Non-Trivial Matters

Tonight at 8pm PST I am taking the Jeopardy online test. It's the first step to getting on the show. I'm super nerdy and super excited! Wish me luck!

Hopefully I'll do better than "Sean Connery" on SNL.

Hello, And Welcome To Moviefone!

Tonight I am going to see She's the Man with Jessica. Yep, that's right, the Amanda Bynes vehicle "based on" Twelfth Night.

That embarrassing admission aside, while looking on Fandango.com for theaters and times, I found something disturbing.

OK, one more admission - I read and liked The Da Vinci Code. It was over-hyped, poorly written, predictable in spots, and nonetheless was also enthralling. I remember wondering if I could read at red lights while driving, seriously.

I knew the movie would be huge, the book was huge, and it's starring Tom Hanks. Duh. But this is way over the top... The movie comes out on May 19... You can already buy tickets online. That just seems like more planning than any movie or other non life changing event deserves. Please tell me you don't consider this movie "life changing."

Chuck E. Cheese, Here I Come

Do they still give free tokens for A's on a report card?

I got a 4.0 this term!

Just one more to go!

And yes, it did deserve all these exclamation points!

Ansley Miller. Yep, That Sounds Good.

I didn't set out to jump on the Rhett Miller blogger fan club bandwagon, then I saw him sing, play guitar, talk to little kids, and shake his hair around, and jump I did.

The show here was sold out so I went to an in-store performance at Music Millennium. There were several great things about this:

It was free

A wide range of people were there and I love that about Portland. The people next to me were at least 65 and there were lots of kids around 2-4 as well.

Rhett took requests since lots of people there couldn't get into the sold out show.

He sang an impromptu kids song that he sings for his own child, further cementing the crush, mine on him, not his on me.

Laura joined me for the day and, having never heard him, liked it.

Music Millennium just happens to be next to Papa Haydn's

P.S. I know he's married, OK! No reprimands are necessary.

Don't Stop Believing, Hold On To The Feeling

This is so funny to me.

You'll no longer be a rebel without a cause, whatever yours is, there's a sticker for it. Options include, STOP:

Collaborate And Listen

Defacing Stop Signs

Drop And Roll

Hammer Time!

Is The New Go

It

Me If You've Heard This Before

Stickers

Walking

With All The Patchouli

My favorite is Stop...with all the patchouli. Seriously, who wants to smell like rotten dirt! For more info or to order them, go here. They have lots of fun t-shirts too, this is my favorite.

Small Joys Current and Remembered

Why are some things fun as a kid and other things stay fun forever? I'm sure those things are different for each of us. Here are a few of mine:

New phone books - I always think they will have some exciting stuff, not just to look up my own name a la The Jerk. But in the end they are always a let down.

The Sunday paper - news, comics, Parade, coupons, classified, travel, there really is something for every age group and interest.

New shoes - I have always loved going to the shoe store, whether is was Kassis Brothers in Charleston, SC, or now as a "grown up." Being young the bonus is you don't have to pay, being an adult, you get to choose your own shoes and don't end up with whatever shoes you happen to have on when your mom has had enough. Solid purple Nikes - PURPLE! Shoes, swoosh, laces, all of it.

Revolving doors - This is what made me start thinking about this. I had a job interview yesterday, nothing exciting, just temp work to fill in the free days and give me a little money for shoes. The building had a revolving door. I walked into and out of the building with a smile and a memory of the first time I ever went through one. Why do I like them so much? Novelty? It feels so "big city?" They have them at the airport so it signifies a trip?

Here's a picture of me from a cross-country summer trip in Kansas City Missouri. My first revolving door at Macy's. No comments about the hair, it was 1984.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

Maybe I'll do daily posts over spring break. I was averaging 4 posts a month but March is going to be a blog explosion.

Since spring break has been strictly set aside for fun, shouldn't I just post fun stuff.

Well, here's an amusing blog about creative advertising ideas. The site is full of great photos like this one for a taekwondo studio.

Funny Face

Can you tell I'm on spring break and have lots of extra time to post to my blog...

Jaime sent me an email with this link where you can upload your photo and then see which celebrity you most look like (from the ones in their database).

I keep getting Katie Holmes and Britney Spears, must be the chubby cheeks and dimples. As long as I don't start resembling them in life choices.

Who do you get? Who would you like to resemble?

Devil's Haircut

I just got a new haircut, including new bangs and lots of highlights.

While Googling for pictures to take to my stylist, I found this from Toothpaste for Dinner.

Is it true? Yes. Does it have to be????



I guess what I had in mind was this quote I hate but still remember the first time I heard, so it obviously had an impact.

"You might take a careful inventory of your habits, your speech, your appearance, and your eccentricities, if you have them. Take each item and analyze it. What do you like in others? What personality traits please you in others? Are your dresses too short, too long, too revealing, too old-fashioned? Do you laugh raucously? Are you too selfish? Are you interested only in your own interests or do you project yourself into the lives of others? Do you have annoying mannerisms? … Do you repeat old stories till they are threadbare? Are you too anxious or too disinterested? Can you make some sacrifices to be acceptable? Are you dull or are you too exuberant? Are you flashy or are you disinteresting? What do you do to make yourself desirable? Do you overdo or underdo? Too much makeup or too little? Scrupulously clean both physically and morally?
“What are your eccentricities, if any? I think nearly all people have some. If so, then go to work. Classify them, weigh them, corral them, and eliminate one at a time until you are a very normal person” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982], pp. 295-96).

Doesn't it seem like we are all told to be the same? That we need to eliminate those things that make us individual to be desireable to others? That I really could, if I thought hard enough, figure out what is "wrong" with me and why I'm not married? I don't really believe this about my bangs or anything else, I think it's more of a feeling with the right person rather than a checklist of qualities, that some great people will never get married (I have far too many wonderful single friends to question their efforts or worthiness).

Please...correct me if I'm wrong...Or don't, maybe this post was just for my sanity and to talk through some ideas in my head, maybe I just need a personal private journal for some of my thoughts. Still figuring out the level of disclosure I want in my blog.

Schoooooooool's Out Forevah - Almost

Today, March 17, means I have 3 months left in school.

3 months, 13 weeks, 94 days, any way you look at it, that's not very long; even less when you take out March 21-April 3 for spring break.

Also, this was the last day of the term, except for a group final on Monday.

So how did I celebrate? I decided to get a 2 liter of Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke to have while studying for finals. What happened? I had one glass, and put the 2 liter in the fridge. Later, while getting something out of the fridge the Coke fell on the floor and then exploded all over the kitchen. Floor to ceiling, all 4 walls, dripping off the window blinds. It was either laugh or cry; I chose laugh.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

Say My Name, Say My Name

I do love Destiny's Child, or at least some of their music, but that's not the point of this post.

I am reading Freakonomics right now and find it interesting, easy to understand, and at the same time, perhaps too basic. I wonder what the data really says. I am a firm believer that statistics can be used to prove what you want. So I do question some of the statements in the book.

One I found particularly interesting, as it is personally relevant, was the idea on page 203 (if you have the book). This chapter talks about baby names and what has been popular in previous years and then speculates what the most popular names will be in 2015. There's a list of about 25 girl names and my name is on that list. Ansley, there in black and white, in a real-live published book, a New York Times Bestseller no less.

I have always had to spell my name, in fact, when asked my name, I usually just say, "Ansley, A-N-S-L-E-Y"

The most common mistakes are either Ashley, if someone is reading it, or Angie, when hearing it. I also get Ann, I guess the assumption is Lee is my last name.

But my favorite goes like this...
"What's your name?"
"Ansley"
"And what's your first name?"
"That is my first name."
Like I think I'm James Bond or something.

A weird name is not without its benefits as well. Once people know my name, they know it. When I haven't talked to someone for a long time, I can call and just say, "Hey, it's Ansley." and they know which Ansley, because they (usually) only know one; except my friend Christine who has a 2 year old daughter also named Ansley, which I take as a huge compliment and responsibility.

So the news that my name might one day, and not too far away, be fairly common, is bittersweet. The thought of not having to spell both my names (difficult last name too) is exciting but the thought of losing some of my uniqueness (uniquity??) is not so exciting.

If you want to read the full list of names, maybe you are about to have a child and want to be ahead of the curve...click this link from slate.com and scroll down to the end.

While searching for an image, this came up... Yikes, and the confederate flag, nice touch! (edited to remove name on tombstone)

Cry Me A River

Last week while making Vietnamese chicken salad for a dinner party (see previous post about that), I had to chop some onions. I'm not sure if it's like this for everyone or I have a bigger reaction to them, but my eyes water and burn A LOT. Running down my cheeks, mascara ruining tears, even if it's just green onions, so little and innocent; aren't they even called spring onions sometimes, deceivingly cute name.

So I had the thought, "When I find the guy I'll marry, I hope he can chop onions." I laughed and thought what a weird request that was in a significant other but it would make life much easier.

So what about you, any weird requests; not things like sense of humor, or a good parent, or spiritual, etc. Random little things you hate to do that would make you so happy if someone under the same roof did them for you?

Dinner and a Movie...

Several months ago I thought it would be fun to have a dinner and a movie club, kinda like a book club, that gets together to watch a movie and have a potluck dinner where all the food somehow ties to the film.

Last night we watched All the President's Men. Several people brought food but did not yet have an idea how to tie it to the movie so here is what we came up with, some are admittedly quite a stretch:

Coconut shrimp - served at the Sundance restaurant, owned by Robert Redford, who plays Bob Woodward, one of the reporters

Hummus and pita bread - from the Middle East, the current cause of much political controversy over war.

Brushetta - sometimes made with rosemary. The first explanation about the missing 18 1/2 minutes of White House tape was that the secretary, Rose Mary Woods, had accidentally deleted it.

Caesar salad - Nixon and Caesar were both powerful would-be dictators who were both removed from power (although Nixon resigned just before impeachment).

Vietnamese chicken salad - one of the reasons Nixon bugged the DNC was over the anti-Vietnam war issues.

Tiramisu - mentioned in Sleepless in Seattle, which was written by Nora Ephron, who was married to Carl Bernstein, one of the reporters

Apple pie - all American

Chocolate chip cookies - yummy just like Robert Redford

Sparkling peach juice - Nixon's almost impeachment

I loved/was amazed by this movie. It was intriguing and kept my attention even though there were no chase scenes, no one was killed, and there was almost no music to intensify the stressful scenes. And it definitely echoes some of the political concerns of our times.

Any ideas for next time?