Happy Halloween! I don't really like scary movies and can barely handle them. I saw a small clip of Nightmare on Elm Street as a kid and had numerous nightmares about Freddie coming to get me and kill me. As a consequence I've seen only two all the way through. I've made it through The Shining on TV-the scariest I have seen and I can't think about it or I get really creeped out. I only saw that one for the sake of film artistry (no, I will NOT see The Ring, even though my teachers all talked about how artistic it is). And The Sixth Sense didn't really scare me in the theater, but I then thought about all the dead people around me for two weeks afterwards. Despite this it remains one of my favorite films. I really like the message of people learning to communicate with one another. Perhaps because I feel like I am definitely not the best at it and leave way too many things unsaid. Anyway, here's a few funny things.



I was obsessed with Thriller as kid, however. Here's a fun little clip.



or (and all the stops are pulled out when the signing kicks in)

Well I finished the first round of my job writing questions for the university. I actually liked it even though some of the objectives they had us write questions about were pretty lame. I now have to work double time on my thesis. Ugh. No sense in delaying; however fun that might be.

A clip from a British comedy show that is hilarious (some of you may recognize House or Mr. Palmer as he is variously known). This is me (and Lisa) doing what my humanities education taught me was the goal in life. I should make a very enlightening and productive citizen of the world, eh?

A while back I talked about being an INFJ. This song totally describes my personality. Have a listen, if you like.

Wow, it has been a while. Sorry. I have actually worked on my thesis and on my job-but not so much as I should, of course.

Some blasts from the pasts:

A song I really should've paid more attention to a couple of years ago.



As one of the first computer animated things I saw, I thought I would include it.

I have been reading through David Edding's Pawn of Prophecy for a walk down memory lane. In seventh through tenth grade I was really into fantasy novels and read Brooks, Eddings, and Jordan. In eigth grade I wrote two short stories. One was a fantasy story and after re-reading some of Eddings I realize how much I stole from this book. It is hilarious. The other other short story I wrote was historical fiction based in Nevada around the 1860s. It also bears a striking resemblence to the reading I had done at that time, namely to Anne of Green Gables and all the books by Oaks. It too is hilarious. My teacher said I was prolific because both of them were quite long for an eigth grader (where did that go for my thesis?). I haven't written a story since, which considering my ability to steal from other authors and inability to write something original (including on my thesis, apprently) is a good thing.

Vanessa's blog inspired me to find this short clip of Weird Al parodying U2's "Numb."



It was never actually released, which is a shame. He also parodied their song "Hold Me, Thrill Me..." with "Cavity Search."

So BYU tears down the old decrepit Knight Magnum building and instead of being smart and putting in more parking, they cover the whole thing with grass. What is up with that? We need more parking. I should be ashamed of that attitude: the words of Big Yellow Taxi are going through my head, but really, we need parking.

I got a job today writing test questions for an online university. I work from home, they pay me per question, and it is completely on my own time to do it. That could be good or bad. It leaves my schedule wide open for emergency babysitting and for thesis. But it also leaves my schedule wide open for wasting time. We'll see which I choose. It will be nice to have a little something coming in though.

The HOA meeting went swimmingly; I just have a whole lot of work to do now. Like get the garage lights done, remove the excess bikes, and threaten the incompetant financial company to do a better job or we will go elsewhere.
It is becoming fall and the leaves on the tree are a really good reminder that I should be working on my thesis. Here's a few pics I took while on my bike ride.







At least with all the leaves on the trail, you can't tell if you are running over grasshoppers.



Here is the cow that was "lowing" the whole time I was taking the pictures. Strange sound. I don't think it should be mentioned in a children's lullaby.

Ugh, I am in charge of the condominium home owners association meeting tomorrow evening. At least we don't have to battle out the parking situation this year.

On a lighter note, here are some remakes of movie trailers.

Here is the horror movie version of Mary Poppins



Here is the happy version of The Shining

After today's bike ride I finally realized why Aesop used the grasshopper and the ant in the fable about working hard and saving up. After several rides on the trail and many near misses with the grasshoppers, and inwardly complaining about how they just sit there, I connected it with the fable. Ants are always moving and getting and grasshoppers do really just sit there tanning in the sun all day long. Ha. Ha. Reminds me of someone who is avoiding her thesis... hum, which animal do I resemble?

It was my birthday and I turned the magic 31, so I went to my new family ward for the first time today. It was great to hear a 14 year old give a talk again and be in a relief society that has people with varying ages. Wahoo.

Bad news: U2 album delayed until early next year.

Good news: Their tour is probably going to last 18 months. That should give my nephew a chance to see them after he comes home from his mission.

Some funny bono quotes:

"A woman needs a man, and I need the Edge."

"I'm a very loyal, very unreliable friend."

Oh, and the Edge just bought a 12 million dollar yacht. He said he couldn't quite afford it so he went in with some friends. Hah.

A little music tidbit:
Early U2 and early The Cure sound a lot alike (in addition to the Lypton Village band and Gavin Friday). Bono's voice, especially pre-Boy, sounds like Robert Smith's from the The Cure or vice versa. Here's a sample:



You can really tell about 1:30 in.

I had a meeting with the advisor that is over my chair on Thursday (we have to meet once a year with them). She knows that I didn't graduate in August when I technically should have, so she was expecting me to be really behind. She was pleased when I had most of it in draft form.
I decided to celebrate by also spending this weekend with Lisa.

I heard about this satirical blog from Vanessa and I thought I would pass it around. I think you, Charla, would especially enjoy it. The site has been in the papers around here for being a dead-on satire of "happy valley" life.

Seriously So Blessed

This will reveal my lack of thinking, but I discovered today that tofu counts under the vegetable group in the food pyramid. I know that it comes from soybeans, and that those are vegetables, but since it is used so many times as a meat substitute, I just figured it had so many proteins that it would fall into the meat/proteins group. Anyway, I made a yummy tofu, mushroom, and onion dish today. Caramelized onions are so good.

The river trail is less of the land of the grasshoppers, but there are still enough to be gross. It is becoming land of the headless, squashed grasshoppers.

Everyone remember when this hilarious Reno 911 clip was passed around to everyone through email? Well, I thought I would relive those days.



Barrel turn and then hah!

There is a good quote from Frasier that fits doing parts of my thesis.

"Surpisingly boring yet difficult"

Sigh.