This Side of Lost

It's interesting how an arbitrarily assigned number used to mark the passage of time can evolve to represent an occasion that just happened to fall within that particular 24 hour segment of time. Everyone knows what you're talking about if you say "What're you doing for the Fourth?" This kind of nomenclature seems to be reserved for a very select group of dates, however:

1. Independence days (Fourth of July, Syttende Mai, Juneteenth, etc.)
2. Massive terrorist attacks (9/11)

I can't really think of what those two have in common, other than they are both an excuse for patriotism.

If you're curious, ours will be spent marching in a kazoo band in the Bloomington parade and trying to find a good vantage point for fireworks. We have already celebrated our feelings of pride about our country by being snarky towards Americans in general at Paul Betty's cookout last night. Regarding cookouts: there's something that's just way more delicious about meat being cooked over an open flame than on the grill or in the frying pan. Reasons number 6 why I would find it difficult to go vegetarian.

In other news:

• I will be spending most of my birthday either in transit to or at this event. If you are interested, come along! We've got room in the car. You might need to find somewhere to stay, though.
• We've been cooking quite a bit more recently, as we have more free time. Almost all of it has been awesome. The information science nerd part of me came up with this idea the other day: creating an Access database to keep track of all the ingredients needed for our favorite recipes, so at any point we can go through the fridge and cupboards, note what we've got on hand, and query the database for a list of recipes that contain those ingredients. Am working on the ER diagram in my head currently.
• I spent two hours yesterday tossing a wiffleball. I'm not really sure why. *shakes head*
• I taught another session on a chemistry database (SciFinder Scholar) for my Chemistry Library job last week. Thanks to both the people that showed up. :P
• Could things in the American League Central be turning around for our hometown boys of summer, the Minnesota Twins? They swept the Devil Rays this weekend and the White Sox lost 2 of 3 to the A's... I'm not getting my hopes up, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
• Sorry for the lack of updates recently. There just isn't much happening. It's been hot, which has kept us from doing much outside the apartment. We work, we cook, we read, we watch movies, we go watch baseball at Yogi's, Samantha fences (I watch), we rollerblade... this is pretty much my summer. *shrug*

Okay, better go dust off the kazoo. Peace, all.

Fans have the final vote for the last roster spot on the All-Star teams. Go now and vote for Minnesota Twin Torii Hunter, best defensive center fielder in the majors! (What, you don't want Derek Jeter playing, do you?)

With all due respect to my father, who has been using that term for longer than I've been alive, this upcoming 5 weeks will indeed be good times. Here's how my life is going to look (as much for me to keep track of as to fill you in):

Fri, July 15: Head to Chicago for the Harry Potter nerdfest and my birthday.
Sat, July 16: Back to Indianapolis to chill with Samantha's uncles.
Fri, July 22: Lots of things. Start our storage space rental for a month. Take the cats to the vet, so we have a record there and will be allowed to board them for two weeks. Submit the appropriate forms to the post office.
Thu, July 28: Leave for Minnesota.
Sat, July 30: My sister's graduation party.
Sun, July 31: Return to Bloomington.
Wed, Aug 3: Samantha checks out of her apartment.
Thu, Aug 4: We leave for Georgia.
Mon, Aug 15: Back to Bloomington.
Aug 16 or 17: Move into the new apartment.

What a mess. This is not gonna be cheap...

In another entry that hopefully needs no introduction, we enjoy George Cukor's 1964 production of Lerner and Loewe's Broadway musical (which is itself adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion). Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn star as a pompous linguistics expert and the cockney flower girl he turns into a lady.

I must say this before I review -- I love musicals. I always have and I probably always will. This automatically puts My Fair Lady higher in my accounting. But even after that, I find something lacking about this movie. (Yes, insert hue and cry here... geez, calm down and let me talk.)

It's nothing about the production of the movie at all. It's impeccably cast, with Harrison reprising the role he originated on Broadway, and Hepburn filling in admirably for Julie Andrews (who was busy making Mary Poppins, thereby stealing the Best Actress Oscar from Hepburn that year). The book and the songs are fantastic -- classic Lerner and Loewe stuff. The Cinderella storyline gets me everytime -- I just eat it up. And the costumes! My goodness. The picture looks gorgeous all the way around. I can't believe the hats alone.

No, it's not the picture. I think it's the male characters in the movie (except Colonel Pickering -- he's a gentleman). First of all, there's Higgins. He really kind of represents a lot that I don't like about snooty academians. He's self-important, arrogant, inconsiderate and downright cruel in many instances. Why should I be the least bit happy when poor emotionally abused Eliza comes back to him? And Freddy. What's up with this guy? The stupid puppy-dog act isn't flattering in the least. Get a life, pal. Eliza seems to be quite a dear, as well as being particularly easy on the eyes. I really couldn't choose which of the two she should end up with. In fact, I think Pickering should adopt her.

Now I admit that the characters themselves are probably not the reason everyone enjoyed this movie and it was placed ninety-first on this list. I recognize that it is one of the best movie musicals ever made. But couldn't we have had some sort of more sensible resolution? I mean, "Where the devil are my slippers?" Seriously.

Sigh. I suppose that the film deserves the accolades it's received if I'm getting worked up about fictional characters. And I still enjoyed it. So there. Now leave me alone. Sheesh.

(See this post if you're confused why I'm reviewing movies.)

In webcomic form:

Of the summer, that is. Heheh. It's near enough to see, anyway. This means a variety of things.

We get some self-storage space on Friday, which we'll be moving stuff into for the next week and a half. Anyone with a truck or other couch-moving implement, please call.

My tenure at the Chemistry Library will be up soon. This is too bad -- an easy and somewhat lucrative job that was basically handed me. I'm searching for other employment for the next school year...

• Gary Wiggins, the guru of chemical information, is giving me some part time work. I'm not exactly sure what it will entail, but it'll undoubtedly be good experience.
• Same with an Instructional Assistant job I've landed, but again, it will be extremely part-time (like, 1 hour a week).
• So far, WonderLab has resolutely refused to post any openings... darn them.
• I've applied to be a substitute teacher with Monroe County Schools. I don't know anything more about this. They might be overloaded with Education graduates from IU looking for work, or they might not. I guess we'll see.
• Got some other leads that I haven't applied for yet. Guess I should do that.

Other items of note:

• Our trip to Spellbound was a success. It was about what I expected -- a number of Harry Potter-themed events happening around a suburban mall, lots of nerds dressed up in school-boy and -girl outfits, and a scene at the local Border's at midnight. Among the unexpected were a few more impressive costumes, the worst game of chess I've ever seen (played out with live people, a la Wizard Chess), watching a variation on Quidditch being played outside our hotel window, and a fantastic dinner we had at a local Greek restaurant (that wasn't HP related at all). I had a glass of Retsina and it was great.
• I am now in possession of the IKEA desk I originally intended to buy (having sold the previous one in a fit of optimism about our upcoming visit to the store). Samantha also purchased a dresser. More IKEA furniture to come.
• I have finished the Narnia Chronicles. I finished up The Last Battle just in time for our trip, and I only had to wait until Monday for Samantha to finish the new Harry Potter book. Which I'm also done with. :) Next up is either a book my mom suggested or Tam Lin... will decide soon.

Bah. I need to post more often and with less verbosity. I'll work on this. Meanwhile, I'm off to more culinary catastrophe and preliminary packing. (Not to mention alliterative adventures.) Peace!

This is gonna be such a library science nerd post. Is it okay to use the abbreviation if I've never typed the phrase information visualization before in my life?

Anyway. I've been playing around with a couple of interesting toys recently...

1. Google Earth. A free (albeit extremely computing power intensive) standalone program that integrates millions of satellite images of the Earth's surface with Google's mapping and search information. The resolution is pretty inconsistent, but you'll generally find highly populated areas in the Western world to have good detail. There are also a number of independent sites to support and accessorize it. Wow.
2. The Moodgrapher. If you're familiar with Livejournal at all, you know that you can add your current mood to your posting. This site aggregates data from LJ and produces graphs. Check out excited in relation to the release of the Harry Potter book on Saturday, and check out worried with the report of more blasts in London this morning.

!!!

*squees like a schoolgirl*