These are albums I purchased or was gifted in 2006 which either did or did not come out in 2006:
Ta-Dah ~ Scissor Sisters The Sweet Escape ~ Gwen Stefani Colorblind ~ Robert Randolph & The Family Band So Far So Good (Live) ~ Paul Thorn What's Left of Me ~ Nick Lachey Loose ~ Nelly Furtado Ben Broussard ~ Ben Broussard Let It Die ~ Feist Demon Days ~ Gorillaz Gold ~ ABBA Very Best of ~ Lisa Loeb Kelis Was Here ~ Kelis Gordon ~ Barenaked Ladies FutureSex/LoveSounds ~ Justin Timberlake The Road to Escondito ~ JJ Cale & Eric Clapton The Dutchess ~ Fergie Danity Kane ~ Danity Kane Alright Still ~ Lily Allen Walk the Line ~ Walk the Line soundtrack Magic Potion ~ The Black Keys Late Registration ~ Kanye West Back to Me ~ Kathleen Edwards Vertically Challenged ~ Lady Sovereign Oh No ~ OK Go More Shine ~ Si*Sé Eye of the Telescope ~ KT Tunstall The One ~ Frankie J A Little More Personal (Raw) ~ Lindsay Lohan Aaliyah ~ Aaliyah The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band ~ Manfred Mann In Between Dreams ~ Jack Johnson Good News For People Who Love Bad News ~ Modest Mouse Colour the Small Ones ~ Sia
That's what I remember, anyway. I'll keep better track in 2007.
As for movies...I paid waaaay too much attention to those. I categorized my movie watching by TV, DVD, and theater viewings. I never missed adding a movie to the list. They're all accounted for in 2006, because in 2005 I didn't keep good enough track and I vowed to keep better track. The numbers for 2006:
Seen in the theater: 8 Seen on DVD: 143 Seen on TV: 100 __________________ Grand total: 251
See the entire list of viewed movies in 2006 here. View the list of movies I saw from Netflix and in the theater in 2005 here (6 in the theater, 126 from Netflix).
Hay, Allie, Ripley, Georgie-girl, and I hope that you had a semi- to über-fantastic 2006 and that 2007 finds you and yours happy, healthy, wise, and able to keep on blogging. :)
And, in tribute to two most excellent bloggers, Helen and Maven, I wish you: Peace!
...a reader emailed Frank with the following idea:
-----Email Message----- Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 1:09 AM
This postcard just gave me an idea:
I am going to buy a pinata and invite my friends to put their secrets in anonymously. Then we can blindfold each other,beat the shit out of it, watch our secrets rain down, and read them like candy. (I will email you some pictures).
The only friend I trust to do this with, besides Hay, is B. So, when we finally meet in person I think it's time to beat up a piñata. I do understand that if it's not my secret then its hers, and vice versa, but I feel closer to B than I have any girlfriend I've ever had in my life.
Your meme, should you choose to accept it, is to dig into your blog archives and post the first sentence of the first post of each of the twelve months of 2006. Joanne and P'nut did this meme, but I need to switch it up a tad and preface by saying that I don't always have a sentence in the first post of the month so instead I am telling you the post title and the first sentence if one exists. Here goes:
January:Georgie snoozes in the new year with Bear on the kitty chair
February:This begs the question: ~ Where do bad boys go?
March:Birdies and Poppies love Regina King ~ We do!
April:Happy fish day! ~ In our 8th grade French class Madame told us all about poisson d'avril*, the tradition of affixing fish (pictures) to people's backs as an April Fool's day prank.
May:Ewwwwwwww! / What A Difference A Day Makes ~ That's what an Oxy pad took off my face last night after it was outside in the dirt all day.
June:Life, the universe, everything, and ...um... work. ~ At Avi's suggestion I am now in an air conditioned environment, no longer melting.
July:Murphy's (gd c-word* of a whoo-ore) law. ~ Your boiler will wait until Saturday afternoon of a holiday weekend to let you know about a soot build-up problem that has been around for quite some time now but is finally getting around to emitting black plumes of smoke out the outtake valve.
August:Bonne chance et merci pour tous les poissons! ~ Taking my first of two practice tests for exam 1 (of 2) today. Wish me luck! Or, wish me to fail, that works too.
September:Pink fan* ~ I've actually been feverishly refreshing my blog and reading my Yahoo mail for comments on the post below this one.
October:R and R ~ I've been a little stressed lately, so I was pretty psyched to have a weekend of fun.
November:Halloween countdown ~ Number of minutes Poppy left work early to greet trick-or-treaters: 120
December:Do me a favor... ~ Bring your hands up to your face, palms toward your nose, and sniff them.
Oh, I love my mind. It entertains me to no end.
In case you want to read the full original post just click on the name of any month.
We were going to travel to Hay's parents' house for a holiday get-together today but there is a snowstorm outside. I ventured out to put some outgoing mail in the mailbox and I almost needed a rescue crew.
Today I was sifting through 3 months' worth of holiday catalogs and stumbled upon one for The Swiss Colony. Inside this catalog were several selections containing chocolate raccoons.
Yes. You heard me. Raccoons. Made of chocolate.
Here's the Santa's Helpers variety:
And the Forest Friends Log variety:
I would really love to receive chocolate raccoons in the mail. But, not real raccoons dipped in chocolate. That's just wrong.
She warned me about the <3F<3U<3C<3K gift, but I forgot all about it, so I got a big chuckle when I opened it up. :) It's displayed prominently on my home desk, at least until Ripley scoots across the desk for some air time and knocks it down, but I'll pick it back up.
Do you give gifts during the winter holidays to people who serve you?* If so, to which ones? And, what kind of gift do you give?
I admit, Hay and I don't give anything extra to the people who serve us, but we're generous with the people close to us.
--- *Garbage collector, mail delivery person, fuel delivery person, etc. I'm not talking about your children or the loved one who cooks meals for you. :)
We were just watching the countdown show of The Soup's best clips of 2006. During the #19 clip, when Kirstie Allie came out in a bikini on Oprah's show, Ripley reached up with both front paws and turned off the TV set then, with her paws still on the power button, turned around to give me and Hay a pleading look. I think she's trying to tell us something... That's the hardest I've laughed in weeks.
Everybody keeps talking about Weird Al's interview with Kevin Federline (who?), but I thought the interview between Al and Jessica Simpson was the funniest part of the show:
Rules: 1. Open your music library (iPod, iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc) 2. Put it on shuffle 3. Press play 4. For every question, type the song that’s playing 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…
la mienne: Waking Up:She Only Sleeps ~ David Byrne First Day at School:We Major ~ Kanye West f. Nas and Really Doe Falling In Love:Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting) ~ Nickelback f. Kick Rock Fight Song:Sexy Ladies/Let Me Talk to You Prelude ~ Justin Timberlake Breaking Up: Who Am I? (Live) ~ The Samples Prom:Have It All ~ Jeremy Kay Life:Snake Drive ~ North Mississippi Allstars Mental Breakdown:Forever Love (Digame) ~ Anna Nalick Driving:Noorie ~ Bally Sagoo f. Gunjan (Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack) Flashback:¡Que Lluvia! ~ Juana Molina Wedding:New Slang ~ Shins Birth of Child:One Night in Bangkok ~ Murray Head Final Battle:What If ~ Aaliyah Death Scene:Limp ~ Fiona Apple Funeral Song:All Alone ~ Gorillaz End Credit:Thankful & Thoughtful ~ Robert Randolph & The Family Band
I'm going to a holiday luncheon today. At a seafood place. I don't eat seafood. Totally wasted on me. It happens to be my grandmother's most favoritest restaurant, although she is not accompanying me. I wish I had thought to invite her earlier, having her meet my co-workers would have been a trip. :)
Two C things I forgot to say I love are Colbert and Chopra. Stephen is one of the funniest people on my TV set. His interview with Deepak Chopra was hilarious. I thought it was very interesting that Mr. Chopra chose to wear bright red Nikes to his interview. What does that mean, exactly? His theories on reality perception send my mind spiraling out of control.
1. Cats. My kitties are my kids. I can't even imagine what a sad life I would be leading without my girls.
2. Cheese. A world without cheese? Inconceivable! I particularly enjoy the extra sharp and higher varieties of cheddar.
3. Caffeine. Oh, nemesis. I am on a caffeine break right now, but I've seriously been addicted to it since age 6 when I began drinking Taster's Choice and Coke as my main beverages. I don't drink Taster's Choice anymore, by the way.
4. Cuddling. I really like hugging Hay on the couch while we watch TV. It's like a treat to me.
5. Chips. American or English, it's all good. If they weren't bad for me I'd eat them for every meal.
6. Canada. Seriously, what's not to love? Some of the fondest memories of my life were made au Canada, mostly in places where they spoke French, but not always.
7. Chocolate. Just don't mix fruit with my chocolate. That's wrong. Oh, and anything above 70% is just too hard core for me. I particularly love the Lindt hazelnut wafer bar that I've mentioned in the past.
8. Corn. Particularly the popped and cob varieties. With butter. And some salt. And more butter.
9. Catawampus. It's an adjective, sometimes spelled cattywampus or cattywhompus. I like my life askew, crooked, and just not right.
10. Cows. Yes, I like to eat them and their delicious dairy products, but I thoroughly enjoy their company when alive. I particularly enjoy having calves suckle on my hand, which is an experience I can't describe without sounding like a total perv. Just try it. I even enjoy the aroma of their manure, incessant mooing, and spontaneous charging when I get too close.
If you would like me to give you a letter please let me know. If you would like Heather to give you a letter please let her know.
Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex
NEW YORK (AP) -- More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past.
"This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer. "Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades."
Finer is a research director at the Guttmacher Institute, a private New York-based think tank that studies sexual and reproductive issues and which disagrees with government-funded programs that rely primarily on abstinence-only teachings. The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports.
The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people -- about 33,000 of them women -- in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey of Family Growth. According to Finer's analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage. (CNN)
Circumcision reduces the risk of contracting HIV?! Explain the science. Please. I don't comprehend. Or, is this just another way to make even more Africans have unprotected sex? I mean, c'mon, two clinical trials and we're all done? All ready to tell the guys to cut their penises up? I'm 100% skeptical about this.
I do understand that circumcision can result in much improved hygiene, but hygiene and the HIV virus are not one in the same.
I was going to do a post about SNL on Sunday, but it was hosted by Justin Timberlake, and I know Bearette can't stand him. However, so many sites are talking about his performance that I want to add my 2 cents: Saturday's SNL was the funniest I've seen in quite a long time. I thought JT was funny in all of his skits, even if the audience didn't quite catch on in the Target skit, and I thought his live performances were spectacular. Here's his performance of What Goes Around (my favorite motto as a child):
Not sure why that awful Nancy Grace faked rape skit was at the end of the show, but otherwise the writers did a great job.
Hay and I went to his work party on Friday night, and we had a great time. The food was incredible, the company was engaging and jovial, and our thieves' auction gift received some very big laughs. My only complaint-slash-puzzlement: The waitstaff was quite good at coming around to offer us more hors d'oeuvres every 3 seconds, but they only came around to refill out water glasses once. I had finished my glass of water in the first 30 seconds I was there. Annoying. And, the next glass tasted like bleach.
I finally sent out my holiday cards this morning!
We did get a tree yesterday, but haven't stuck stuff all over it yet. Georgie is enjoying sitting underneath it and staring at the base, which I don't quite understand.
Cautionary tale: You know how all those gift cards are sitting out in the open for everyone to see and touch at many of our favorite stores? Bad people are lifting the numbers from these cards, then patiently waiting for unsuspecting shoppers to buy said gift cards. The bad people check every (day, few hours, whatever) and once the card goes active they buy things with the number they lifted from the card. This isn't a hoax, it's confirmed by: Snopes, the Jackson County, OR Sheriff's department, and a number of other online news and consumer sources. This holiday season I have chosen to buy as few gift cards as possible, and the one card I did buy I bought from their website instead. Also, I have resolved myself to the idea that the money from that gift card might be stolen, and have decided to assume an “oh well” attitude. Even if you purchase cards from customer service representatives there is no guarantee that everyone who has/had access to those cards is honest. C'est la vie, c'est la guerre.
On that cheery note... happy Monday? And happy 4th night/3rd day of Hanukkah!
Yes, I did think last night's Office was one of the best ever. I shall be downloading it from iTunes so that I may watch it whenever I feel like doing so.
Guess who stayed home for two days after her original green post?
(If you didn't guess then you need to get out more. Like me, who hasn't been out since I got home from work on Monday.)
Being sick results in me having nothing interesting to say. I just checked in with the world and all I can report is that: lettuce, rather than green onions, might be the E. coli culprit in the latest string of Taco Bell illnesses; the dad from Everybody Loves Raymond died today from heart disease and multiple myeloma; the Saudis will support the Sunnis if we get the hell outta Dodge Iraq. *sigh* I'm all done with this stupid planet. I'm taking off for another galaxy. Anyone else wanna come with?
Update: How could I forget? Senator Tim Johnson, D-South Dakota was hospitalized for stroke-like symptoms, but it wasn't a stroke. If he can't come back to work his position could be filled by a republican. I'm going conspiracy theory on this and saying he was poisoned, but not the same way Alexander Litvinenko was, because that'd be too conspicuous.
I'm not feeling well at all today. In fact, I've not felt particularly stellar in a few days. I definitely wish I could have stayed home today. I think this morning's unpleasant feeling is specifically attributed to tomatillo salsa I consumed at last night's holiday party. Soooooo very, very tasty.
Update: water + mini pretzels + 3 Musketeers = a much happier tummy Sneezes and headache and runny nose are not affected, however.
FYI: My last name isn't Cedes. In fact, cede is a verb, which is my clever play on "forking it all over" and the use of Poppy Seed, which is the pseudonym I used as a young girl, but that blog is taken. It's dead, but it's taken. I've heard from more than one blogger who has found out my real last name that I have the raddest last name in the world, but I'm still not forking it over. :) I think if you paid Avi $15,000 he might give it to you, but then again I think he knows what will happen if he does. :P (Avi, really, I just like injecting you into my blog posts.)
I found out today that my nephew wants hunting gear for Christmas. Guess which of his favorite aunts won't be directly sponsoring his Bambi bloodfest? Sorry, Nephew...
I never talk about Paperlilies, but I secretly think she's pretty effing amazing. Evidence:
I saw this back in November, and loved it then but forgot about it. Today I was watching her newest Chicago video and noticed her entry to her own contest video again, so thought I'd share this time. :) (Yes, Bryony has two different YouTube accounts, which she uses for very different purposes.)
If you are willing to send a postcard to Kim's cousin then email her directly at the address listed in her blog post. Kim told me she recommends that you sign your real name at the bottom, not your blogger name, since her cousin doesn't know what a blog is.
On a totally different topic (yes, this is what it's like inside my head): I think I'm an addict. I can't stop watching the show Intervention, and pretending what it's like to be in the shoes of the addict. Does this mean I'm about to be a “lolly lolly ice head”?
I knew there was no hope when they found just his pants earlier today, but I was really hoping he'd be found alive. One choice to try to help his family and he ends up dying while his family is saved by an umbrella. This world maddens me sometimes.
Last night I read the front page of my blog through new reader eyes and there wasn't one post I enjoyed, thought was funny, thought was informative, thought was clever, or thought was any other redeeming word. Do you ever go through periods of time where you don't like what your blog is standing for at the current moment? That's my December. And, a bit of my November. It's tough to blog passionately when you aren't feeling passionate about the world's business.
To all my new readers, in lurking form or otherwise: Try the archives. They're much funnier, I promise.
Bearette wins the prize for noticing that Katharine and Audrey are different people. I don't know why no one else said anything. It's like if my fly were open or my shirt buttoning job was misaligned by one button or I had lettuce stuck in my teeth and everyone let me walk around all day in that state, except the wonderful Bearette. This is precisely why I made an announcement when I upgraded her to my obsession section after going for over a year thinking she was already there... :)
On a totally different note, DLil: Are you listening to Perez on Howard tomorrow?
LONDON, England (AP) -- The black Givenchy gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sold at auction Tuesday for $807,000.
The price, paid by a telephone bidder, was almost six times the highest pre-sale estimate. (CNN)
...not because her Audrey's dress sold for so much money, but because she was an incredible woman.
Update: I was apparently on teh drugz™ when I wrote this post, because I confused Audrey with Katharine. I don't know why I try to blog from work when I'm actually trying to work at the same time. (Note to employer: Um, wait, I don't do that. Ever. Never, ever. Nope, I don't.)
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Board of Health voted Tuesday to make New York the nation's first city to ban artery-clogging artificial trans fats at restaurants -- from the corner pizzeria to high-end bakeries.
The board, which passed the ban unanimously, did give restaurants a slight break by relaxing what had been considered a tight deadline for compliance. Restaurants will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of its foods by July 2008.
Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said recently that officials seriously weighed complaints from the restaurant industry, which argued that it was unrealistic to give them six months to replace cooking oils and shortening and 18 months to phase out the ingredients altogether.
The ban contains some exceptions; for instance, it would allow restaurants to serve foods that come in the manufacturer's original packaging. ... (CNN)
I know I shouldn't eat stuff that's bad for me. I appreciate that restaurants want to help me accomplish that. [However, ] Sometimes I just wanna eat stuff that's bad for me and that's that.
I have a tendency to look at the clock when it's the following times:
9:11am 9:11pm 11:11am 11:11pm 12:34pm 21:21
No idea why. I get really frustrated when I see 9:11 on the clock, which happens to be the time I witness the most on the clock. I just don't want to think about that until I'm good and ready. Ya know?
Oh, for those who have asked in the comments:
Camera is still the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W1 5.1 megapixel with sucky 3x optical zoom.
I won't be posting photos of my hair. I've posted pictures of my hair before (here), even at the current length (here), so those might be more interesting than my current cut.
Avi, I am honored that I have found the weirdest fucking thing you've ever heard of. I find it hard to believe, and expect that someone else has already stolen this world record from me, but it was nice while it lasted. :)
I got my hair chopped today. I know that a lot of people who have long hair become very attached to it, but it doesn't seem to phase me a bit. It was down past my shoulders and now it's just above my shoulders, with a bit of layer to it. It's funny to see all my hair strewn across the floor. Next time I'll wait a bit longer to get it all chopped off so that it's long enough to donate to charity. It was just barely too short.
After 32 years of frizzy hair I finally was able to get my stylist to explain to me that a flat iron will keep the stray hairs from curling up. How is it that I've allowed myself to suffer with the friz for so long without getting the help I needed? I will be asking for a flat iron for Christmas. :)
Bring your hands up to your face, palms toward your nose, and sniff them. What do they smell like? Mine generally smell like Corn Flakes, if they're not freshly scented by soap. Just curious if there's a standard smell.
