Random Thoughts After 3 Days in Peace & Quiet:

• Cupcakes are awesome.  Yummier than cake and half the guilt!
• Catch and Release is not a great movie, but I loved it for the scenery.  Made me want to be in Montana NOW.
• A clean house is overrated.
• Sailing in Gustav is overrated.  But sailing will still be fun when I go next weekend, since I wimped out on this weekend.
• It’s a shame that Lauryn Hill has become whatever it is she has become, because The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill really is a great album.  I pulled it back out this weekend, along with 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of… (also one of the greats!), and I cannot stop dancing around my house.
• I still need to lose 5 to 10 pounds.  I think I want to buy a jump rope, because walking the puppy isn’t doing it for me.  She gets easily distracted, so we never get very far.
• I wonder if there are Latin ballroom classes anywhere in town?
• Facebook is crack.  Crack is whack.  Therefore, I am whack.
• Finally watched Black Snake Moan from start to finish.  Wow.  That’s all I’ve got to say about that for the time being.
• Um.  I cannot possibly keep up with all of the Palin pregnancy drama if it keeps up at this rate.  Too bad Palin opposed Sex Ed.
• Kinda loving Emiliana Torrini right now.
• I’ve invited a guy I barely knew in college to stay here for Homecoming.  Uh, what?!
• Found out today that another friend from college is in rehab for the second time this summer.  I can barely wrap my head around that, and then I start thinking about her poor son.  I cannot imagine what his life has been like so far.
• Played some crap poker this weekend, but at least I won.  Maybe I need to go to poker bootcamp.
• Talked to the crush for the first time in about a year.  Might see him next weekend.  He sounds miserable, so I’m not so sure I’m in the mood for that.
• Life isn’t all bad.  I’m very lucky.

Blood Diamond

I really enjoyed this movie.

I don’t really know what all to say, except that this is how it should be. This is the kind of movie I want to watch. It had it all–a great cast, drama, action, beautiful scenery, great soundtrack, a hint of romance, and a purpose. I hate that I waited so long to see it, but I’m also glad that I saw it at a time and in a place when I could truly appreciate it.

Update

Lots going on these days…

I’ve informed the roommate that he must go.  Too many horrible situations.  And although he would always be kind and sweet the day after, it just got to be too much.  So, adieu!

I think I’ve started seeing someone.  Is it just pathetic that I’m not sure?  We went out last weekend with a group. Then on Saturday night, it started out as just us and then we ended up running in to a mutual friend.  Then yesterday we spent lunch and dinner with the group, but snuck off for a few hours in between.  Just the two of us.  A perfect afternoon in the countryside.

Now here’s the reason this is all so weird.  There are four of us who get together for a meal every week: Me; B.–who I’ve casually dated on and off; J.–who I went to college with, but never knew all that well; and K.–who was a friend of J.’s.  Well, K. and I met for the first time a few months ago, and at the time, he was living with someone and I was dating B.  But now, we are both completely unattached and really enjoy hanging out.  The problem?  B.  He’s still around and we think he might be hurt.  So, basically, we’re behaving like children.  Trying to pretend that we still don’t really know each other all that well.

By the way, we suck at it.

Oh, and also… I think I could really like him.

What else?  Not much.  The job is the same as always.  I’m starting a sign language class tonight, which could be fun.  At least it will be helpful at work.  Oh, and the Amy Winehouse CD is great.  (I finally sucked it up and bought it.  I’m so old school.)  Oh, and I went to my first movie (in the theater) in over 5 years.  Spider-Man 3 sucks.

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

If you haven’t seen this documentary, you really should.  It is horrifying, and, honestly, very difficult to watch.  But very powerful.

It was directed by Rory Kennedy, who I believe is RFK’s youngest daughter, and is currently showing on HBO.  Please watch and think.

Sarah Silverman…

is a very bizarre girl.  I just watched Jesus is Magic, and I can’t really decide what to make of it.

I’ve never been offended by her comedy.  I swear.  I think she is really progressive and intelligent.  I love her fearlessness.

But there is one thing that bugs me just a bit, and maybe it’s because I’m not progressive enough.  I think her standup would be more effective if she knocked the whites (or, in Silvermanesque terms, the “crackers,” “honkies” or “peckerwoods”) as much as every other racial group.

Sure, she likes to cover the self-flagellation with her Jewish jokes, but it doesn’t balance her teeter-totter.

Maybe it’s just me…