getting high
Eating too much cheese
Eating too much chocolate
Doing memes, tagged or otherwise
Making a fabulous meal, only to be hardly touched by the evil MIL
The last person on Earth you wanted finding your blog? Yah, they found it
Secret crushes
Celebrity gossip
Blogland gossip
Sharing in opinions about how the world is really effed up right now
We Are Not Afraid
PostSecret
Gallery of the Absurd
LA - we miss you!
MaMa - are you back?
Oregano - she better have said yes!!!!
Lady Bug - glad you're back, love the new name, and the new hair :) :)
Dislocating digits
Sending snailmail!!!!!! (Kim, Stacy, B - thanks for trusting that I am who I say I am and giving me your addresses ;)
P'nut, TJ, Kim, and all the others of us who lost a furry kid
Being devastated by world events
I can't end on a low note, so: Getting flowers, cards, gifts, or hugs from your favoritest person

Who knows when each of us will drop blogland for our physical lives, but I will be forever changed for the better by the time I have spent with you. Rock on, my blog friends. :)

xoxo,
~Poppy


*PS - Yes, that's the slogan for Honey Nut Cheerios, my favorite breakfast cereal in my formative years.

Movies Poppy watched in 2005

*=movies I recommend

At the theater:

King Kong
The Producers (2005)^@
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Æon Flux*
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie*

On DVD:

The Island
Nightbreed
March of the Penguins*
The Black Keys: Live
The Dukes of Hazzard
Fantastic Four
Stealth
War of the Worlds
Happy Endings
The Amityville Horror
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory*+
The Devil's Rejects*
Red Dwarf: Series 6*
Ginger Snaps
House of Wax
Oldboy*
Bewitched
Fever Pitch*
The Interpreter
Land of the Dead*
Batman Begins*
Robots
Unleashed
The Hitcher
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
8 Mile
Crash*
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Beginning of the End
The Longest Yard
The Station Agent
Gossip
The Brown Bunny^@
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders
Dog Soldiers
Sahara
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues
Beauty Shop
The Ring Two
Ray
Dark Water (2002, Honogurai mizu no soko kara)
Sin City*
Cursed
Guess Who
Kung Fu Hustle
42 Up*
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
Trail of the Pink Panther
Revenge of the Pink Panther
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
A Shot in the Dark
The Pink Panther
Prozac Nation*
XXX: State of the Union
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Space Mutiny
Hide and Seek
Constantine
Born Into Brothels*
The Corporation
Spanglish
Million Dollar Baby
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Crawling Hand
National Treasure
35 Up*
28 Up*
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Wild World of Batwoman
Hostage
Be Cool
Hitch
White Noise
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Mitchell
Seed of Chucky
In Good Company
DOT
The Aviator
21 Up*
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
The Last Shot
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Killer Shrews
Team America: World Police
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Hercules Against the Moon Men
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
A Woman Under the Influence
Artie Lange: It's the Whiskey Talkin'*
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Hercules Unchained
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Incredibles*
Blade: Trinity
Shark Tale
Exorcist: The Beginning
Meet the Fockers
Word Wars*+
Ocean's Twelve
Elektra
Sideways^@
Red Dwarf: Series 5*
Red Dwarf IV*
Red Dwarf III*
Red Dwarf II*
Red Dwarf I*
Night of the Living Dead*
Kill Bill: Vol. 2*+
Closer
I Heart Huckabees^@
Kill Bill: Vol. 1*+
Mercury Rising
Mystery Science Theater 3000: I Accuse My Parents
Little Black Book
The Missing
In the Bedroom
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Teenagers from Outer Space
The Flight of the Phoenix
The Girl Next Door
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Mr. B's Lost Shorts
Wicker Park^@
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Eegah!
The Last American Virgin*+
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)^@
Saw
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Manos: Hands of Fate
The Thing
The Lost Boys: Special Edition*
The Grudge
Pumpkinhead
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Open Water^@
Alien vs. Predator

On TV:

I wasn't keeping track, and the only ones I remember are Pieces of April and HUFF!: The Series*+

You are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You're
adorable, but a little out there. It's alright,
you might not have it all, but there are worse.

Which happy bunny are you?
Brought to you by Quizilla

Note: I made grammar and punctuation corrections.
You might want to do the same if you take this quiz. Or not.

Confession

I secretly enjoy not acknowledging major holidays with others, as if they are taboo. :)

Warm weather remembrances...

Meatloaf retraction

Although the meatloaf tasted incredible, it was 85% lean and there was a great deal of nasty fat swimming around it in the crockpot, so I shall not be showing you photos, unless you drop me a comment that you want me to email you a link because you're totally into meat fat coagulation. :)

Que la...

It is the end of December and waaaaaaay below freezing here, why did I just get attacked by a mosquito in my own home?!?!??!?!? I normally don't kill bugs, but he attacked me first.

"Meatloaf, beatloaf."

My most favoritest scene from A Christmas Story is Mom asking Randy "how do the little piggies eat?" and he plants his face down into those mashed potatoes and that meatloaf and he just goes oinkety oink oink hog wild. I cannot stop laughing when I see that scene, even though I've seen the movie at least 50 times by this point in life.

Today Hay and I made crockpot meatloaf. On purpose! Our house smells amazing. I really cannot wait to eat the little sucker. I took photos, maybe I'll post one later. For now, just know that the smell of ketchup in a crockpot is delectable.

Speaking of meatloaf and Christmas, did you know you can visit the house in the movie for an annual A Christmas Story party? Me neither! (Well, okay, I know now.) Or, instead of going to the house, you can do a virtual tour. Awe---some. But, you may actually want to go see it, since the Red Rider Lamp Company bought the house off eBay and is restoring it to its movie likeness, and shall eventually make it a public museum. Yippy! OK, and the bestest part of all is that starz on demand has a 30-second version of A Christmas Story in cartoon bunny form, which even includes the meatloaf scene!!

Note: I wanted to include a photo of Randy with his face in the mashed potatoes, but I'm having no luck finding one. C'est la vie, c'est la guerre. Just imagine Randy with spuds and drippy cow loaf hanging off his face, and imagine him snorting in amusement. Ahhhhhhh.

Isn't that always the way?

I was watching a really great movie, it was getting to the best part, then the power went off. Such a letdown...

I'm pretty sure Fairuza Balk never did a movie like that again. Hehe. Interesting bit of info: Fairuza means "turquoise" in Farsi. Neat!

Never fully dressed without a smile

You know when you're just enjoying the pants off having a cold, don't have one bad thing to say about the world, everything's wonderful? Yah, well, some of you might not agree that I'm experiencing that, but I took this Tylenol cool burst cold and flu stuff that B* recommended and I'm pretty darn happy. :)

Nathan Lane's interview on Letterman is hilarious. He even makes fun of Tom Cruise and gets booed, which is hysterical. If Nathan just wants to replace his film performance with his interview/musical on Dave, I think he might get a better review!

I heard that Naomi Watts and Britney Spears want to be pregnant, and that Angelina Jolie is pregnant. Oh, and so is Whoorl! What's in the water lately?!

Today I worked from home, then Hay came home and we went grocery shopping then played cards. And my in-laws are trying to decide what to name their new Pom they just got. They have it narrowed down between a cute girl's name and a spice. Hay and I both vote for the girl's name.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we're both going to have fitless nights of medicated sleep. A bientôt!

*That's Bdogg. Do I need to keep explaining this? I'll just link her everytime. Hi DH! Hi kitties!

Not to be mean, but...

Hay and I both disliked The Producers immensely. It was uncomfortable, only mildly amusing at best when Will Ferrell wasn't on the screen, and I'm pretty sure if I had to pretend that Nazi Germany was funny for 30 seconds longer I would have thrown up. Rotten Tomatoes has a few reviews about the movie that sum up our dislike:

"By the end you're asking yourself if they went to any trouble at all or simply took a film camera to a performance of the musical itself"
-- Joe Utichi, FILMFOCUS

"Static camera work alienates the audience."
-- Audrey Rock-Richardson, TOOELE TRANSCRIPT-BULLETIN (UTAH)

"I really can't believe that Nathan, Matthew, or Uma chose to be involved in this film. Bad career decision especially for Uma."
-- Poppy Cede, POPPY CEDES (har har)

Oh well, won't be the worst movie I ever see in my life...

Ouchie to the nth degree

Poppy got her elastic bands yesterday. Poppy "slept" with them in her mouth. Poppy woke up every hour in agonizing pain because her mouth was open, going against the force of the bands. Poppy has a cold and can only breathe through her open mouth right now. Poppy will only wear her elastic bands at night until her cold is over. Poppy is sticking it to "The Man".

The one time where less is more

Your Kissing Purity Score: 29% Pure

You're not one to kiss and tell... But word is, you kiss pretty well.

Kissing Purity Test

I was actually voted most observant female in 8th grade.

Your Observation Skills Get An A-

Hardly anything gets by you... You have a great memory and eagle eyes

How Observant Are You?

So, did anyone notice a certain post missing?

Well, B does because I told her I was taking it down. I had to take my co-worker post* (you know, the one who was telling me she was all better than me) offline because completely by accident I spilled the beans about something that led my friend/co-worker (f/c-w) to my blog. Not the same f/c-w, but the f/c-w is wise and is probably fully aware that this is my blog.

My f/c-w might be lurking here (although my stat counter does not indicate so) and if it is true, I'd just like to say ahead of time: I'm sorry if my posts here ever hurt your feelings, but this is my blog and I'll say whatever is on my mind because it's not healthy for me to internalize my rage. You're a great friend, but sometimes I complain about you too. That's just the way life goes. And, I'm quite certain that if I had not been on cold medicine I wouldn't have blabbed like I did. :D

To the rest of you all: How is it that you never annoy me? It's incredible, like perfect friendships with a thick layer of rainbow sprinkles on top...

--
*No worries, the post still exists, it's saved as a draft, so whenever Blogger decides to "accidentally" publish all my draft posts it will make its reappearance.

Bloggers to be respected

So, hi. :) To those of you who are semi-new to my blog but have been posting comments like MAD - I love them, they make me very happy, so please continue! A few of you are so nice with your comments that I absolutely must move your blogs up to my obsession section just out of respect. I'm not going to say who, you'll know who you are.

It occurred to me to wonder...

Each end of year I feel a small level of anxiety because I'm concerned that the date of Christmas will disrupt any or all of our services. The year when Christmas was on a Friday and so was New Year's? Two weeks of NO GARBARGE COLLECTION. That just royally stunk, figuratively and literally. So, each year I continue to worry unnecessarily.

This year the fear was that PostSecret wouldn't be updated, because it's updated on Sundays and Christmas and Hanukkah were on a Sunday. But that Frank, he's crafty. You know what he did? He posted on Saturday, the eve of the big day!** I'm not sure if he won't just post this coming Sunday's postcards on Sunday, since New Year's is hardly as important as killing trees or lighting wax on fire, but I'm really impressed that he's such a stand-up guy that he already had a plan for what to do when a major holiday disrupts his posting schedule! Genius!


--
**I promise that I do realize that some people don't celebrate any of the holidays that occur this time of year, but I can't control what I'll be anxious about...

PS - To the guy who sent in a postsecret that he drowned a kitten because he was mad that his parents were divorced: I hope that kitten's life taught you a lesson and that you never, ever did or will do harm to another living being again. :(

PSS - Do you think Frank ever submits his own secret(s) to himself?

Listen up, Hollywood bitches

Just because you're all famous and shit, and just because you think you're as stupid as the rest of us think you are does not give you the right to assume that the stick figure in a wheelchair painted on the parking spot where you chose to park your car is an avatar of YOU.

PULL YOURSELVES OUT OF YOUR DRUNK-ASS VICODIN HAZE AND MOVE YOUR FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT VEHICLES. YOU ARE NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE REST OF US. NOT EVEN FOR JUST "TWO SECS", NOT EVEN IF YOU USED TO MAKE OUT WITH SPIDEY OR HAD A HIT SHOW ON NICKELODEON. OKAY? O-FUCKING-KAY.

FU,
~Poppy

Blogly inspired.

I'm not feelin' it. Just got a bit of a cold and nothing much to say today, other than I have to pee frequently because of all the liquids I'm drinking to banish the cold back to the dark realm from whenst it came. Or, whatever.

Anyone else got a case of the Mondays, even though it's Tuesday?

Chickens, eggs, and not caring who got there first

When I was a young girl my mother told me about my great grandmother, her grandmother, who would start talking about a story or an event from her day, then drop it for an hour or two, or a day or two, then all of a sudden she'd just pick it back up as if the first part of the conversation had happened just a moment ago.

I'm not sure if I picked up this habit because my mom told me about it and it sounded cool, or if I was predisposed to do it, but I have this exact same tendency. Two days ago Hay and I were talking about something, and I just brought it up again, without using specific nouns or pronouns, and he totally realized what I was talking about. To me the more amazing thing is that I found a soulmate who gets me.

Thanks, Great Gramma Poppy. :D

And, since you've made it through my tale I reward you with a warm weather remembrance:



and a link to my holiday party fun set!