She's No Bob Woodward

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, she looks like an investigative journalist. Most hard-hitting journalists I know wear halter tops to do live TV reporting.

Update on the dining room table: it is clear! I have placemats on it now!! I actually cleared everything off of it and put that stuff away, then wiped the table down. I was able to put out some placemats I've been storing in the closet for a few months! Hooray!

Update on the back pain: I took a bunch of stuff out of my purse yesterday to lighten the load, and spent the evening cleaning and straightening rather than sitting in my favorite chair. I took some ibuprofen right before bed (which I had been doing, with no result) and I had a peaceful night. I did sleep poorly, but at least it wasn't because of back pain.

I think I need to revamp my bedroom and gear it towards restfulness. Step one could be cleaning my room so that there's no clutter, and I can look around me before bed and see tidiness and calm. Step two could be to move the cable modem and router to under my bed so there are no intermittently flashing lights in my room. Step three is probably to find a louder fan to block out some of the worse noise coming from my upstairs neighbors. OK, those all seem like good things to work on this weekend.

I made a to-do list yesterday on the metro ride home and managed to cross off several things, so I'm feeling pretty good about continuing with the to-do list thing. Some items for this weekend:

• Complete at least three loads of laundry (that means washing, drying, folding/hanging up, and putting away)
• Revamping my sleep space
• Arts & Crafts

Whoops! How'd that get on there? Well, it's on the list, so I'd better get it done so I can check it off.

More Music

Recently, I created a new station on Pandora radio (I feel like I talk about this every other post) based on the Pet Shop Boys. I came to like them after I saw them in concert in Detroit in...2006? That seems about right. So I am definitely a fan-come-lately. The concert was outstanding, even for someone like me, who wasn't familiar with any of their music. The big finale, though, was their mix of "Where the Streets Have No Names/Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." Truly fantastic. And I think that cover at left shows how fantastically weird they are otherwise.

Oh, right, the Pandora station. Well, in addition to this, it also plays tons of Depeche Mode and other, weird New Wave. Some pleasant surprises in the category of bleepy, bloopy, dancy music: Basement Jaxx and the Scissor Sisters. I am a fan of the Scissor Sisters in general (although my lack of knowledge as to whether to include the definite article in front of their name probably shows how bad a fan I am), but I become particularly delighted when hearing their songs outside of the context of my iPod. It makes me feel like they are probably not counting on my lukewarm support to make their livings. Thank God. Basement Jaxx are new to me, and I really like them. Perhaps some downloading is on the way.

In other news, I helped my ex-Darlin' move over the weekend and I feel like every muscle in my body is sore. This has renewed my dedication to giving things away to charity every month. I not only helped him move, but I also helped him pack. Those of you who have moved lately probably know that it's the worst thing ever. There's just so much stuff. Every time you think you've reached the end, you realize that you haven't (a) cleaned out the hall closet, (b) cleaned out the refrigerator, (c) taken down the curtains and curtain rods, or (d) all of the above. And he has things that are still in boxes since moving to Virginia from Michigan two years ago, and he probably moved things here from Michigan that he packed up in St. Louis three years before that. It's just all so much.

So, he's moving from a one bedroom into a studio, which means some downsizing. We have already made several runs to Goodwill and will probably make several more. Currently, he's struggling with the dilemma: should I just get rid of everything that doesn't fit into the storage available to me in my new place, or should I construct something to hold all of the stuff that doesn't fit? I think he's leaning toward constructing; I'm leaning toward PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST GET RID OF IT BECAUSE I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU IF I MOVE THIS STUFF AGAIN IN TWO YEARS. The end.

Son of a...

Man, I am so danged angry about all the stuff that I keep breaking. This time, in a truly heart-wrenching moment of fall and break-dom, I lost my poor sweet blackberry. He's there in the back on the right. So sweet, so shy. And now he's gone forever. ARGH. Man, I need a bigger kitchen. Or a better organizational model. Or something. This just isn't working.

In other news, I'm glad the hipster websites I visit can't see the lame-ass stuff I google, like "how do I turn off my iPod?" Seriously, I couldn't remember. And the battery was low. Seriously. I'm such a nerd.

Religious Oppression

Oh, you didn't think this was really going to be about religious oppression, did you? Well, OK, it is, in a way.

Did you know the ShamWOW guy is suing the Church of Scientology for being a bunch of a-holes? It's true. Well, that's not the official complaint or anything, but it seems that they did act pretty dick-ishly toward him. Even if he is a rather unsavory character. I totally need those towels, by the way. I definitely could have used something that could absorb Lake Michigan when I knocked over my full Brita pitcher last night in my 4' square kitchen. I don't always mind my tiny kitchen, but when there isn't even enough room in there to figure out where all the water has gone to, it's too small.

In addition to the Brita pitcher, I also knocked over a glass measuring cup I had gotten from IKEA (and loved dearly). It shattered into a trillion pieces all over my kitchen floor. Naturally, I was barefoot at the time and the broken glass was between me and the doorway out of the kitchen, so I was trapped. I had to clean it as best I could with damp paper towels. Then I crawled out of the kitchen, pushing the paper towels ahead of me to collect an loose shards. Anyway, this just goes to show I need to keep my kitchen cleaner and more organized. And I probably need to get rid of a couple dozen things, too.

Oh, right. Scientology. You know, I don't really know a lot about Scientology. It seems pretty messed up, though, because all you ever hear about it, besides the alien stuff, is how they are driving some man insane, brainwashing Katie Holmes, or stopping people from getting medical attention. I'd be curious to hear a case for Scientology, just to see how people get caught up in this stuff.

Movin' On Up

Recently, I rented an absolutely adorable apartment in an old house in Virginia. The neighborhood is adorable, the house is adorable, the apartment is adorable. Some day, there will be pictures.



But not now, no, definitely not. Because it's a disaster. I moved from a 1-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor to a 4-bedroom house, then briefly lived with my Darlin', then to my Paran's house, then, finally, to a 1-bedroom apartment in Ol' Virginny.

Living by yourself is amazing.

Having boxes stacked on boxes, stacked on the coffee table, which is on top of some flattened boxes? Not amazing. The point of the moving narrative is that I have moved several times in the past few years and several more times before that. And I am still in possession of things that I should have thrown away before I moved from Louisiana to Michigan.

Hence the disaster. I only hope to get everything squared away before my sister comes to visit. In less than 2 weeks. Right.