I Want It That Way

Dear Grad School,

Thanksgiving Break is a break. Not a chance to load extra work on students.

Love,
Jessica

In other news, I'm pretty sure I ate my first Big Mac today. I have no recollection of ever eating one before. In my opinion, I haven't missed much. I confess that on occassion I enjoy greasy burgers, but they must be good, high quality burgers. The Big Mac is neither good nor high quality, and my sneaking suspicion is that it is not really hamburger meat either. Sorry Mickey D's, but I will always have an admiration for your All-White Meat Chicken McNuggets.

So, I have a confession. I have relapsed into my boy-band days, but with a modern band. The Backstreet Boys will always hold a special place in my heart. Howie D, you are my fire. My one desire. But I have found another group of pop-singing, heart-stealing, perfectly-coiffed boys to, at least temporarily, steal my heart. Push Play, please be my Midnight Romeo.

"Simba..."

I started the day feeling like I swallowed a pound of nails and sounding a bit hoarse. By lunchtime, I sounded like a 20-something year old guy. By classtime at 5:30, I sounded like a mixture of Marlene Dietrich and Lilly Von Schtupp from the Mel Brooks classic "Blazing Saddles." It is after midnight and I have now progressed to James Earl Jones status. I'm thinking of calling up the folks at Disney and offering to provide the voice overs for "The Lion King III: Mufasa's Revenge."

It could be worse. I could sound like Fran Drescher. (Fran, I'm a big fan, but that has got to hurt your vocal chords.)

In other news, I thought my procrastinating skills couldn't get any better. But, ladies and gentlemen, they have. I have a paper due tomorrow that I have actually written the majority of, but I have absolutely no motivation to complete it. I have work most of the day tomorrow. I must finish it either now or early in the morning. I am a firm believer in sleeping in, so this will not do.

I watached a very interesting movie today/tonight. I had to watch it in 9 minute-ish segments and had a 4 1/2 hour class between 2 segments, but as a whole, it was a very clever movie. "Charlie Bartlett." Watch it if you a) are not a child b) can handle racy issues/nudity c) are a psychology major or grad student or pshologist/psychiatrist/counselor/other mental health professional and/or d) just want to watch an entertaining and poignant film.

Ok, I must try to focus on this paper. Oh grad school, why must you control so much of my precious time?

My Christmas Wish List

1. Josh Groban
2. A flamethrower
3. Glee, Season 1 on DVD
4. The Glee Soundtrack
5. World peace
6. The ability to eat massive amounts of chocolate without gaining weight or being unable to sleep because of too much caffeine
7. Josh Groban
8. #7, with Matthew Morrison on the side
9. An intravenous line of caffeine
10. Josh Groban

There you have it folks. My selfish little list of wishes. I really hope I'm not that selfish in real life, but this isn't real life. This is a blog, so I can dream, right?

Also, check this video out. It is absolutely hilarious. It involves a squirrel and a fake Christmas tree.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTYBm3dfgVk

Some words of wisdom

"Peeing in public is a social activity." -one of my professors in graduate school

"Winnie the Pooh has binge eating problems..." -the same professor

Ah, grad school. I always learn new and interesting things in my classes...

Anyway, so I have decided on the format of my to-do list. I am going to start attempting to complete it on January 1, 2010 and will give myself all year to complete it. My final list will be comprised of somewhere between 12 and 24 goals. Given my time schedule and workload, I think 1-2 goals per month is about all I will be able to handle.

So far, I only have a few goals. Mind you, these are only ideas, parts of the rough draft.
-take a cooking class (attend at least two classes, if finances will allow)
-enter a Salsa dancing competition (if my hip and hip doctor will allow)
-go on a picnic
-take a yoga class consecutively for a month...before 10 AM.
-break the rules (within reason, without breaking any laws, of course)
-create a work of art
-go horseback riding
-hold a tarantula
-go on a random road trip with a friend from high school (just for you, Creaves)
-sing karaoke during a real karaoke night at a real karaoke bar/venue?? (I dread this one.)

Let me know of any more ideas!

By Request...

This post is going to be vague. Get over it.

Have you ever had a song become real life? What I am asking is, have the lyrics of a song ever actually occured in your own life, incorporating you into their meaning and/or plot?

I have. Actually, it's happening at present. Well, not this exact minute. it's an ongoing process. (See what I mean about this being vague?)

It's as if, over the last few months, the plot of this song has been being acted out in my life, stanza by stanza. At first, it seemed to be circumstantial and just similar enough for me to think "Oh, well, this kind of reminds me of that song..." Then, it became a little closer to the actual plot, which made me wonder "Wow, this is kind of weird, but definitely cool." And then, this week, an event happened that matched the song exactly. I mean, E-X-A-C-T-L-Y. And, yes, I am a little weirded out. Actually, very weirded out. But at the same time, it is AWESOME!

The song's plot has not been fully realized in my own life yet, but I am waiting patiently for the next stanza. And yes, dear readers, I will keep you updated. Vaguely, but still updated.

Alright, I Finally Have a Goal for this Blog... and It Ain't Gonna Be a Walk in the Park

So, I have been trying to think of ways to direct my blog in a more productive fashion, instead of simply rambling about funny stories that happen to me. I came up with an idea a few months ago to modify the to-do list I have for my life into a group of goals I can achieve in a year.I've been toying around with this idea for a while, but I must admit I have been afraid to actually commit to it. For those of you who know me well, this will probably not surprise you in the least. I am a commitment-phobe. I can't even commit to a favorite color.

I have not completed my modified/new list for this blog. My goal is to complete it in a week's time. That means by next Tuesday evening, I should have it posted on here. A couple of goals I'm thinking about pursuing range from simple to a bit more complex to a "how-on-Earth-am-I-going-to-pull-that-off?" kind of difficulty. Some of the goals on my original list are basically impossible given the time frame, my physical condition (recovering from surgery), my current location, and my financial resources. So, as I stated above, the list will be greatly modified. Actually, to be completely honest, I made the list in high school and am not entirely sure where it is. High school was years ago (wow, I'm getting old), so maybe I should just make an entirely new list, and just keep the goals fromt hat list that I remember and that really stood out to me in my memory. For instance, I remember one of the goals was "Eat a rhutabaga." I still have not eaten a rutabga. I need to find out how to spell rootabaga.

Anyway... I am open to any suggestions for goals, although I must supply a disclaimer: I may or may not use the idea. Sorry.