the promise of thursday

so, there have been so many things i want to say to you!!! but, i was putting it ALL off because i kept thinking, "i can't tell them anything before i tell them all about ireland!!!" but, i kept not finding the right time (or enough time) to upload and resize the pictures and organize them and write a whole entry.

SO. then i decided that i just missed talking to you and who cares if i haven't told you everything about ireland yet, i still want to talk to you.

i guess i'll just start then.

work has been good. quiet. there are only 4 girls here now. it was a full house when i left for ireland. and when i got back, there were two girls who had left. along with the 10-month (now one year!) old who i loved and the toddler. i was pretty sad about that.

and there's another girl who is leaving on friday, and another one who is leaving next week sometime. and then there will be two. crazy. and one baby. and one unborn baby.

i haven't really been called in the night. the other night i did get a call, but it was for a french braiding.

let's talk about the movies i have seen recently:

INCENDIARY: michelle williams. ewan mcgregor. matthew mcfayden. all hotties. about a women who loses her husband and son in a terrorist bombing in london while she's off having an affair with another man. i cried during the trailer when i first saw it. but, i did not cry during the movie. although some parts were sad, it was never like, totally sad like i thought it was going to be. ewan was hott. and michelle did a really great british accent. i was totes impressed. *** out of ***** stars.

LAST CHANCE HARVEY: emma thompson. dustin hoffman. this was really sweet. about a guy who's about to lose his job when he goes to london for his daughter's wedding. meets this single woman in london. they are ordinary on their own, but then together they really sparked. i really liked seeing that. and it was noticable too. like, wow, their characters (especially dustin hoffman's) really changed when they met each other. i liked that. it was a sweet movie. funny. charming. and there was a wedding!!! **** out of ***** stars.

ENTOURAGE (first disc, first season): so, i've only seen the first four episodes of the first season. i'm not totally in love with it like i thought i'd be. i can't really stand any of the guys. they're all kind of jerks. womanizers. lots of celebs, though. which i do appreciate. the second disc arrives tomorrow. i'm going to keep watching. and i'll keep you updated. *** out of ***** stars, so far.

MY LEFT FOOT: daniel day lewis. about an irishman. which is why i watched it. also, it was supposed to be super good. and it was! really touching. really beautiful story. it was amazing to see how much motivation he had, when he could have had none. daniel day lewis was unbelievable. and hott! he looks good with a beard. made me really want to watch There Will Be Blood again. i almost did tonight, but then didn't. anyways, **** out of ***** stars.

i guess that's all the new ones i've seen. i purchased Revolutionary Road. i wasn't going to. and then it was saturday night and i was like, "WAIT A SEC - i've been back in this country for five days now and i DON'T own both the kate and leo movies?!!?! what's wrong with me!!?!?" and i immediately left the house. purchased the movie. came home. watched it straight away. aaahhhh satisfaction. and watched the bonus features!!!! aw, there was one deleted scene that i really wish they had left in. it made me cry.

and i was excited for the deleted scenes because there is that one deleted scene from Titanic where they are making out hardcore in the boiler room, and so i just immediately assumed that all the Revolutionary Road deleted scenes would be more hard core make out scenes. but, they weren't. but, it was still awesome.

and then there was a great behind the scenes type thing. oh, it was super exciting. i definitely feel like a more complete person after buying the movie. it's a great movie. for serious. i'm still BLOWN AWAY by Leonardo's performance.

which i guess is a good segway into our next blog segment: the Shutter Island trailer. have people seen this yet? kara sent it to me. it's the new Scorsese. Leo DiCaprio. Mark Ruffalo. Ben Kingsley. Michelle Williams. Emily Mortimer. Patricia Clarkson. Jackie Earle Haley.

it just screams ALL STAR. for serious. so, watch the trailer if you haven't already. don't worry, i'll give you some time....

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ok. now let's talk about it. i'll just tell you my experience watching it.

first off - i was super scared and terrified. i had no idea it was going to be so scary. this is based on a book by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River. both movies that i didn't like. or, i should say, both stories that i didn't like. but they weren't super scary or anything. which is why this one surprised me. so, i watched the trailer once. had to immediately close the browser window afterwards so i wouldn't keep thinking about it.

but, later on that night, something was still sticking with me. like, i couldn't stop thinking about it.

so, i decided that maybe i should watch the trailer again.

so, i did.

and with the second viewing of the trailer, i had the entire plot figured out. like, the entire plot. it was weird. everything seemed so obvi the second time around. so, even though i hadn't read the book to find out if it was the actual plot, i kept thinking, "wow, they gave away waaay too much information in the trailer! everyone will know what this is about!" and i couldn't believe this.

so then Sunday night i had a dream about it. i had a dream that i was explaining the entire plot to my mom. and, she has in real life read the book, so i figured that she could tell me if i was right or not in the dream. but she couldn't remember what it was about.

so, i woke up and the plot was even clearer than before. and i thought, "if i'm dreaming about this plot, i should really just go read the book to see if i'm right."

and i got dressed. went to the post office. walked next door to the library. got the book. and read it. i read the whole book in like, 6 hours! i was pretty impressed with myself. it's a quick read. and it was really easy picturing Leo and Mark in the two lead roles. i actually think they will be perfect together.

but more importantly - I WAS RIGHT!!!!! about the plot! pretty much everything. i mean, there were few detaily things that i was missing. but still. i was impressed with myself. but also not impressed with the people who made the trailer. because, if i can figure out the plot within two viewing of the trailer, than i'm sure other people will too.

and yeah, i mean, anyone could just go out and read the book to figure it out. that's what i did with Revolutionary Road. AS SOON as i found out kate and leo were going to be in the movie, i went out, read the book, and then wrote a whole Climax article on it. ha.

anyways. i think Shutter Island will be a good movie. it's a good story. gripping. a little scary at some point. i decided i think it will be rated R for language, some sexuality and violent and disturbing content. if i were on the rating's board, that's what i would put. based on the book. no "teen partying" in this one.

and Leo will win the academy award. oh man i really hope he wins. the thing is, i can't really picture this being a movie that is nominated for acting awards. i dont' know. i just kind of get that feeling. maybe because a few years back when Leo was nominated for Blood Diamond and not The Departed. and i kind of feel like this will be a Departed-esque movie. although, the Academy might have totally blown his chances of ever winning because he didn't win for Revolutionary Road. he was truly incredible in that. i still can't believe he didn't even get a nom.

omg can you believe we're already talking Oscar buzz!?!!?? so exciting!!! it's been like....4ish months. that's long enough to not be oscar buzzing.

ok. i'll stop now. but, seriously, if you didn't take the time i allotted before to go watch the trailer, go now and do it. it's a good trailer. and then let me know what you think.


SO TODAY! i spent the entire day in a conference room with about 50 other adults dressed like business people listening to a guy talk about the adolescent brain.

there were 8 staff members going to this thing. in Concord, New Hampshire. we left at 7:15 IN THE MORNING because it started at 8:30. yikes. it was at the Capitol Center for the Arts, where i had many dance competitions in high school. we were talking about where to park on the way down and i was like, "oh, there's no parking at this place." and i directed them to where we used to park for the dance competitions. and then i thought of the time we got stuck in the snow and got so totally lost. that was funny.

there was coffee and refreshments at the thing, which was good. and it was bascially about substance abuse and it's effects on the brain. and then in the afternoon it was about substance abuse and it's effects on families.

overall, i guess it was an okay training. i didn't like the instructor. everyone else thought he was hilarious but i thought he was a jerk. me and Courtney were not laughing at his jokes. we all decided it was an age thing. because we were like, the youngest people in the room. and he kept making statements like,

"here's what college girls do to get high....they take half a bottle of cough syrup, mix it with half a can of beer, and then get the high like they've had a whole 6 pack! this is what college girls are doing. why? because it's less calories than actually drinking a whole 6 pack! and they're all so concerned about fitting into that summer bikini!!!"

i did not appreciate this at all. and he kept making these super generalized statements! "young people" "youth" "college kids."

GOOD THING there was an evaluation at the end! yeah, i let him have it. again, thank you Hampshire College for my excellent evaluation writing skills. and, just like with the water safety course, i was the only person actually writing comments.

i also was really upset because he was super stereotyping boys and girls . girls like barbies, boys like g.i. joes. he would say these things like, "when girls are (whatever age) their brain releases (whatever chemical) and that makes them act like (whatever absurd behavior)!"

or, "when boys are this age, they are like this, which is why they do this and this....etc, etc."

and i was just getting so fed up with it. putting every single girl into the "girl" category. and he was basing everything purely on science. like, "every teenage girl acts this way because their brain does this." and me and Courtney were talking about it and we were like, "yeah, i don't remember any of that happening to me." or, "i was never like that."

and he was like, being funny about it. and making jokes about angsty teenagers and, "oh these silly teenages acting like they do, if only they knew it was their brain making them like this!"

so, i wrote something along the lines of, "i did not appreciate when the facilitator used his humor to make generalized statements about teenagers and college students. it also concerned me the way he was using science to stereotype gender and to explain the experiences of all teenagers. i think it would have been more productive to argue that, though perhaps gender is purely societal, here are some scientific reasons why teenagers act and feel the way they do."

and yeah, he was all about science, which was totes obvi. it was just really annoying to hear him constantly say, "this is what girls like. this is why they like it. blah blahblah."

whatever. we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and it was really good. and it was free.

sometimes he would say something interesting. i just had a hard time paying attention. i think it was i kept looking around the room thinking, "what are we all doing here?! look at us all! sitting here, staring up at this guy who is just making bad jokes and reading off statistic after statistic!!" it was made me sad, or something. like, "this is what i'm doing? i'm sitting IN A SEMINAR?!!?" i guess i just kept thinking about Hampshire and how we never would have done this. and this was like, for business people. who work in offices. and who dress nicely everyday. it didn't feel like i was letting myself down for being there, but....i don't know. i guess it did a little bit.

then i came home and took a nap. Ruby Tuesday took one with me. although, she kept waking me up because she would bury herself under the covers next to me, and then come out again. and then go back under. and then come out again. ah well. she's so cute. but, my eyes have been burning and i've been sneezing nonstop.

OH! i know what part about the seminar i liked. but, i didn't totally understand what he was talking about. he started talking about decongestants. and then i was like, "oh, i know my decongestants." and then it sounded like he said something like, "kids are using heroin as decongestants." or something like that. but, i wrote in my notes, 'heroin as allergy medicine?' i think he was actually saying that most of the time when you buy heroin, it's only 40% pure and 60% something else. and he said that sometimes in that 60% there could be decongestant because heroin makes you stuffy, or something. who knew?!

but then he was talking about how everyone uses Sudafed to get high. suphedrine. that's the drug. and it's like, super powerful. and he was talking about people taking the drug and feeling no sinus pressure and being about to breathe clear and having a deeper lung capacity and i was like, "what?! i took sudafed for years and i never felt any of these things!"

i had to take my inhaler this morning. i think it was a mix of cat allergy and the cold.

anyways. then i realized that i have been taking allergy medicine for years now and have never really felt any better for taking it. and he started talking about medication tolerance. and i was like, "yeah, i bet i have built up my allergy medicine tolerance because i've been taking it for so long."

because, it's really kind of ridiculous. i take the allergy medicine, but i'm still sneezing and blowing my nose and putting in eye drops ever 5 minutes?? or, finding it hard to drive because i keep sneezing from the pollen which has accumulated on my car overnight?! COME ON!!! why aren't the allergy meds helping??!

i went from sudafed to claritin to benadryl to zyrtec.

and THEN i was like, "HOLY CRAP I'M PUTTING ALL THESE DRUGS INTO MY BODY AND THEY'RE NOT EVEN WORKING!!!!!!!!"

i think i need to find a doctor. or a hypnotist. whoever will cure me.

anyways. i think i'm going to go to bed now. it's 2:30. i don't have to wake up at 6:30 anymore because nobody needs me in the morning.

just like that dream i had a few weeks ago. where i slept through my alarm and didn't wake up at 6:30, but it was alright because nobody really needed me anyways. and it made me so sad.

and then i get back from vacation and hear, "oh, you don't need to get up in the morning anymore, the girls can get themselves off to school."

oh. okay...

but then! i'm sleeping the other morning and the phone rings three times, which means someone is buzzing me from outside. and i answer the phone and it's the water guy and the food delivery guys and they are outside with deliveries. and i was like, "YES! i'll be right down!!!"

and it was Scott from Vermont Pure water company and it was his first time here and he was super cute. too bad i had only woken up 5 minutes before. but he needed me!!! so did the food delivery guy. but i don't like them as much because they make us carry the super heavy boxes into the house ourselves. the water guys carry the water jugs in for us.

but i mean, i totes COULD carry all those water jugs into the house. duh. um, i worked in the airport lounge for three years, hello!!! and i carried all my bags across Ireland for two weeks. i've got mad carrying skillz.

oookkkk. plan for tomorrow is this:

- post office
- hollywood video (to return something)
- pizza party
- ireland blogging

oooo pizza party!!!! at 5ish!! it's a going away pizza party for the two girls who are leaving. i'm excited. for pizza. not excited that they are leaving.

ok! now bed for real.

thanks to you friends who have been checking back for updates. even though i've been lame about it. but, i've really enjoyed this. i missed you all. i'm glad we had this talk tonight. i'll talk to you tomorrow.


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