2007

Happy end to the semi-arbitrarily decided piece of time known as 2007. I'm very happy 2007 is over, even though for some reason i'm opposed to years right now. I can't shake off the feeling that years are really dumb and celebrating the new year is really odd. It's convenient, but odd. I can't really place why it's bothering me.

 

I'll probably write a thing at some point about the aforementioned arbitrary piece of time. I gotta think about it more. It was a weird and pretty stupid piece of time that I don't necessarily want to relive, but I'll try to pick out some good things and life lessons and musics and whatnot. I think I could easily have done without most events in 2007 and I didn't accomplish anything. But it's over, however ceremonially, and ceremonially I already have some great plans for 2008 which I fully intend to carry out. It's gonna be "The Year Of Elizabeth" (similar to "The Summer Of George"). I'm channeling Sarah's dad - IYTPACH: if you think positive, anything can happen.

 

P.S. The word for blog in Icelandic is "blogg" :D - I like it infinitely better with the extra g.

Interesting

This is an interesting piece of follow-up on the movie I just found about a guy who was in a few bands including a couple with Bjork - Sigtryggur Baldursson. Sar - I wonder if he's married to K. Gisladottir or at least knows her?????? How many Icelandic people would move with their spouses to Madison, Wisconsin? Emily - Emiliana Torrini! Self - Morgunblaðið!

After KUKL, Sigtryggur followed up with The Sugarcubes achieving big success abroad. Other music projects followed such as Bogomil Font, and by 1993 he moved with his wife to Madison, Wisconsin, where he collaborated with some local bands and from Chicago, set up a sublabel for Bad Taste, called Bad Taste USA, created his own drum session studio called The Slaughterhouse and recorded a few sampler discs at Laughing Cat and Æthen and Butch Vig's Smart studios. He collaborated with Jóhannes Jóhannsson and released an album called Dip, then with Emilíana Torrini on her album Love in the Time of Science. He also played in Grindverk with Einar Örn and Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, and more recently in a duet called Steintryggur with Steingrímur Guðmundsson. Sigtryggur has also written articles for the radiostation Bylgjan, and newspapers Mannlif, Morgunblaðið, Vísir and Bleikt og Blátt.

Movie, again

That movie just changed my life. That was so weird and unexpected.

A funny side note is that Dagur Kari Petursson (who is the director of the film "Noi") was featured in this documentary as a musician. He is in a band which was playing with Mum at one point, if I remember correctly. You might have laughed if you saw me at that part - I yelled "Dagur Kari!!!" Now if that isn't an extremely odd thing to first of all know and second of all get excited about, I don't know what is. That dude's cool though, and I love his name and like to say it.

Also, this other guy who's worked with sigurros before (Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson) was titled "Head Pagan Of Iceland" in the movie - I did not know that title/office existed. I thought he was just a guy who sang. I wonder if they have a national pagan religion or something? They converted to Christianity in the year 1000. (Easy date to remember) Maybe they kept both? The previous guy who held that title/office was also in the movie (he died). It occurred to me that a lot of people in Iceland must have exactly the same name.

Sorry for the non-use of accents and umlauts (don't wanna deal with it). More later!

Update on movie

I am buying this movie - it features them playing my song, and I feel an overwhelming need to be able to have this around so I can watch it whenever I want. Jesus H. Christ, a recorded live performance of the entire song? Why didn't I know about this? Fuck! How can they play this over and over?

Iceland

So I'm watching this movie about Icelandic music - right up my alley, right...well I'm bursting with stuff to say and so I thought I'd pause it and write some stuff. I knew that Iceland as a country has been going through a "renaissance" of sorts when it comes to film - they have their own type of film and all that which I know a bit about, but I guess they are having that with music as well - since they became independent (1944) I guess they have been coming up with all sorts of new stuff. I think music may be experiencing even more of a boom than film. Anyway did you know Bjork has been recording since 1977?? Jesus. That's 30 years. I had no idea. They haven't even gotten to Sigur Ros in the movie yet. I ordered their live DVD - should get it this week sometime. Can't wait to see it. I'm surprised at this documentary I am watching. I had no idea. I'm not sure why I had no idea.

A cool side note is that I have understood words here and there. I haven't studied for quite a while and so I'm excited. I recognized the name of the record label that most of them are on (Smekkleysa) and was proud that a) I knew the word - it means "bad taste" and b) that I knew it was the record label most of them are on. I may have ordered something from Smekkleysa before. Can't remember. Yeah I did, one of my sigurros albums. Ok back to the movie.

DAD video

I had a dream where I was trying to purchase a shirt for my dad. The shirt had a DVD video logo on it that was changed to say DAD video. I don't know how I thought that up in my subconscious but I just photoshopped one now when I remembered the dream. I think it's pretty funny. I'm going to send it to my dad, I think he'll get a kick out of it. :)

Ok, is it just me or is Dad the weirdest word ever? Yikes, I gotta stop thinking about it. It sounds like doo-dad and now I'm imagining fathers as trinkets that you put around your house.

Hehe

I'm composing a spreadsheet that I think is even funnier than any spreadsheet Brighton ever created. I'm even going to make it into a graph. Can't wait to finish!! ;) Are you excited as to what it is?

In case anyone wondered

I would marry Sufjan Stevens in a millisecond, even though he's really religious and I'm really not religious. Let's see...he's 32, well, that's not bad at all. Looks like a perfect match.
Later.

Christmas

Below is a picture of a present I wrapped - I was proud of how they turned out.

So I brought my cat with me home, and he was good for the most part. I took him to my mom's house. She has another cat who is really wild and he was hissing and growling at Daniel. Daniel wasn't fazed at all. By the time Teddy figured out that Daniel wasn't going to do anything, they became friends. I took some pictures.

Below is when Teddy was still scared. I think it's hysterical that his eyes are reflecting off the floor.

I like this one because Daniel's hair looks nice.

I call this one "Cat Village of the Damned" - it's the one I referred to earlier as being hilarious. I love it.

Here is where Daniel spent all of Christmas Day (under the bed)

This is my cousin, cousin-in-law, and cousin's son - in case I have ever mentioned to anyone how my family is a convention of blond people, that is the other side of the family.

My sister and dog (I kept trying to get a good picture of her and they were all weird)

My other sister

Daniel finally came downstairs. That's my uncle. My cousin's son called the cat and dog "Pup" and "Keeeey"

I guess that's about it. Not that incredibly exciting. I just got a kick out of how much Daniel went through and how the whole time he was just "whatever!" He was conked out pretty soundly all day yesterday.

Back

I'm back home and I have some hilarious pictures from this weekend that I will post tonight. There's one I'm thinking of in particular that made everyone laugh.

Hola

Now that I started writing in my blog again for some reason, I feel like I should write something today. Today was ok - if I gave it a grade like I sometimes used to do as a kid, it would be a B. I have a weird head thing going on. Everyone at work seems to be sick, and I'm trying to use my old friend Purell Hand Sanitizer as much as possible (even though some people say it makes it worse). Emily, remember when we went to St. Louis and they took away my Purell Hand Sanitizer and I complained about it the whole trip? I am a real jerk sometimes.

 

My sister is here tonight because she had to be out of her dorm and it's easier for her to stay here tonight and go back home with me tomorrow. Daniel keeps on mirroring her position. It does not appear to be an accident. Every time she moves positions, he also moves so that he is in the same position. He is so weird sometimes. I don't really notice him doing that to me ever.

 

I watched this movie last night called "The Invisible". It's hard to put into words what I thought about that movie, but I'll try. The problem with the movie is it tried way too hard. I think that the most glaringly obvious thing about it was that they tried to use songs to carry scenes, as opposed to acting or the story. They had a Death Cab song in there ("I will follow you into the dark"), and my knee jerk reaction was to go "I love this movie now, what a great choice" but then I thought, wait a second, what the hell is this scene? On the surface it seemed kind of like an ingenious use of the song, but upon further reflection I think it might have been an accident and possibly a misuse of the song. There were a bunch of scenes like that. They used Broken Social Scene, Snow Patrol, and other stuff like that. The ending of the movie contained some of the cheesiest and worst acting I have ever seen. I could hardly watch it. Anyway, it made me think quite a bit just because of the fact that on the surface it seemed really well put together, but when you think about it it was actually kind of a bad movie. Not well written at all, not the greatest acting ever, way too drawn out, but an interesting story idea with song choices that were so strong they almost overpowered everything else. I am reminded of some reviews I have read of "Juno". My sister was telling me about it tonight and she agreed with the reviews. The reviews basically say the music is making the movie a poseur. (Eh, Sarah? I know you love that term)

 

This was a dumb entry...do I even want to post it? Whatever. You don't like it, you don't have to read it.

Cat hijinks

Holy buckets is my cat annoying today. He's all like "Meow" and I'm all like "hey wot u want" and he's all up in my grillz like "meow". Sometimes I like to talk like that. Anyway, he is just meowing quite a bit. It really annoys me, it's like I move my hand and he goes "HEY WHAT'S THAT! IS THAT FOOD? ARE YOU GONNA FEED ME? FOOD? ARE YOU GONNA PET MY TUMMY MAYBE? PET ME?" No dude, I was just throwing away a piece of tape, ok? He tried to open a cupboard this evening and it was into the bedroom for him. (Like he cares).

 

Oh whoa, I almost forgot to mention, today at work I witnessed the worst incident I've ever seen at a workplace. My coworker that is notorious for getting into arguments got into this fight with this girl we work with. I was at my desk working and was the only person present besides the two of them. She accused him of racial discrimination and of making her life hell on purpose and all kinds of other stuff, and she sounded like she was going to cry, and he was kind of flabbergasted. He said "I think it would be best if you left the room." Which was probably good. It was really bad though and I very nearly went over there to mediate. The issue had escalated over email I think - it was in regards to some software (he is in charge of software for our department). From what I know of the situation, I think he could have handled it much better. He doesn't have great people skills most times. But, she may also have overreacted a bit. At any rate, they had this blowout and both of the bosses are going to get involved and probably HR. I was discussing it with another person and the other person said "It was racist AND sexist." I said I did not agree with that at all. The situation had nothing to do with racism and even less to do with sexism. It made me think though - there has never been a time in my entire life that I've ever experienced racism towards myself, and I never ever think about that, so I was wondering if she experiences that a lot and is sensitive towards it (she's Indian). So anyway, that's my story. The other person said that she (meaning the person that got into the argument with D) only respects me out of the people in my group, which I thought was very flattering and also kind of sad.

My Dorky Christmas Tradition

My dorky Christmas tradition (since 2005) is baking 70,000 cookies and decorating them, and it takes me a few weeks. This time I didn't make quite as many as I did last year. Last year I think I worked for probably a month. I only made a few gingerbread ones this time because they didn't turn out that well. (Even though Sarah told me today those were the best thing ever and could not be beaten by any food thing - her words!) Thanks, Williams Sonoma, for a good gingerbread recipe that came inside a box of cookie cutters. And thanks, internet, for a good icing recipe which is powdered sugar and an egg white.

This time, however, I used a Martha Stewart recipe using colored dough (again making Sarah proud) which is the first two pictures. They turned out well, I was so proud.

Anyway, here are pictures that I am posting on my blog of some of the cookies that I made. Yes, I realize that I lead a very dumb and pointless life.

P.S. If you see some hair in one of the pictures, don't be alarmed - that's my other Christmas tradition, of always getting something in the way of pictures. It's not actually a Christmas tradition, just a regular tradition. As Joel always says..."YOU KNOW IT!" He made fun of me all day today for not knowing what a "pearl necklace" was. Ok, sorry Joel, I am not aware of this term which is probably some kind of sexual term. I still haven't looked it up. I said "pearl necklace" at our holiday party today, referring to a necklace made of pearls, and he just about choked and fell off his chair. "You didn't just say that at MY table!" Then commenced a making fun of Elizabeth hour and pointing out how apparently innocent I am. I still don't know how everyone thinks that about me. Should I start saying fuck and shit at work or something? Should I be talking about sexual experiences? Does it really bother me that I am seen as innocent? I don't know, the questions were rhetorical. Well, that post turned weird.

Taxes - part deux

Ok, I looked it up and literally gagged. I did not expect that reaction from myself. Don't do it, people! I'm going to bed now to try to forget the horror I just read.

Taxes

So I was looking at my last paycheck today trying to figure out how to use it to pay bills that I can't pay, and noticed the huge amount that I paid for taxes. Ok, I know that it's established to pay 30%, but when I see it in numbers it makes me want to throw up. On this check it was 27%. That's several hundred dollars I really could use. So seriously, what in the hell is that going to? Seriously? I want to know. If I am paying $1200 a month for some unknown thing in the atmosphere called "taxes" then I want to know exactly what. (Yeah go ahead and do the math).

 

Ok, I realize there is probably a place to look that up or whatever, but I don't want to. I'd rather complain. $1200 a month? UGH. So I'm sitting at my computer at work and almost 3 hours a day is spent basically in service of the man? No way. Sorry I just said "the man" - I could not think of a better term.

 

And you know what the suckiest part is? I had to PAY $400 last year on tax day. I did not receive a return at all. What the hell? I'm bummed now. I think what is the worst is that I just went through my bills from the eye surgery. I received no less than six (6) bills. A couple were from the same place, for some reason.

 

It sucks that it's so normal to pay 30% for taxes. At least I don't have to pay 50% And really, I guess some of it is for good. Like...road stuff. I would like to specify that they plow my road normally, though. Can some of my money go to plowing the road outside my apartment building? It sucks driving on it in snow because it's curvy.

 

I'm sure I'm probably the last person on earth to ever complain about this, but better late than never.

Funny Error

I was uninstalling a program and this message came up. I wasn't sure what to do. I clicked "No". So far so good.