The year's half over. Holy cow!
I spent last evening creating and working on a new website for my fish fetish. It's going to be cool... but I'll wait to advertise it until it actually looks better and is more complete. But I do have a deadline on this one, because it sort of complements my photos that will hang in our show in three weeks... don't you love a deadline? :)
I need to figure out how to do the photo album thing that we learned in class. Wow, I'm glad I have photoshop and learned a few things! This is sorta exciting and fun.
Jp
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Life in General, and Other Matters
This newsfeed of mine on Facebook is just too important to let it get buried there:
Jennifer Payne doesn't know what she wants out of life.
Comments:
Matt likes this.
Franklin says: "Listen."
Jennifer Payne [groans... no... I was being serious:] But is it a family? Is it a job? What kind of job? Is it just living for myself? Or is it living for others? There is a balance somewhere... I have a job... a good job... but I don't think this is what I was meant to do... go to work, make money, have fun... that's all? What I want to know is what happened to my idealism about doing something great after college. Why did it die so fast? Like the month after I graduated.
Jennifer Payne suspects it had something to do with those darned awful things called dollars.
[For you non-facebookers out there, newsfeeds are little one-liners that you write about yourself and how or what you're doing at any given moment. They can be great comment/discussion generators sometimes. And a good place to rant and rave.]
Actually, I had a lovely Sunday. We heard from my brother... and had a family dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Monroe. And my, was it a feast! Hamburgers, ribs, all the sides you can think of, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was a nice time visiting. And when we got home, we watched MASH and "The Thin Man", which I just loved! (none of us guessed who done it, btw) A friend came over to watch the movie with us, and afterwards he admitted to watching ALL of the rest of Remember WENN online this week. And he read my sister's fanfiction... and he is going to read mine... Holy cow! How incredibly cool!
I guess I'm just at that "undecided" point in my life. I hear it's rather natural for someone my age.
Jp
Jennifer Payne doesn't know what she wants out of life.
Comments:
Matt likes this.
Franklin says: "Listen."
Jennifer Payne [groans... no... I was being serious:] But is it a family? Is it a job? What kind of job? Is it just living for myself? Or is it living for others? There is a balance somewhere... I have a job... a good job... but I don't think this is what I was meant to do... go to work, make money, have fun... that's all? What I want to know is what happened to my idealism about doing something great after college. Why did it die so fast? Like the month after I graduated.
Jennifer Payne suspects it had something to do with those darned awful things called dollars.
[For you non-facebookers out there, newsfeeds are little one-liners that you write about yourself and how or what you're doing at any given moment. They can be great comment/discussion generators sometimes. And a good place to rant and rave.]
Actually, I had a lovely Sunday. We heard from my brother... and had a family dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Monroe. And my, was it a feast! Hamburgers, ribs, all the sides you can think of, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was a nice time visiting. And when we got home, we watched MASH and "The Thin Man", which I just loved! (none of us guessed who done it, btw) A friend came over to watch the movie with us, and afterwards he admitted to watching ALL of the rest of Remember WENN online this week. And he read my sister's fanfiction... and he is going to read mine... Holy cow! How incredibly cool!
I guess I'm just at that "undecided" point in my life. I hear it's rather natural for someone my age.
Jp
Sunday, June 28, 2009
A Big Little Horsie
Per request, my sister's little champion from the National Competition in Portland this weekend. Wow! We were all surprised! This guy is three inches tall, but it's all heart. LOL
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Radio Convention Day Two, Part Two
What a day! What an evening!
After an altogether enjoyable lunch, I sat with the same people for the next couple of shows.
First was another live radio performance of "I Remember Mama", with Rosemary Rice reprising her role on the very same show. Very touching story of a turn-of-the-century Norwegian family struggling to make ends meet.
Next we heard a lost episode of "Gunsmoke" from 1952 called "Dodge City Killer". Matt Dillon's friend got married to an Indian woman... there were all sorts of racial remarks and relatively sexist statements... but it goes with the era... Westerns certainly aren't my favorite kind of radio plays, but it certainly was fun to listen to anyway. It was performed without any background music, as that's how it was originally intended... or so they said.
Right after this there was a presentation via short movie clips of how Big Bands were a big part of radio ever since the invention of the thing. He started out showing clips of performers from the 1920's who made up a large portion of the broadcast schedules... ordinary Joes who could sing or play an instrument. And then there were clips from early broadcasts from the 1930's with the orchestras in full tuxes and the audience behind a glass window, for fear that someone might cough or applaud during the show and completely ruin it... lol! And then it ended with shows from the '40's... this time more clips from movies and live, casual performances... it was a whirlwind tour, and very fun to listen to... especially that clip of Artie Shaw's band... wow! That was great!
After a bit of a break, the cast again got on stage for the two-part premiere episode of "I Love a Mystery". The director had to get special permission of the "Morse Estate" that owns the show in order to perform it. It was first broadcast in 1939 (I think), but because of references to China, the first part was dropped from programming in the 1950 re-production... and we were the first to hear it since. That alone made it rather cool, even though I was a little confused about the plot... it didn't seem to resolve at the end... But all in all, it was intriguing and well performed.
We then had about an hour break before dinner for the silent auction to wrap up. I busied myself with putting the finishing touches on the previous post and relaxing a bit.
Dinner was just great! My salmon was soft, juicy and tender, lying on a bed of rice along a side of grilled cherry tomatoes and veggies. YUMM! I met some very nice people at my table number nine... a couple of the cast members were there and a very nice younger gentleman who had seen a bit of Remember WENN before. He was in love with old time radio and had been in the army... we had lots to talk about :) He gave me a few suggestions for finding radio shows online as well. I thought for sure that he was around my age, but it turned out he was married with three kids! With one in college! lol! That was a bit of a shocker.
Anyway, after ice creame and a bit of tea, the people in charge said all their thankyous to all of the special guests and gave them their gifts and awards. And then Eddie Carroll and the rest of the cast went up onstage for the grand finale, a recreation of the Jack Benny Show. For all of you who know it already, unlike me, yes, it was Fabulous! It was great, great, great! But even funnier than the show itself for me, was afterwards when Eddie got up after all the applause and thanked us all for coming out and supporting this organization that is taking care not to forget our "very important heritage". Couldn't agree more. But then he launched into a hilarious story, just for fun, about a conversation he had with Lucille Ball at a rehearsal for one of the later episodes of 'I Love Lucy'. They talked about Jack Benny, who was good friends with them both. I was on the verge of tears because of laughing... it certainly was a perfect grand finale to a great weekend of fun.
Great times!
Jp
After an altogether enjoyable lunch, I sat with the same people for the next couple of shows.
First was another live radio performance of "I Remember Mama", with Rosemary Rice reprising her role on the very same show. Very touching story of a turn-of-the-century Norwegian family struggling to make ends meet.
Next we heard a lost episode of "Gunsmoke" from 1952 called "Dodge City Killer". Matt Dillon's friend got married to an Indian woman... there were all sorts of racial remarks and relatively sexist statements... but it goes with the era... Westerns certainly aren't my favorite kind of radio plays, but it certainly was fun to listen to anyway. It was performed without any background music, as that's how it was originally intended... or so they said.
Right after this there was a presentation via short movie clips of how Big Bands were a big part of radio ever since the invention of the thing. He started out showing clips of performers from the 1920's who made up a large portion of the broadcast schedules... ordinary Joes who could sing or play an instrument. And then there were clips from early broadcasts from the 1930's with the orchestras in full tuxes and the audience behind a glass window, for fear that someone might cough or applaud during the show and completely ruin it... lol! And then it ended with shows from the '40's... this time more clips from movies and live, casual performances... it was a whirlwind tour, and very fun to listen to... especially that clip of Artie Shaw's band... wow! That was great!
After a bit of a break, the cast again got on stage for the two-part premiere episode of "I Love a Mystery". The director had to get special permission of the "Morse Estate" that owns the show in order to perform it. It was first broadcast in 1939 (I think), but because of references to China, the first part was dropped from programming in the 1950 re-production... and we were the first to hear it since. That alone made it rather cool, even though I was a little confused about the plot... it didn't seem to resolve at the end... But all in all, it was intriguing and well performed.
We then had about an hour break before dinner for the silent auction to wrap up. I busied myself with putting the finishing touches on the previous post and relaxing a bit.
Dinner was just great! My salmon was soft, juicy and tender, lying on a bed of rice along a side of grilled cherry tomatoes and veggies. YUMM! I met some very nice people at my table number nine... a couple of the cast members were there and a very nice younger gentleman who had seen a bit of Remember WENN before. He was in love with old time radio and had been in the army... we had lots to talk about :) He gave me a few suggestions for finding radio shows online as well. I thought for sure that he was around my age, but it turned out he was married with three kids! With one in college! lol! That was a bit of a shocker.
Anyway, after ice creame and a bit of tea, the people in charge said all their thankyous to all of the special guests and gave them their gifts and awards. And then Eddie Carroll and the rest of the cast went up onstage for the grand finale, a recreation of the Jack Benny Show. For all of you who know it already, unlike me, yes, it was Fabulous! It was great, great, great! But even funnier than the show itself for me, was afterwards when Eddie got up after all the applause and thanked us all for coming out and supporting this organization that is taking care not to forget our "very important heritage". Couldn't agree more. But then he launched into a hilarious story, just for fun, about a conversation he had with Lucille Ball at a rehearsal for one of the later episodes of 'I Love Lucy'. They talked about Jack Benny, who was good friends with them both. I was on the verge of tears because of laughing... it certainly was a perfect grand finale to a great weekend of fun.
Great times!
Jp
Radio Convention Day Two, Part One
Well, we're on a break right now for a couple minutes! Don't know how far I'll get as last night it took me a couple hours to compose and post everything... lol
So this morning my alarm when off on time, but I fell asleep again, as if it was a work day :) I did miss the opening program again, but made it in time for the first real performance, which was a recreated, live radio performance of "The Shadow"! It was thrilling and chilling, for certain. :) Some of the guest stars performed with REPS members... and I heard someone talking that 'the Shadow's' laugh was really well done... again, this was the first time I've heard an episode.
Right after this was an interview with guest Tommy Cook, speaking on his days with Arch Oboler's radio program back in 1939 and beyond. My goodness, this guy was in "Night Passage" with Jimmy Stewart! I love that movie!
In the next room, immediately following, Groucho Marx and Al Jolston had a comedy sketch. Well, more accurately, Frank Ferrante and Eddie Carroll. But it really was funny! And then they did a recreation of "You Bet Your Life", another mock gameshow. Eddie Carroll came back in the end as Jack Benny, disguised as a contestant. He said his name was Roland, but Groucho said his name was Rodney during rehearsal. Now I thought, "Oh, that's cute... Rodney"... but then, for the final question, Groucho offered "Rodney" (who was really Jack Benny) $3,000 for answering correctly how old Jack Benny really was... and I thought I might bust a gut. He ended up not winning for answering "thirty-nine". LOL! (as I consider using this approach on chat tonight... - just kidding, of course)
For lunch, I headed out with a couple new-found friends to Denny's, one door down. There were eight of us, and we talked about history and lots of fun stuff. I had one of my favorites... a grilled turkey, bacon, tomato and cheese sandwich with a dish of veggies and a side salad. Yum!
Jp
So this morning my alarm when off on time, but I fell asleep again, as if it was a work day :) I did miss the opening program again, but made it in time for the first real performance, which was a recreated, live radio performance of "The Shadow"! It was thrilling and chilling, for certain. :) Some of the guest stars performed with REPS members... and I heard someone talking that 'the Shadow's' laugh was really well done... again, this was the first time I've heard an episode.
Right after this was an interview with guest Tommy Cook, speaking on his days with Arch Oboler's radio program back in 1939 and beyond. My goodness, this guy was in "Night Passage" with Jimmy Stewart! I love that movie!
In the next room, immediately following, Groucho Marx and Al Jolston had a comedy sketch. Well, more accurately, Frank Ferrante and Eddie Carroll. But it really was funny! And then they did a recreation of "You Bet Your Life", another mock gameshow. Eddie Carroll came back in the end as Jack Benny, disguised as a contestant. He said his name was Roland, but Groucho said his name was Rodney during rehearsal. Now I thought, "Oh, that's cute... Rodney"... but then, for the final question, Groucho offered "Rodney" (who was really Jack Benny) $3,000 for answering correctly how old Jack Benny really was... and I thought I might bust a gut. He ended up not winning for answering "thirty-nine". LOL! (as I consider using this approach on chat tonight... - just kidding, of course)
For lunch, I headed out with a couple new-found friends to Denny's, one door down. There were eight of us, and we talked about history and lots of fun stuff. I had one of my favorites... a grilled turkey, bacon, tomato and cheese sandwich with a dish of veggies and a side salad. Yum!
Jp
Friday, June 26, 2009
Radio Convention Day One (of Two)
Wow! Was it fun already!
I missed the first hour, because my boss wouldn't let me go until 10... but that didn't matter much. All I ended up missing was the Opening Remarks and a short talk on "Remembering Radio".
There were around a hundred people attending, and there were maybe a handful of them that looked as if they were younger than middle-aged. I'm getting pretty used to not hanging out with my generation :) I guess we like different things, them and I... And along with the regular members of the club, there were about 10 special guests there for today... but I'll mention all this in order:
I walked into the Bellevue Coast Hotel, just off I-405, at about 10:30. I got my registration packet, and then slipped in the back during a performance in progress: a recreation of 'The Bickersons' with Rosemary Rice and Bob Hastings from the radio program 'Archie Andrews'. I settled into my seat, looked over my packet, including the items up for silent auction while I "listened in" to the show. After it finished, there was a short interview with our guests about how they got started and what it was like, acting for the network. They talked about many things, but I remember Bob talking about how 250 kids would wait "on-line" :) on the street on Saturday mornings for a spot in the studio for the broadcast. In just a few years, they had mostly disappeared; victims of Saturday morning television. Rosemary started her career on Broadway, and somehow another thing that stuck in my mind was them discussing how people used to dress up to go to Broadway plays... and even Baseball games... wow, it's hard to imagine guys in suits and ties with fedoras at the ballpark. What a different world we live in.
Afterwords, I took a moment to look around the Mingling Room, where they were selling MP3's of lots of old shows, among other things, and they had the silent auction set up for tomorrow. Radio shows, signed pictures, old programs, books... altogether cool stuff to look at.
The next engagement was a live radio theater performance of 'CBS Radio Mystery Theater' in the next room, put on by members of REPS. The show they did was called "Future Eye", a story about mixed up timelines and alternate universes set in the year 2976. This malfunctioning "master control computer" had sent someone into the wrong alternate universe of the 1970's, where the Allies had lost WWII. There were lots of computer vs. human jokes and the music for the computer sound was blaring beeps. They did make great effects with the lady's voice for the computer though... they made it reverberate or something. The show was thoroughly enjoyable.
It suddenly got to be noontime, so during break for lunch, I went next door to Denny's and sat at the counter for the first time. I had a 'prime rib sizzlin' breakfast skillet'... and whoa, was that good! Rib slices with grilled onions and peppers with warm tortillas, hashbrowns and scrambled eggs... darn... I'm hungry right now...
Back at the hotel, I did purchase a few MP3's before the next thing got started. 115 episodes of "The Shadow", 83 episodes of the "Sam Spade" detective show (for obvious reasons... lol), 35 episodes of "Flash Gordon" from 1935, and 78 episodes of "Theater of Romance" just for fun. Each set came on it's own disc, a total of four for $20. Not bad really. Should make for lots of fun at work someday.
After I completed my shopping, there was another live radio theater performance of "Lum & Abner", again by mostly REPS members. For those of you unfamiliar with this, as I was (forgive my ignorance), this was a funny little small-town show. Sort of reminded me of Andy Griffith or something. It was cute.
But next up was a re-creation of a 'Fibber McGee and Molly' episode where a "flying saucer" lands in their front yard and Mr. McGee starts telling wild tales. This was my first encounter with the show, and I know now why it's so widely popular... gosh it was great! Memorable lines: "That's just inciting mass-historia..." and "Yeeees, I'm an American... I'm from Brooklyn-grad..." (a Soviet spy). Also hysterical was Mr. McGee's long tongue-twister about "raising raisins".
Mr. McGee was played by Stuffy Singer (who has actually guested on FM&M before, as well as Our Miss Brooks, Amos 'n' Andy, Blondie and others, as well as various TV shows like Lassie and Leave it to Beaver) and Molly was played by Gloria McMillan, who created and played the role of Harriet Conklin on Our Miss Brooks from its radio days through the end of its TV run. Both had been with Jack Benny's program as well. I had the pleasure of meeting Gloria after the program! She is very, very, nice and easy to talk to as well. I looked her up online yesterday, and she has a great MySpace page. She's 66, and currently teaching performing arts in Southern California.
Next up was "It Pays to be Ignorant"... a slapstick show with four guests, Gregg Oppenheimer, Shirley Mitchell, Bob Hastings (again), and Eddie Carroll, our Jack Benny impersonator for tomorrow night. This show was... hmm, I'm at a loss for words. "Just awesome!" It was so darned funny... it was just like Victor's jokes in episode four... a tribute to Vaudeville... and we were all in stitches. It was based on the premise of a gameshow, but all they ever did was banter back and forth. The first "question" was 'How many acres are there in a 50 acre farm?' and then there were cascades of farm jokes. The second audience participant had a name that none of them could pronounce to her satisfaction... and after about two minutes of "no! it's so-and-so", she finally just told them to call her by her first name. It felt like it was part of the program, they adapted so well. LOL
Immediately following this, there was a session where Mr. Oppenheimer played "radio bloopers" from an extensive collection that he had built up. Mostly announcers bungling things up... For instance: "He is the rich man who can avail himself to all of men's facilities... um, faculties." Unabridged laughter. And then there was the one, poor news anchorman for, I think CBS... who couldn't connect to his outside sources twice in the same broadcast and ended up trying to describe what he thought was coming... with hysterical results. I had "Newsday" running through my mind... LOL
After a short break there was then a "celebrity interview" with Beverly Washburn, a dear friend of Jack Benny and an actress with many big TV shows and movies to her name. She said she had the honor of acting with Lou Costello in his only dramatic role (was that Wagon Train? - I can't recall) [Yep! Here's the episode!] and also of 'dying' in the arms of James T. Kirk during one episode of Star Trek. She was fun to listen to.
You'd think it was a full day already, but this was only the dinner break. Because of some technical difficulties, it was extended a little, and I drove up 8th street to the Crossroads Mall where I feasted on Lamb and Couscous from a Mediterranean grill. I had time to kill, so thankfully the mall has a Half-Price Bookstore in it. I ended up with a couple kids books and a book of photographs from the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Only three more shows to go upon returning! And I still had a moment when I got back, so I looked again at the silent auction. I hadn't noticed before, but one item was an 'Our Miss Brooks' script from 1948, so I browsed through it and laughed often!
I wasn't too entirely impressed with the next show, however, the episode of "Suspense" that was performed. But I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. I did like how they made the squeaky door contraption make noise like a parrot though.
Oh, but the next show! A live radio performance of "The Wizard of Oz", complete with all the live musical numbers! It was introduced and intermissioned by snippets of "Baby Snooks". Interestingly, the lady who played Baby Snooks also played the Wicked Witch of the West. Completely different and well done! Besides Dorthy's great singing, I really liked the lady who played Snooks's baby brother's cries and Todo's yips... she was amazing! But then the guy who did the lion... could have been the guy from the movie. They were all so... fantastic!
To finish it off, they performed an episode of "The Great Gildersleeve".
It, like almost everything else today, was fabulous.
So much today has been brand new to me, yet vaguely familiar in style. I am so in awe of what a job Rupert Holmes did with Remember WENN... it's uncanny. And it's funny. A TV show about radio got me interested and fascinated with radio only so I can be amazed at the TV show all over again. Odd.
Jp
I missed the first hour, because my boss wouldn't let me go until 10... but that didn't matter much. All I ended up missing was the Opening Remarks and a short talk on "Remembering Radio".
There were around a hundred people attending, and there were maybe a handful of them that looked as if they were younger than middle-aged. I'm getting pretty used to not hanging out with my generation :) I guess we like different things, them and I... And along with the regular members of the club, there were about 10 special guests there for today... but I'll mention all this in order:
I walked into the Bellevue Coast Hotel, just off I-405, at about 10:30. I got my registration packet, and then slipped in the back during a performance in progress: a recreation of 'The Bickersons' with Rosemary Rice and Bob Hastings from the radio program 'Archie Andrews'. I settled into my seat, looked over my packet, including the items up for silent auction while I "listened in" to the show. After it finished, there was a short interview with our guests about how they got started and what it was like, acting for the network. They talked about many things, but I remember Bob talking about how 250 kids would wait "on-line" :) on the street on Saturday mornings for a spot in the studio for the broadcast. In just a few years, they had mostly disappeared; victims of Saturday morning television. Rosemary started her career on Broadway, and somehow another thing that stuck in my mind was them discussing how people used to dress up to go to Broadway plays... and even Baseball games... wow, it's hard to imagine guys in suits and ties with fedoras at the ballpark. What a different world we live in.
Afterwords, I took a moment to look around the Mingling Room, where they were selling MP3's of lots of old shows, among other things, and they had the silent auction set up for tomorrow. Radio shows, signed pictures, old programs, books... altogether cool stuff to look at.
The next engagement was a live radio theater performance of 'CBS Radio Mystery Theater' in the next room, put on by members of REPS. The show they did was called "Future Eye", a story about mixed up timelines and alternate universes set in the year 2976. This malfunctioning "master control computer" had sent someone into the wrong alternate universe of the 1970's, where the Allies had lost WWII. There were lots of computer vs. human jokes and the music for the computer sound was blaring beeps. They did make great effects with the lady's voice for the computer though... they made it reverberate or something. The show was thoroughly enjoyable.
It suddenly got to be noontime, so during break for lunch, I went next door to Denny's and sat at the counter for the first time. I had a 'prime rib sizzlin' breakfast skillet'... and whoa, was that good! Rib slices with grilled onions and peppers with warm tortillas, hashbrowns and scrambled eggs... darn... I'm hungry right now...
Back at the hotel, I did purchase a few MP3's before the next thing got started. 115 episodes of "The Shadow", 83 episodes of the "Sam Spade" detective show (for obvious reasons... lol), 35 episodes of "Flash Gordon" from 1935, and 78 episodes of "Theater of Romance" just for fun. Each set came on it's own disc, a total of four for $20. Not bad really. Should make for lots of fun at work someday.
After I completed my shopping, there was another live radio theater performance of "Lum & Abner", again by mostly REPS members. For those of you unfamiliar with this, as I was (forgive my ignorance), this was a funny little small-town show. Sort of reminded me of Andy Griffith or something. It was cute.
But next up was a re-creation of a 'Fibber McGee and Molly' episode where a "flying saucer" lands in their front yard and Mr. McGee starts telling wild tales. This was my first encounter with the show, and I know now why it's so widely popular... gosh it was great! Memorable lines: "That's just inciting mass-historia..." and "Yeeees, I'm an American... I'm from Brooklyn-grad..." (a Soviet spy). Also hysterical was Mr. McGee's long tongue-twister about "raising raisins".
Mr. McGee was played by Stuffy Singer (who has actually guested on FM&M before, as well as Our Miss Brooks, Amos 'n' Andy, Blondie and others, as well as various TV shows like Lassie and Leave it to Beaver) and Molly was played by Gloria McMillan, who created and played the role of Harriet Conklin on Our Miss Brooks from its radio days through the end of its TV run. Both had been with Jack Benny's program as well. I had the pleasure of meeting Gloria after the program! She is very, very, nice and easy to talk to as well. I looked her up online yesterday, and she has a great MySpace page. She's 66, and currently teaching performing arts in Southern California.
Next up was "It Pays to be Ignorant"... a slapstick show with four guests, Gregg Oppenheimer, Shirley Mitchell, Bob Hastings (again), and Eddie Carroll, our Jack Benny impersonator for tomorrow night. This show was... hmm, I'm at a loss for words. "Just awesome!" It was so darned funny... it was just like Victor's jokes in episode four... a tribute to Vaudeville... and we were all in stitches. It was based on the premise of a gameshow, but all they ever did was banter back and forth. The first "question" was 'How many acres are there in a 50 acre farm?' and then there were cascades of farm jokes. The second audience participant had a name that none of them could pronounce to her satisfaction... and after about two minutes of "no! it's so-and-so", she finally just told them to call her by her first name. It felt like it was part of the program, they adapted so well. LOL
Immediately following this, there was a session where Mr. Oppenheimer played "radio bloopers" from an extensive collection that he had built up. Mostly announcers bungling things up... For instance: "He is the rich man who can avail himself to all of men's facilities... um, faculties." Unabridged laughter. And then there was the one, poor news anchorman for, I think CBS... who couldn't connect to his outside sources twice in the same broadcast and ended up trying to describe what he thought was coming... with hysterical results. I had "Newsday" running through my mind... LOL
After a short break there was then a "celebrity interview" with Beverly Washburn, a dear friend of Jack Benny and an actress with many big TV shows and movies to her name. She said she had the honor of acting with Lou Costello in his only dramatic role (was that Wagon Train? - I can't recall) [Yep! Here's the episode!] and also of 'dying' in the arms of James T. Kirk during one episode of Star Trek. She was fun to listen to.
You'd think it was a full day already, but this was only the dinner break. Because of some technical difficulties, it was extended a little, and I drove up 8th street to the Crossroads Mall where I feasted on Lamb and Couscous from a Mediterranean grill. I had time to kill, so thankfully the mall has a Half-Price Bookstore in it. I ended up with a couple kids books and a book of photographs from the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Only three more shows to go upon returning! And I still had a moment when I got back, so I looked again at the silent auction. I hadn't noticed before, but one item was an 'Our Miss Brooks' script from 1948, so I browsed through it and laughed often!
I wasn't too entirely impressed with the next show, however, the episode of "Suspense" that was performed. But I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. I did like how they made the squeaky door contraption make noise like a parrot though.
Oh, but the next show! A live radio performance of "The Wizard of Oz", complete with all the live musical numbers! It was introduced and intermissioned by snippets of "Baby Snooks". Interestingly, the lady who played Baby Snooks also played the Wicked Witch of the West. Completely different and well done! Besides Dorthy's great singing, I really liked the lady who played Snooks's baby brother's cries and Todo's yips... she was amazing! But then the guy who did the lion... could have been the guy from the movie. They were all so... fantastic!
To finish it off, they performed an episode of "The Great Gildersleeve".
It, like almost everything else today, was fabulous.
So much today has been brand new to me, yet vaguely familiar in style. I am so in awe of what a job Rupert Holmes did with Remember WENN... it's uncanny. And it's funny. A TV show about radio got me interested and fascinated with radio only so I can be amazed at the TV show all over again. Odd.
Jp
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Entirely a Pleasant Evening
'
Right after work yesterday, my parents and I had a very quick dinner and then packed in the car to speed (not literally) to the University of Washington for graduation exercises for all the certificate programs. Out of 30+ students that completed the Certificate of Photography, there were only 6 of us there. But since there were over a hundred different programs, it's a good thing everyone didn't or it would have been an extra long night. When the announcer called our program, we six screamed "cheese" and our first student to walk took a picture of the audience in Meany Hall. Oh, we had fun together this last year.
It was a short and sweet ceremony: the speakers were concise! And during the procession of students, I recognized one name for sure: my former boss from Odegaard Undergraduate Library when I worked there as a senior in 2006! She sat in the row in front of me, so when I walked by, I sure did say 'hello'! She was surprised at seeing me there for sure, but I'm very glad she remembered me. Her certificate was in Nonprofit Management... wow!
On the way home we stopped by the UW Medical Center to see the first exhibition of my class's show. I had seen everything many times before, but it was great to see it all up on the wall like that. And right after getting back in the car, a dear friend called and we talked a long while. :)
And this morning, wonder of wonders, I felt (and still feel) awake after pulling myself out of bed!
Tonight we're celebrating my eldest sister's birthday, and tomorrow begins that Old-Time Radio Convention that I found out about last month. Fun things on the way! Yay!
Jp
Right after work yesterday, my parents and I had a very quick dinner and then packed in the car to speed (not literally) to the University of Washington for graduation exercises for all the certificate programs. Out of 30+ students that completed the Certificate of Photography, there were only 6 of us there. But since there were over a hundred different programs, it's a good thing everyone didn't or it would have been an extra long night. When the announcer called our program, we six screamed "cheese" and our first student to walk took a picture of the audience in Meany Hall. Oh, we had fun together this last year.
It was a short and sweet ceremony: the speakers were concise! And during the procession of students, I recognized one name for sure: my former boss from Odegaard Undergraduate Library when I worked there as a senior in 2006! She sat in the row in front of me, so when I walked by, I sure did say 'hello'! She was surprised at seeing me there for sure, but I'm very glad she remembered me. Her certificate was in Nonprofit Management... wow!
On the way home we stopped by the UW Medical Center to see the first exhibition of my class's show. I had seen everything many times before, but it was great to see it all up on the wall like that. And right after getting back in the car, a dear friend called and we talked a long while. :)
And this morning, wonder of wonders, I felt (and still feel) awake after pulling myself out of bed!
Tonight we're celebrating my eldest sister's birthday, and tomorrow begins that Old-Time Radio Convention that I found out about last month. Fun things on the way! Yay!
Jp
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Am I Nuts?
Just finished watching the 3-part PBS series "Carrier", produced last year (thanks for the recommendation, James!).
Yeah, that looks like it is an entirely crazy life. But I think I'm still into this. The worst of it is how they describe it as a large high school. That sounds terrifying. And I certainly would be worried about fitting in with anyone, but I suppose the place is made up of all kinds.
Just fired an email off to the person who runs the unofficial site for the rate I'm interested in. Maybe they'll get back to me with some helpful advice... (hopefully). I am totally second-guessing requesting an aircraft carrier assignment, though. :) People in the rate I want can get stationed anywhere.
Jp
Yeah, that looks like it is an entirely crazy life. But I think I'm still into this. The worst of it is how they describe it as a large high school. That sounds terrifying. And I certainly would be worried about fitting in with anyone, but I suppose the place is made up of all kinds.
Just fired an email off to the person who runs the unofficial site for the rate I'm interested in. Maybe they'll get back to me with some helpful advice... (hopefully). I am totally second-guessing requesting an aircraft carrier assignment, though. :) People in the rate I want can get stationed anywhere.
Jp
Monday, June 22, 2009
Tired, Mired
Well then, my brother ships back to southern California early tomorrow morning. So much of what went on this weekend rightfully had to do with him. His best friend's family came over on Saturday for dinner, and yesterday, family came over to visit.
Most of my time, besides being at these functions, was spent either cleaning the kitchen (on Saturday) or sitting around, watching MASH. I've been feeling pretty drained for quite a while... this is either from me staying up late-ish (past one) three nights in a row or it's from me finally calming down from months and months of being on the go all the time. Maybe both. Anyway, Saturday night's adjusted schedule worked very well, and helped, I think.
I certainly did my part to help myself by sleeping in late Saturday morning, but I think I'm getting sick anyway. And then I'm hard on myself for feeling unproductive... um, chill out. LOL
Jp
Most of my time, besides being at these functions, was spent either cleaning the kitchen (on Saturday) or sitting around, watching MASH. I've been feeling pretty drained for quite a while... this is either from me staying up late-ish (past one) three nights in a row or it's from me finally calming down from months and months of being on the go all the time. Maybe both. Anyway, Saturday night's adjusted schedule worked very well, and helped, I think.
I certainly did my part to help myself by sleeping in late Saturday morning, but I think I'm getting sick anyway. And then I'm hard on myself for feeling unproductive... um, chill out. LOL
Jp
Friday, June 19, 2009
That's the Way it's Done!
What a ball-game!
Zac treated my sister and I out to the game tonight, just to hang out. We left early, and it's a good thing we did. Traffic was a bear in Bellevue and when we got to Seattle. They did have a good deal with the parking garage right next door. The seats were in the left field bleachers; one of the nicest spots to sit, I think. We watched a little batting practice and then had hamburgers and fries. Mmm! Good ones! They closed the stadium roof as it started to rain softly. Early on, we had people on base, but they just couldn't score. It was kinda a bummer. And then around the fifth inning, while Meg and I went to get a little bit of clam chowder and fish & chips from Ivar's, a big collision happened on the field for a pop fly and they took one of our boys off the field on a little truck. That's always awful. Once at a Husky football game at Oregon State in 2007, they took our quarterback off the field in a neck brace, on a stretcher in an ambulance with flashing lights. Gosh, I hate to see that sort of thing.
Ichiro doesn't get a chance to score in the 1st inn.
We were thinking it would be a complete bust, as we were behind 3-0 in the eighth inning. But then the lead-off batter blasted a home run... and then someone got on base and there were two outs... and then they had Ken Griffey Jr. pinch hit... (this is the first time I've seen him play in years!) and the first pitch he gets... GOODBYE BASEBALL!
My, Oh, My! So we're tied at three all of a sudden. Zac and Meg and I jumped up and down, screaming and hugging. And then they get a base hit, and then they steal, and then another base hit... and we're ahead by one! And then the closer comes out for the ninth, strikes out two, and then gets the last guy out on a ground ball. Just like that. Wow! What fun! So we beat the AZ D-Backs 4-3!
It took a while to get out of the garage, with all the pedestrians and trains crossing the street, but we finally made it home, rocking out to Toby Mac and the Newsboys.
Wow!
Jp
Zac treated my sister and I out to the game tonight, just to hang out. We left early, and it's a good thing we did. Traffic was a bear in Bellevue and when we got to Seattle. They did have a good deal with the parking garage right next door. The seats were in the left field bleachers; one of the nicest spots to sit, I think. We watched a little batting practice and then had hamburgers and fries. Mmm! Good ones! They closed the stadium roof as it started to rain softly. Early on, we had people on base, but they just couldn't score. It was kinda a bummer. And then around the fifth inning, while Meg and I went to get a little bit of clam chowder and fish & chips from Ivar's, a big collision happened on the field for a pop fly and they took one of our boys off the field on a little truck. That's always awful. Once at a Husky football game at Oregon State in 2007, they took our quarterback off the field in a neck brace, on a stretcher in an ambulance with flashing lights. Gosh, I hate to see that sort of thing.
Ichiro doesn't get a chance to score in the 1st inn.My, Oh, My! So we're tied at three all of a sudden. Zac and Meg and I jumped up and down, screaming and hugging. And then they get a base hit, and then they steal, and then another base hit... and we're ahead by one! And then the closer comes out for the ninth, strikes out two, and then gets the last guy out on a ground ball. Just like that. Wow! What fun! So we beat the AZ D-Backs 4-3!
It took a while to get out of the garage, with all the pedestrians and trains crossing the street, but we finally made it home, rocking out to Toby Mac and the Newsboys.
Wow!
Jp
Nothing Like Laughter
It's just what the doctor ordered.
My sister invited a couple of her philosophy students (the quarter is over) to come over last night and be introduced to Remember WENN... and they arranged to stay for six episodes... lol... so immediately, we decided to take them through most of the plot, to get a feel for the characters and the show in general... On the Air, Hilary Booth RN, World of Tomorrow, Radio Silence, the newsday episode, and finally Magic. My brother's friend came over as well, because he was curious about the whole thing in general. And of course, he loved it. Oh, and he's for Victor. LOL! (He came up with his opinion himself, I promise!) And after the students left, we watched "WENN Small Hours" with him (I never am able to just watch Magic) and later, after a long conversation about TV and other topics we put in "Who's Minding the Asylum?". Classic Betty, at her best, IMHO.
Between all that and a very unexpected card from a friend this morning, I'm feeling lightyears away from the way I felt yesterday after work :)
Even though I went to bed, um, rather late, I woke up this morning without my alarm, had time for a quick little read in the Bible, trimmed my fingernails and made it to our later Friday start time
(8 am) with only a couple minutes to make up :) Also, I think I discovered why I'm feeling slightly clogged up in my sinuses... I haven't been hydrating myself very well... glug, glug, glug.
Ahh, better.
Jp
My sister invited a couple of her philosophy students (the quarter is over) to come over last night and be introduced to Remember WENN... and they arranged to stay for six episodes... lol... so immediately, we decided to take them through most of the plot, to get a feel for the characters and the show in general... On the Air, Hilary Booth RN, World of Tomorrow, Radio Silence, the newsday episode, and finally Magic. My brother's friend came over as well, because he was curious about the whole thing in general. And of course, he loved it. Oh, and he's for Victor. LOL! (He came up with his opinion himself, I promise!) And after the students left, we watched "WENN Small Hours" with him (I never am able to just watch Magic) and later, after a long conversation about TV and other topics we put in "Who's Minding the Asylum?". Classic Betty, at her best, IMHO.
Between all that and a very unexpected card from a friend this morning, I'm feeling lightyears away from the way I felt yesterday after work :)
Even though I went to bed, um, rather late, I woke up this morning without my alarm, had time for a quick little read in the Bible, trimmed my fingernails and made it to our later Friday start time
(8 am) with only a couple minutes to make up :) Also, I think I discovered why I'm feeling slightly clogged up in my sinuses... I haven't been hydrating myself very well... glug, glug, glug.
Ahh, better.
Jp
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Worn Out
I think I've had enough of today...
and the whole week too, now that you mention it.
Between my parents having a fight yesterday (and behaving rather immaturely), with me caught in the middle simply by proximity, and my legs being incredibly sore from running on Tuesday night, and the feeling that I'm going nowhere really fast, and wondering what the heck I'm going to do about the Navy and when, and today's insanity at work... I think I'm ready for a long weekend's nap.
Thank the Lord I only work four-hour-Fridays. I think I need to be alone for a while. Heh, that's not gonna happen... I wish I didn't have to live simply waiting for the next day to come. God help me.
Jp
and the whole week too, now that you mention it.
Between my parents having a fight yesterday (and behaving rather immaturely), with me caught in the middle simply by proximity, and my legs being incredibly sore from running on Tuesday night, and the feeling that I'm going nowhere really fast, and wondering what the heck I'm going to do about the Navy and when, and today's insanity at work... I think I'm ready for a long weekend's nap.
Thank the Lord I only work four-hour-Fridays. I think I need to be alone for a while. Heh, that's not gonna happen... I wish I didn't have to live simply waiting for the next day to come. God help me.
Jp
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Or the Next Day...
:)
Yeah, didn't get to it yesterday, but I only said that because it was a quote.
Yesterday was a long day at work, and rather dull in general. I got things mostly ready to put away, and that, I'll most likely finish today.
Last night, however, my brother invited us downstairs to watch a recently purchased movie on his projector. Just the family... it was a good time. The movie he got was 'Dan in Real Life' (2007, Steve Carell), a hilarious and touching romantic comedy. It was pretty much outstanding.
Afterwards, I went for a run outside to clear my mind and test myself again. I think I had a little too much stuff in my sinuses though, as after I finished the mile-and-a-half (three times around our block, which encompasses our park) in 14 (wow!) minutes, my head hurt because it felt a little clogged, and normal breathing came back to me slowly. Gee, do I hate running! I suppose it would probably get better if I did it more often. Hmm.
To cool down, I took the dog for a nice, leisurely, half-hour walk on the same ground.
[This evening, we watched Defiance with Zac, as he just got it today. It is a lot of fun, but I have this uneasy feeling that I've been doing so little meaningful things lately.]
Jp
Yeah, didn't get to it yesterday, but I only said that because it was a quote.
Yesterday was a long day at work, and rather dull in general. I got things mostly ready to put away, and that, I'll most likely finish today.
Last night, however, my brother invited us downstairs to watch a recently purchased movie on his projector. Just the family... it was a good time. The movie he got was 'Dan in Real Life' (2007, Steve Carell), a hilarious and touching romantic comedy. It was pretty much outstanding.
Afterwards, I went for a run outside to clear my mind and test myself again. I think I had a little too much stuff in my sinuses though, as after I finished the mile-and-a-half (three times around our block, which encompasses our park) in 14 (wow!) minutes, my head hurt because it felt a little clogged, and normal breathing came back to me slowly. Gee, do I hate running! I suppose it would probably get better if I did it more often. Hmm.
To cool down, I took the dog for a nice, leisurely, half-hour walk on the same ground.
[This evening, we watched Defiance with Zac, as he just got it today. It is a lot of fun, but I have this uneasy feeling that I've been doing so little meaningful things lately.]
Jp
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Year Later
Well this week is special!
I've been logging my life for a year exactly!
It sure is swell being able to look back at what's happened with such detail! I think my memory will drastically improve from now on, since it is searchable by keyword... lol
Oh, my first post is funny! What a little newbie! I didn't realize there is a spell-checker on here! And it took me forever to realize that they have a nifty little hyperlink tool to use instead of pasting the address right into the text of the post. LOL
Anyway, to those of you who read this, thanks for following along! I really love sharing my life with you. And to those of you, listening... out there... right now... sitting alone in a little room... or working late again at the office... thanks very much for being my friends, and letting me communicate to you most of what I had hoped to while we shared this time over the Internet together (you shouldn't say everything on the Internet, after all).
This is Jennifer Payne signing off for now, but rest assured, I will post here again... tomorrow.
(taps the arm of her chair) (Hey! This chair actually has arms! cool!)
I've been logging my life for a year exactly!
It sure is swell being able to look back at what's happened with such detail! I think my memory will drastically improve from now on, since it is searchable by keyword... lol
Oh, my first post is funny! What a little newbie! I didn't realize there is a spell-checker on here! And it took me forever to realize that they have a nifty little hyperlink tool to use instead of pasting the address right into the text of the post. LOL
Anyway, to those of you who read this, thanks for following along! I really love sharing my life with you. And to those of you, listening... out there... right now... sitting alone in a little room... or working late again at the office... thanks very much for being my friends, and letting me communicate to you most of what I had hoped to while we shared this time over the Internet together (you shouldn't say everything on the Internet, after all).
This is Jennifer Payne signing off for now, but rest assured, I will post here again... tomorrow.
(taps the arm of her chair) (Hey! This chair actually has arms! cool!)
Sunday, In Retrospect
Like always...
Yesterday... I did wake up in the morning... barely! :)
Family started coming over right away, and soon the house was brimming with friends as well! Mom had prepared a feast (on request through letters from boot camp) including steak, fish, noodles, potatoes, veggies, salad, cantaloupe, bread, apple pies and brownies, among others. We were running out of chairs! So there was a lot of visiting... and eating... and more eating... and then some presents for a very belated celebration of his birthday back in March. He came upstairs in his uniform when he first got back from church, but quickly changed out of it in order to relax. My 95 year old gramma shouted out, "Oh my god! You look different!" when she saw him the first time. It was so very funny because she shouted that out when everyone else was quiet. LOL!
People left in stages, until it was just my sister's family and my brother's good friend. And then the two of them left to go take in an action movie and it became time for my niece and nephew's bedtime. My sister and I put in a MASH, as we haven't seen one for a while, and then we watched our Netflix movie, Oklahoma... she said she wanted to see it before we go so she can sing the songs while we drive... lol. But then on the beginning, there's this illegal movie downloading commercial, and then an ad for the new release of The Sound of Music on dvd... and I'm laughing my head off. I did enjoy it, but it was a weird musical.
After the equivalent of two weekends... having four days off in a row... I feel ready to face this week. We'll see how long that feeling lasts :) I'm still having trouble referring to Friday the 12th as a Sunday.
Jp
Yesterday... I did wake up in the morning... barely! :)
Family started coming over right away, and soon the house was brimming with friends as well! Mom had prepared a feast (on request through letters from boot camp) including steak, fish, noodles, potatoes, veggies, salad, cantaloupe, bread, apple pies and brownies, among others. We were running out of chairs! So there was a lot of visiting... and eating... and more eating... and then some presents for a very belated celebration of his birthday back in March. He came upstairs in his uniform when he first got back from church, but quickly changed out of it in order to relax. My 95 year old gramma shouted out, "Oh my god! You look different!" when she saw him the first time. It was so very funny because she shouted that out when everyone else was quiet. LOL!
People left in stages, until it was just my sister's family and my brother's good friend. And then the two of them left to go take in an action movie and it became time for my niece and nephew's bedtime. My sister and I put in a MASH, as we haven't seen one for a while, and then we watched our Netflix movie, Oklahoma... she said she wanted to see it before we go so she can sing the songs while we drive... lol. But then on the beginning, there's this illegal movie downloading commercial, and then an ad for the new release of The Sound of Music on dvd... and I'm laughing my head off. I did enjoy it, but it was a weird musical.
After the equivalent of two weekends... having four days off in a row... I feel ready to face this week. We'll see how long that feeling lasts :) I'm still having trouble referring to Friday the 12th as a Sunday.
Jp
Saturday, June 13, 2009
We're Back!
Except that happened yesterday at around 7 pm.He's all graduated! And home for 10 days! before he has to go back for 3 weeks of infantry school and then 8-12 weeks of his MOS in Missouri (or school for his specialty - which is a construction heavy equipment operator).
I was so tired last night from all the standing around we did again and then the 2.5 hour flight back to Seattle, that I did nothing besides eat, shower and go directly to bed. Unfortunately, I missed the opening of my photography program's first show in the UW Medical Center, but that's why I requested to be in the second show... in case this happened.
Today I woke up bright and early at 6:40, and kept myself busy all day. Breakfast with Zac and family, cleaned up my room, went shopping for a binder and a large frame, and came home with a brand new flag as well (this one is sewn nylon, instead of the old, printed polycotton that we've had for years. The pole set had rusted and the eagle had broken off... it was time.
I put it up when I got home and then put that cool poster up as well. Between shopping and seeing his friends, Zac approved of it :) when he came home. Today was the neighborhood garage sale, and my sister basically ran that, making a few bucks. I organized all my stuff from photography class and then cleaned my car (hurrah!) and then vacuumed my room afterwards.
His platoon: 
I think I am ready to relax a little. But one thing is for sure: this weekend has made me more motivated to join up. It was a grand time.
Jp
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Family Day at Boot Camp, MCRD, SD
Even after a latish night, we woke up very early in order to eat the hotel's full breakfast and catch an early (7am) shuttle to the base. It went like clockwork... ate a biscuit and sausage and an omelet and then popped on the bus that had just stopped outside.
As we arrived, the six platoons that are graduating tomorrow were practicing the ceremony in battle dress on the parade deck. It wasn't too hard to pick my brother out, as he's rather tall and very blond... at least what's left of his hair. :) And walking around, I've never seen so many ugly, dark yellow buildings in one place before! My goodness!
There was a lot of waiting around... and then we peeked inside the museum, watched a short film, checked out the gift shop, got a ceremonial yelling at by a DI, just for the experience, and then lined up in the parking lot to watch the "moto" run (motivational, if you missed that) by the 325 brand new Marines. And then there was a lot more standing around waiting with an overseeing DI who wanted us to yell cadence with him... uh, no. Not the whole time at least. There's a good reason why 95% of the Marines we ran into had hoarse throats. My brother said he even contracted bronchitis for a week... but holy cow! He kept training and is graduating on schedule!
We then witnessed the end of the run, where they lined up and were given a nice speech by some officer or person too far away to identify. And then we went in the theater and watched a longer movie about how cool the Marines are... and they are... and then a captain told us about what all the recruits went through during the three months with a slide show accompaniment, and then the Brigadier general, who is a woman and in charge of all Marine Corps training in the Western United States, came and gave us a great talk about how our boys have changed.
And then, finally! We all filed out and went to the bleachers on the parade deck. The band played, and then all six platoons marched by. There was a short speech, and then look out! I bounded onto the deck and got to Zac first! I've never hugged anyone so hard! And he's never wanted to hug before today... and it was wonderful. My goodness! He's so thin! He lost 52 pounds! It took me a moment to adjust to him, and realize that, yes, indeed, he was the same person. :) Part of the weirdness was his deeper voice (it's still a little sore) and his now totally non-sarcastic demeanor, coupled with how much he was scowling during formations to keep his eyes from wandering and his attention focused. My goodness! He looked mean! But he sure was the same little brother of mine... just older all of a sudden. (tears up... okay, yeah.)
He was then on five-hour liberty (on base), and the first thing we did was go get hamburgers. And then pizza... lol... And then we went to the base museum for a long time, saw a little bit of the base, and then we went to eat again... I had something different. Spaghetti and meatballs to be exact. :)
So we said goodbye for the evening... but it wasn't bad, knowing we get to take him home tomorrow. As for him, he said he can't wait to get out of there and that it would be hard for him to sleep tonight. :)
And as for me, although it was cloudy for all of the morning and most of the afternoon, a trip to San Diego wouldn't be complete without a little sunburn. But only on my left shoulder, forehead and chest. Um, no dressy shirt tomorrow; time for a good old tee.
Jp
(sister, mother, brother, me, father, friend) in the museum.Oh, and I found the poster that appears on the bottom of this blog page in the corner of the gift store! It was only 98 cents, since it was rather beat up. But it was their last copy, and the only thing I really wanted... Yay!!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Back in the Old Town
I left work a half-hour later than I wanted, but made it home and packed just in time.
The flight was a breeze... Zac's friend flew down with us, so my sister and I had a lovely time talking and laughing all the way down here. The topic centered around North Korea, of all places... lol
I watched the sun go down and turn red on the western horizon over the Pacific, as I was at the window on the starboard side of the craft. When we landed, we were able to see MCRD... yay!
Our hotel is in the Old Town district, relatively near where I stayed back in October, except nicer. They've got a nice courtyard area, and we're only a half-mile away from the Marines.
Movie and Pizza tonight, and an early morning tomorrow!
Jp
The flight was a breeze... Zac's friend flew down with us, so my sister and I had a lovely time talking and laughing all the way down here. The topic centered around North Korea, of all places... lol
I watched the sun go down and turn red on the western horizon over the Pacific, as I was at the window on the starboard side of the craft. When we landed, we were able to see MCRD... yay!
Our hotel is in the Old Town district, relatively near where I stayed back in October, except nicer. They've got a nice courtyard area, and we're only a half-mile away from the Marines.
Movie and Pizza tonight, and an early morning tomorrow!
Jp
Gasp!
.
(comes up for air)
It's been that kind of a day. Everything always goes nuts right before I leave for time off...
Why?!
(hits the pile on my desk again)
Jp
(comes up for air)
It's been that kind of a day. Everything always goes nuts right before I leave for time off...
Why?!
(hits the pile on my desk again)
Jp
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Here I Go Again
I knew it had to happen again sometime soon. Me, sitting on my duff, watching too many moving pictures (and making a conscious decision to watch too much) and then not getting enough sleep... Dah!!! When will I ever learn that I really shouldn't do that... especially two nights in a row? I keep on beating my head against a wall, so to speak. You know you shouldn't be watching TV when you fall asleep during the end of a MASH episode, I mean really! Just hit the sack already!
Here's to a better effort tonight, for tomorrow night I fly.
Not much has been happening around these parts lately. My parents have been talking about the Marines a whole lot, and understandably so. I never really spoke about Friday on here, and for some reason it's stuck in my head that I should record that I tried out Moo Goo Gui Pan for the first time, and really liked it. Mom and I treated ourselves out to Chan's Place after I got home from work. I have no idea why that's so interesting... "But it was really good chicken and veggies!"...
Okee... time for sleep... I mean work.
Jp
Here's to a better effort tonight, for tomorrow night I fly.
Not much has been happening around these parts lately. My parents have been talking about the Marines a whole lot, and understandably so. I never really spoke about Friday on here, and for some reason it's stuck in my head that I should record that I tried out Moo Goo Gui Pan for the first time, and really liked it. Mom and I treated ourselves out to Chan's Place after I got home from work. I have no idea why that's so interesting... "But it was really good chicken and veggies!"...
Okee... time for sleep... I mean work.
Jp
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Let's Try This Again...
Whew! Yesterday was wild! But the evening was just fabulous! My friend and her parents picked me up right as I finished my last hurried post. We went to a little Thai restaurant, not far from the theater we were scheduled to visit. I tried out Jan's favorite, a noodle dish with chicken and ground peanuts... yum! that sauce! Anyway, it was excellent. We mostly talked about photography: my class and Jan's father, who had done his own darkroom printing when she was growing up. I haven't hung out with them for so long! It was like old times again!
And Pixar's 'Up' was just great! (I'm sorry my language is so 'descriptive' :) It was like nothing else I've seen in a long time; you just don't expect serious drama from a CG cartoon. There was the comedy of childhood in the beginning (with a little bit of 1930's nostalgia mixed in)... and the quick telling of a life... a little dose of sadness... the promise of continuing adventure... and talking dogs. No, seriously, it was well done! I promise! ...Squirrel! LOL! You'll just have to see it for yourself. I'm not into being a spoiler. The thing I loved the most about it was how well they dealt and dwelt on the topic of old age with such care.
But as for today, a lot of it was similar to yesterday, as it was day 2 of 2 for my sister's horse show. I sure was wiped out though... big surprise! :) Lots of little horses... ahhhh! No more! Good thing I like horses! And it was nice to spend the entire day with my sister and help her out.
When we got home around 4:30, the family was still over, so I got to play with my niece and nephew in my room. There's a lot of, "Wow! Look! Ya Eagle!" among others... :) Today they discovered my army bugle, and had a blast... thankfully, not literally. They really just stuck the mouthpiece IN the mouth and blew hot air. LOL
Sigh. Another week. (oooh! but it'll be short! we fly to Southern California on Wednesday night!)
Jp
Ooh! 100 points on this post. Let's just say the O and the A in nostalgia weren't in their proper places. Hopefully, by admitting this, I'll remember the right way! Come to think of it, that's a lot of points for one little mistake... (rethinks the rules).
And Pixar's 'Up' was just great! (I'm sorry my language is so 'descriptive' :) It was like nothing else I've seen in a long time; you just don't expect serious drama from a CG cartoon. There was the comedy of childhood in the beginning (with a little bit of 1930's nostalgia mixed in)... and the quick telling of a life... a little dose of sadness... the promise of continuing adventure... and talking dogs. No, seriously, it was well done! I promise! ...Squirrel! LOL! You'll just have to see it for yourself. I'm not into being a spoiler. The thing I loved the most about it was how well they dealt and dwelt on the topic of old age with such care.
But as for today, a lot of it was similar to yesterday, as it was day 2 of 2 for my sister's horse show. I sure was wiped out though... big surprise! :) Lots of little horses... ahhhh! No more! Good thing I like horses! And it was nice to spend the entire day with my sister and help her out.
When we got home around 4:30, the family was still over, so I got to play with my niece and nephew in my room. There's a lot of, "Wow! Look! Ya Eagle!" among others... :) Today they discovered my army bugle, and had a blast... thankfully, not literally. They really just stuck the mouthpiece IN the mouth and blew hot air. LOL
Sigh. Another week. (oooh! but it'll be short! we fly to Southern California on Wednesday night!)
Jp
Ooh! 100 points on this post. Let's just say the O and the A in nostalgia weren't in their proper places. Hopefully, by admitting this, I'll remember the right way! Come to think of it, that's a lot of points for one little mistake... (rethinks the rules).
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Oh, This Day and the Last
Just dropping a note... I'm between an all day model horse show and an evening with a dear friend and her family. Just got home a second ago, and my friends are on their way.
Holy cow! Just opened the mail that was just plopped in front of me... I got my Certificate of Photography! Yay! I won!
Hmm... they're here... I'll talk about yesterday, tomorrow. Heh.
Jp
As an aside, an honorable 65th to the survivors of the great invasion. Couldn't imagine what it was like for you. Even Steven Ambrose and Tom Hanks just can't do what you did justice. Here's to your great courage in the face of unbelievable odds. Thanks!
Holy cow! Just opened the mail that was just plopped in front of me... I got my Certificate of Photography! Yay! I won!
Hmm... they're here... I'll talk about yesterday, tomorrow. Heh.
Jp
As an aside, an honorable 65th to the survivors of the great invasion. Couldn't imagine what it was like for you. Even Steven Ambrose and Tom Hanks just can't do what you did justice. Here's to your great courage in the face of unbelievable odds. Thanks!
Friday, June 5, 2009
A Blast of Fresh Air
It could hardly be described as a "breath".
There my sister and I were last night, sitting and sweltering in the living room at 90 degrees with the windows wide open... and in sleeveless shirts... I had my laptop open (sometimes there is nothing quite so funny as a forgotten joke from a couple of old chats) and she had her logic grading... and we were watching MASH. My gosh! We're almost halfway through season 9!
Anyway, there we were in the middle of the episode; without any warning, a wall of wind hits the house. We hear Old Glory snapping smartly in ripples out the window and pieces of paper start flying around the room. So we paused Klinger in the middle of his speech about trying to re-enlist in order to batten down the hatches (or make sure things were okay). I went outside and was met with the most refreshing blast of wind I've felt in a long time. For the first time in a week I saw an ominous cloud cover instead of the sun, and our proud, tall firs were bending over from the breeze.
It literally dropped 14 degrees in about five minutes. Although with the furious wind, the clouds were gone in a hour or so and we were treated to a brilliant, near-to-full moon.
Jp
There my sister and I were last night, sitting and sweltering in the living room at 90 degrees with the windows wide open... and in sleeveless shirts... I had my laptop open (sometimes there is nothing quite so funny as a forgotten joke from a couple of old chats) and she had her logic grading... and we were watching MASH. My gosh! We're almost halfway through season 9!
Anyway, there we were in the middle of the episode; without any warning, a wall of wind hits the house. We hear Old Glory snapping smartly in ripples out the window and pieces of paper start flying around the room. So we paused Klinger in the middle of his speech about trying to re-enlist in order to batten down the hatches (or make sure things were okay). I went outside and was met with the most refreshing blast of wind I've felt in a long time. For the first time in a week I saw an ominous cloud cover instead of the sun, and our proud, tall firs were bending over from the breeze.
It literally dropped 14 degrees in about five minutes. Although with the furious wind, the clouds were gone in a hour or so and we were treated to a brilliant, near-to-full moon.
Jp
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Heat Wave!
This week has been rather warm... 89 yesterday... 93 today... but with a fair chance at cooling off tonight. It's been alright on my end, although it gets kinda warm in my area at work. I don't feel like doing much of anything when I get home, but on the other hand, that's not too different from days with regular temperatures. I will be relieved to get back to our usual 70's though.
Work was crazy today. Didn't even go home for lunch because I had so much to do in releasing documents for Document Control. Ieee! It can get frustrating sometimes. Problem after problem coupled with the fact that I'm new to it and I take longer than normal anyway. It is the nature of the beast, I suppose.
Jp
Work was crazy today. Didn't even go home for lunch because I had so much to do in releasing documents for Document Control. Ieee! It can get frustrating sometimes. Problem after problem coupled with the fact that I'm new to it and I take longer than normal anyway. It is the nature of the beast, I suppose.
Jp
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Hey! Not Me...
From today's Seattle Times:
"Oklahoma City doesn't have to be a place of bad memories for Seattleites anymore."
Hey! I thought it was fun back in 2006! (she says with sincerity)
And it had promised to remain so, even before last night... :)
Our basketball team (that I really didn't follow) moved to OKC last year. According to the Times, that counts as a bad memory of the receiving city. Silly sports writers. :)
It was a nice article about our well-deserving softball team though...
Jp
"Oklahoma City doesn't have to be a place of bad memories for Seattleites anymore."
Hey! I thought it was fun back in 2006! (she says with sincerity)
And it had promised to remain so, even before last night... :)
Our basketball team (that I really didn't follow) moved to OKC last year. According to the Times, that counts as a bad memory of the receiving city. Silly sports writers. :)
It was a nice article about our well-deserving softball team though...
Jp
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!
:]
For the first time in school history! A Softball Title!
My, oh, my!
Go Washington!
For the first time in school history! A Softball Title!
My, oh, my!
Go Washington!
Well What Do You Know
It's Tuesday evening and I'm sitting at home watching a softball game. This is my first Tuesday night home in roughly eight months! The sensation is incredible! And at the moment, the Huskies are winning! If they hold on, they will be the national champions!
Yesterday my Bluejacket's Manuel came in the mail... it's the brand new edition, just released last month! I just happened to be browsing sites and found that it had just been updated. And I had been all excited about how they kept their same uniforms throughout the years... no luck! They just phased out the casual jeans working uniform for digital camouflage! Darn it!!!
Work was insane today... it was my first day covering a department for my co-worker who's on her way to Mexico for the week... I released 28 documents and 14 part numbers with more for tomorrow! We'll see how that goes.
Right now we're sweltering in 86 degrees :)
Jp
Yesterday my Bluejacket's Manuel came in the mail... it's the brand new edition, just released last month! I just happened to be browsing sites and found that it had just been updated. And I had been all excited about how they kept their same uniforms throughout the years... no luck! They just phased out the casual jeans working uniform for digital camouflage! Darn it!!!
Work was insane today... it was my first day covering a department for my co-worker who's on her way to Mexico for the week... I released 28 documents and 14 part numbers with more for tomorrow! We'll see how that goes.
Right now we're sweltering in 86 degrees :)
Jp
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)