20 posts tagged “vox hunt”
In honor of Canada Day, show us your favorite Canadian.
It would definitely have to be the awesome Mark Steyn, whose own country has thrown him under the bus for gasp! speaking the truth.
Show us summer.
Anyway, Texas didn't make it out of the Super Regionals, but my Heels did.
After dropping Tuesday's game to Fresno State, they dropped to the losers' bracket and in dramatic fashion, won late last night with a top-of-the-ninth Tim Federowicz grand slam to beat LSU 7-3. Pitcher Alex White got the win.
Show us summer.
Show us something that makes you go "awwwwwwww."
Submitted by LittleWiseOne.
Now that I've traded the dog for standard cable, I've been consoling myself by watching hours of Jon & Kate + 8. Seriously, I'd have kids if they would be guaranteed to look like the Gosselins. (Which I suppose means I should start looking for a Korean guy to marry.)
From left to right: Mady (7), Cara (7), Alexis (4), Hannah (4), Leah (4), Aaden (4), Collin (4) and Joel (4) Gosselin.
(They are all uterus-achingly adorable -- wow, let's petition Webster to add that word to the dictionary -- but I must admit, I am partial to Alexis and Aaden because of the way they talk. And because of their love for animals, especially the aldergator.)
Audio: Share a song with powerful lyrics.
"Work" (Jars of Clay)
Just in case, I will leave my things packed
So I can run away, I cannot trust these voices
I don't have a line of prospects that can give some kind of peace
There is nothing left to cling to that can bring me sweet release
I have no fear of drowning
It's the breathing that's taking all this work
Do you know what I mean
When I say, "I don't want to be alone"?
What I mean when I say, "I don't want to be alone."
Empty spaces with shadows hit by streetlights
Warning signs and weight of tired conversations
In the absence of a shoulder, in the abscess of a thief
On the brink of this destruction, on the eve of bittersweet
Now all the demons look like prophets
And I'm living out every word they speak
I have no fear of drowning,
It's the breathing that's taking all this work...
Show us your New Year's Resolution.
I'm not overly fond of New Year's Resolutions, not because they're a bad idea, but because they're almost destined to fail. Of course you're going to vehemently vow to eat better and exercise (which, correct me if I'm wrong, are probably the top two resolutions made each year) after you've just spent the holiday season -- which stretches from the end of November till the end of December -- allowing yourself to eat an inordinate amount of sweets and other rich foods that are in no way, shape, or form good for you.
And then after the perpetual holiday fog has worn off and you get back to the grindstone that is your life, you kind of forget the resoluteness that compelled you to promise to change, and you slip back into, well, life.
I really think guilt spurs most resolutions.
That being said, what better time is there to make a fresh start than the fresh start of a new year? We all have regrets, we all want to do better, be better, etc. I know I do. It's just that I really don't want to post the more personal goals I've set because a) they're personal and b) because I'd rather not post them for the world to see and then when I inevitably frak up, have those in my neighborhood stroking their chins in a narrow-eyed, knowing manner, like some sort of Disney villain. Not that any of you would do that, but still.
So I am going to put up a list. Of superficial resolutions. Superficial resolutions that, while superficial, are still things I'd like to accomplish. (And no, seeing how many times I can use the word 'superficial' in one go is not one of them.)
Jen's Superficial Resolutions for 2008, In No Apparent Order
- Read my (large) collection of unread books: Seriously, for all my whining about never having anything new to read (after I speed-read my way through the pile of books I got for Christmas), you'd think I'd crack the spines of the collection of unread books adorning my shelves. There are at least 50, and I'm not even exaggerating. It's just that they're mostly non-fiction. I mean, I am extremely interested in reading Oliver North's War Stories series (I've got all three), or David McCullough's acclaimed biography of Harry Truman, or Bill O'Reilly's Culture Warrior and I'm especially interested in delving into renowned historian Richard J. Evans' deconstruction of the Third Reich, but seriously? Those books are really thick. And long. And they don't remotely inspire the warm, fuzzy feeling that envelops me when reading Jennifer Weiner or Marian Keyes.
- Keep my apartment clean: If you could actually see my apartment, you'd mostly laugh, because I'm forever being told that my apartment is, well, perpetually clean. But the clean I mean stems from the minor obsessive compulsive personality disorder that I have (that is NOT THE SAME as OCD -- I can leave my apartment without flicking the light on and off 33 times). I would rather always stick to my cleaning schedule (that's right, there's a cleaning schedule) and have things immaculate all the time rather than get lazy for a week and throw clothes on the floor and leave dishes in the sink until I have an anxiety attack and spend three hours in a cleaning frenzy.
- Finish something I've started writing. You know, for a change: I came across a pile of short stories I've written over the years -- well, actually I don't know what to call them. They're too long for short stories and way too short for novels. Anyway, I've written several of them. And I even bound them with card stock covers and those little plastic spiral thingies. And they're kind of cheesy. But it reminded me of when I was first inspired to try my hand at writing a full-length novel. Shelby and I decided to do it together, and I whole-heartedly dove into the planning and outlining process. I've got about 20 pages of it still on my hard drive, and my sister regularly nags me about finishing it, because she said it's great, and Andrea had me read it to her and said she got chills (it's called Run, is about an erotomanic stalker, and is inspired by this really odd, scary prank call she got in the middle of the night), and...I put it on the back burner to write Something Pretty. Which languishes in the land of incompletion because of my persistent case of writer's block. (And yes, if you can't tell, I name the stuff I write after semi-obscure songs.) I'm thisclose to finishing SP, and I think part of my writer's block stems from my fear that...nothing will happen. It'll be rejected by agents so it won't be solicited, or it'll be rejected by the small handful of publishing houses that accept unsolicited manuscripts. If I self-publish, which I've been thinking about doing, nobody will read it. Doubts like that. They're paralyzing. But I want to finish SP, and I want to start up with Run again, especially because I get to do all kinds of research like talk to detectives and learn how to shoot. (Okay, so my cousin's a homicide detective and my uncle, who's just back from Baghdad, is a retired police officer who used to teach all the cadets to shoot, so it's not like I'm going out on a limb for my research, but still.)
- Get a pet: I really want to get a dog. It's not as easy as it sounds, because I've got my heart set on a Boston Terrier. They're cute (in a bulging eye kind of way), they're small, and they're exceptional apartment dogs. They're also fairly pricey. Not nearly as pricey as the English Bulldog that I originally was intent on getting, but still. Money aside, I'm actually afraid of potty-training. Yeah, I know, I'm a wuss. But my parents' dog is a year and a half old and is still not fully potty-trained, although seriously, I suspect that she's just the laziest thing on the face of the earth and would rather poop on the nice, soft carpet than outside. Plus I made the mistake of telling Kailin I wanted to get a little orange kitten and name him Jim Halpert, and a year later, she still won't let me forget. She even remembers his name. Sigh. Who knew she had the memory of an elephant? (And where does that expression come from?) I suppose I could get both.
- Organize my DVD collection: Easier said than done. I've got so many DVDs and half of them are unlabeled because I finish copying them and then kind of stick them anywhere, figuring I'll dig out my Sharpies and label them later. And then, of course, I forget what's what, and I don't want to take the time to go through them all. Plus I need to get more focused on adding new ones to the collection, which is honestly (almost) the sole reason I have a Netflix subscription. Also? Before anyone lectures me about illegality or whatever, here's my justification: you can subscribe to Napster and pay a monthly fee and download as much music as you want. I pay a monthly fee to Netflix. And copy their DVDs. Same difference. More or less.
Happy 2008!
Show us a TV show you never miss.
In keeping with my Top 10 shows of 2007, I'll post the trailer from the upcoming season of LOST. Cannot wait, although the eight episodes and then the year-long wait till February 2009 might be the death of me.
Seriously? This trailer gives me the chills.
Share your favorite
holidayChristmas song.
I blogged about this earlier this week, but it would have to be "Strange Way to Save the World." I also really, really like "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," especially the line "God is not dead, nor does He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men."
Of course, Jars of Clay does the best cover I've heard thus far. Dan's voice is so uniquely awesome.
Show us a photo that requires an explanation.
This was taken on our family cruise to Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel last summer. This particular photo was in Cozumel, directly across the street from the Carlos 'n Charlie's where we'd just eaten lunch -- and passed up numerous opportunities to guzzle shots with and have various body parts molested by complete strangers. (Seriously. Had I had any idea, we wouldn't have taken the girls in. I think they came through remarkably unscathed.)
Anyway, my mom and I were waiting with the girls while my dad, sister, and brother-in-law went to pick up some last minute unbelievably cheap tequila touristy items. The girls were examining random bits of crap interesting artifacts in the sand on the other side of the wall when along came the wind...we couldn't resist. Even though they will kill me when they get older.
