TomSmeagol's Inner Monologue

2005-05-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

Still AliveThis is a cross post, so if you read it at Caritas, you don't need to read it again. Unless you really want to, in which case you obviously have WAY too much time on your hands. :-)Hello friends, strangers, and enemies (you know who you are) ;-)Long time no blog, eh? Well, there's a pretty good reason for that, being that since I've been in nursing school I haven't touched the computer

2004-09-15T08:32:00.000-05:00

Survived Moving... Barely I wish I could say I never wanted to move again, but I really don't want to spend the rest of my life cooped up in one small bedroom in my sister's house, so I will be moving again. However, that doesn't change the fact that moving sucks. :-p Anyway, my goal is to do one last major update between now and when classes start. After that, sorry to say, I won't have time

2004-08-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

I know, I know I need to update. I get it. Well, I'll do a major update when I'm not so busy packing, but in the meantime for those few of you who haven't heard it elsewhere, I got into Nursing School! Yay!!!!!

2004-08-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

Why I've Been Absent So now that I'm done with classes for the moment, the burning question is--why haven't I been blogging? That's a good question. The answer is fairly simple--life has gotten in the way. Since my last entry, I have 1) Decided to move in with my sister and brother-in-law to try and save money (more on that shortly). 2) Heard back (in the negative) on two more scholarships,

2004-07-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, blog, there is a Tom That's right. I'm finally posting another entry in my sadly neglected blog. Classes are over (yay!) for now. I know I got an A in Chemistry. My Lifespan Psych class is either an A or a B depending how she grades my paper. As these were the last prereqs, it now just becomes a waiting game. I think I'm a strong candidate, but nothing in life is guaranteed (except death

2004-07-15T15:15:00.000-05:00

Movies, movies I've watched three NetFlix movies in the last two nights, The Ring, Minority Report, and Secretary. The Ring was very creepy, and very well done. I actually watched it twice--the second time I looked for elements from the curse video that appeared in the "real" world. There were a lot--it was very cool. And although there wasn't a pattern in terms of "x image on x day," the trend

2004-07-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

Improved Outlook After my visit with my Aunt and Uncle in KC, I'm feeling better. I hit the low point Wednesday evening, when I opened the letter from UMHC saying that I WASN't going to receive the $7000 staff scholarship I had applied for. Then, since I was going to KC the next morning, and it was supposed to rain overnight, I had to cancel plans with a friend who's moving at the end of July so

2004-07-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

Bored bored bored bored bored So I decided to take a week's vacation, 'cause I felt like I needed a break. However, as it turns out, I don't know what to do with a lot of free time. It's been so long since I've had a lot of it that I'm literally staring at the wall thinking, "I'm bored bored bored bored." On the plus side, the boredom has motivated me to do some long overdue housecleaning, and

2004-06-22T09:36:00.000-05:00

To blog, or not to blog Well, since I'm blogging, I guess I answered that question. Anyway, here's what's going on in my crazy life: Still taking two classes--Chemistry and Lifespan Developmental Psychology. I actually like Chemistry more than the other one. I don't think online courses are for me--I like the classroom setting much more. Anyway, I'm currently getting an A in both (in fact, I

2004-06-03T11:27:00.000-05:00

'Cause Cibby Told Me I Had To Nah, I was going to update anyway. :-) Let's see... Well, I finished all my scholarship and loan applications, and am just waiting for tomorrow's CPR class and Saturday's NET (Nursing Entrance Test) Exam to finish my Nursing School Application. So that's one load off. In fact, I already heard back on Stafford Loans, and though they're not giving me as much as I

2004-05-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

My Review of Angel 5.21 "Power Play", 5.22 "Not Fade Away", and my thoughts about the series as a whole I'm reviewing the last two episodes together because they felt more like a single story than two seperate stories--more so than any other two episodes this season (with the exception of "A Hole in the World" and "Shells"). First, I guess I shouldn't be, but I'm a bit surprised at the amount

2004-05-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

OK, so I lied... First of all, I'm not going to wait 'til June to write a review of the final episode of Angel. So that's lie #1. Lie #2 is that I'm not going get it done today, as I promised I would over at Caritas. :-) So sue me. I should have time to do it tomorrow.

2004-05-19T14:50:00.000-05:00

A Tribute to the Actors of Angel Since tonight is the final episode, I have decided to post some of my favorite pics of the actors of Angel. These are in approximately chronological order (within the categories). The Regulars David Boreanaz (Angel), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Glenn Quinn (Doyle), Alexis Denisof (Wesley) J. August Richards (Gunn), Amy Acker (Fred), Vincent Kartheiser (

2004-05-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

No current end in sight OK. So now that I've gotten the ball rolling on getting into the nursing program this fall, I am suddenly discovering the five million things I have to do between now and then. Such as apply for scholarships, most of which are due this month. Such as take another class starting in two weeks. Such as take an entrance test next month. Such as get multiple letters of

2004-04-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

Just in Time for a new episode, my review of Angel 5.17 Underneath Ok, ok. Enough jokes about the site collecting dust. I've been busy, OK? I didn't even get to participate in my sister's theatre's dinner theatre murder mystery. :-( I got to go see it, though. It was fantastic! My sister wrote the script, and my brother-in-law wrote the music. They are extremely talented! Hopefully they can get

2004-03-31T16:07:00.000-06:00

Ok--so I'm a little behind on updates I've been busy. Work has been hectic, and I'm taking Physiology in Night School. Since it's an 8-week block (1/2 of the normal 16 weeks), I literally have a test every week. So on nights I don't have class, I'm usually studying and/or reading the textbook. But since things are relatively calm at work today (and should *knock on wood* remain so), I'm

2004-03-24T10:22:00.000-06:00

Out of Pocket One of my docs is finishing up a research paper, so I'm really busy trying to keep him sane (so far, it's barely working). Therefore, I won't be around the boards or email much for a few days (that's why I wasn't around yesterday, too). I promise I'll post an update soon, including a recap of the weekend with Gretch!

2004-03-08T11:18:00.000-06:00

Review Delayed I enjoyed the last episode of Angel, but I'm going to wait on the review, since there's no new episodes for a while. I'll get it done probably sometime this week, but don't hold me to that. In other news, had a nice weekend. Went and saw "Starsky and Hutch" on Friday. I was kind of drunk at the time, so I enjoyed it a great deal. I would probably like it OK sober, but not at full

2004-03-03T13:41:00.000-06:00

The Passion of the Christ Went and saw The Passion over the weekend, and thought I would share my disjointed feelings on it. First of all, I fully understand that the point of a Passion is to emphasize the suffering of Jesus during those final hours. And maybe it's just that I'm NOT catholic, but I wanted a more positive message to be portrayed coming out of the film. But it really WAS just

2004-03-03T13:28:00.000-06:00

In Honor of Angel Not Being Picked Up by UPN... How Angel Should End in an Ideal Tom's Mind World W&H is destroyed in a near apocolypse. Spike is given the opportunity to Shanshu, but he gives it up to save the Fang Gang. He tells Buffy (I'll get to her in a minute) to sod off and goes off to fight the good fight on his own. Angel also tells Buffy to sod off, as he is still in too much pain

2004-02-26T15:46:00.000-06:00

My Review of Angel 5.15 "Hole in the World" I'm somewhat conflicted about this episode. I want to say that it is one of the best written, best directed episodes of Angel in a long time. There are two things that are preventing me from doing so, however. First, haven't we already seen this storyline? Good girl goes bad. Hmmm... Evil Cordy last season, Dark Willow the previous season on Buffy.

2004-02-24T11:35:00.000-06:00

I'm blogging a lot recently Found this fun quiz on Labstar's LiveJournal... You are Inigo Montoya. Your scarred childhooddrives you towards your destiny...revenge. Youare dark and sexy, yet honorable. You will harmothers only for a very good reason. Which Sexy Rogue Are You? brought to you by Quizilla

2004-02-23T14:28:00.000-06:00

I'm just going to let this one speak for itself ***Subject: Biblical Interpretation*** During a recent episode of her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlesinger said that as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. An attentive and observant listener took note and wrote this reply: Dear Dr. Laura: Thank

2004-02-20T15:25:00.000-06:00

Rocky Horror Picture Show Pics I don't have any of me as Eddie or Dr. Scott yet (well, one is kinda Dr. Scott), but here are some pics anyways... Dr. Frank'N'Furter Magenta and Columbia Janet (this is my sister, BTW) This was our Rocky (in this pic dressed as the Groom for the beginning of the movie) Me as a transylvanian, our Brad, and Columbia My friend Labstar, who played the bride and

2004-02-19T14:31:00.000-06:00

My Review of Angel 5.14 "Smile Time" I didn't really like this episode very much. Or at least, I didn't like the "A" story very much. The whole puppet thing was funny... for about 15 minutes. After that, the novelty wore off and I was ready for Angel to be human again. Unfortunately, he still wasn't human by the end of the episode. :-p It's too bad that the "A" story detracted so much from IMO

2004-02-19T14:11:00.000-06:00

Just because I thought it was too funny not to share...

2004-02-17T16:14:00.000-06:00

Praise for a Modern-Day Civil Rights Activist I tend to keep my political views out of my blog, since I have many friends who are on the opposite end of the spectrum, but I can't keep quiet about this one. Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco, California, is currently allowing homosexual couples to be married in the city. According to CNN.com, nearly 2,500 gay couples have been married there

2004-02-17T11:22:00.000-06:00

My thoughts on Angel's cancellation So on Friday the WB made an announcement that Angel was being cancelled and would not be renewed for a sixth season. How do I feel about this? Well, it is one of my favorite shows, and of course part of me is disappointed, but there's another part of me that feels that Angel has had a good run. Five seasons is a good number for any series, and often longer

2004-02-12T11:57:00.000-06:00

Review of Angel 5.13 "Why We Fight" This isn't going to be a long one, as I was kind of meh about the episode. I liked it, but it didn't really move or groove me. The beginning was very X-Files like and very creepy. That was a good start. But the tone didn't stay that way. In fact, the tone changed a few times during the episode. It was a bit uneven. A lot of people have questioned the timing

2004-02-10T10:10:00.000-06:00

A "Stormy" Weekend and a Boring Week (Thus Far) It was a really nice weekend. TheStormCellar, aka Stormy, came to visit. We had a nice time--she summed it up nicely in her blog. I will only add that the name of the brewery is The Flat Branch Pub and Brewery. They make some really excellent beer, including a great stout (Oil Change Stout) and an odd but tasty Green Chili Beer. It's cold but it's

2004-02-05T15:21:00.000-06:00

My Review of Angel 5.12 "You're Welcome" I've been avoiding writing this today because I knew it was going to be painful. This was such a well written and heart-breaking episode. It was so nice to have the old Cordy back, and to see her and Angel finally come to terms with their feelings. And then, the end. RRRRRIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP. That was the sound of my heart being ripped out and offered up to

2004-02-05T13:15:00.000-06:00

One Minute Review of Angel 5.11 "Damage" Since I never did get my review posted on the previous Angel episode. I'm going to write a really short one really quickly before I start working on the review of "You're Welcome." I thought it was a great episode. Andrew was hilarious as always. I especially liked the "I'm 84% more manly than before" which was immediately followed by some very girly

2004-02-02T16:42:00.000-06:00

Rocky Horror Rocked! Ok, I know it's late in coming, but here's the scoop on Rocky Horror! Let me just say, I've been doing theatre for 25 years, and I have NEVER had more fun than I had doing Rocky Horror. It was absolutely amazing. The crowd was incredible. There must have been between 500-600 people in the audience! And a lot of them were dressed up in costumes, and a lot of them knew the

2004-01-30T09:53:00.000-06:00

Showtime! The show is consuming my life (but in a good way), which is why I've not been very active on the boards or on the blog the last few days. The performance is tonight, and since there seems to be high demand for them, I'll be sure to get pictures. Unfortunately, due to Rocky Horror, my review of Angel 5.11 "Damage" will be delayed until probably Monday. Hopefully I still remember what

2004-01-23T11:33:00.000-06:00

First Things First For those of you who hadn't already figured it out, I'm weird. :-) Rocky Horror Picture Show Next Friday, Jan. 30, my sister's theatre group is sponsoring a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show here in Columbia, at the Missouri Theatre. We will be doing a live performance in front of the movie, and I have the distinct pleasure of playing two parts: Eddie and Dr. Scott.

2004-01-16T11:28:00.000-06:00

My Review of Angel 5.9 "Harm's Way" I enjoyed the episode. It was mostly filler, but it was funny, fluffy, filler! And I'm a sucker for the comedic episodes. Not to mention--45 minutes of Mercedes McNabb on the screen--can't complain about that! The W&H training film in the teaser was hilarious! Reminded me of some of the films I've seen at various jobs over the years. :-) Harmony is such a

2004-01-12T13:30:00.000-06:00

Stupid Rams! Stupid Chiefs! Argh!!!!!! How can two teams who were 8-0 at home this season BOTH lose their playoff games AT HOME?!?!? Stupid Rams! Stupid Chiefs! Only Missouri teams are perpetually this promising and disappointing at the same time. Being a Chiefs fan is especially bad--I don't know how many times I've sworn not to watch the Chiefs again, only to be sucked back in. :-p Ah well

2004-01-09T16:23:00.000-06:00

See, I wasn't lying... I blogged again this week! So I was planning on getting all this stuff done today at work that has been sitting on my desk taunting me. Well that didn't get done for various reasons that I won't go into it (believe me, it wasn't for lack of trying), but something else came up which is more important that I feel the need to blog about: So I've had it in the back of my mind

2004-01-05T14:14:00.000-06:00

Happy Belated New Year! Hope everyone had a great New Year's Celebration! May 2004 be a great year for everyone! I'm busy today at work, so, alas, that's all I have time to say. I'll blog again later this week. :-)

2003-12-29T11:32:00.000-06:00

Ho Ho Holidays Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, unless of course you don't celebrate Christmas in which case I hope you had a nice week! It was a good Christmas for me--I went over to the parental units house Christmas morning and joined them and my oldest sister and her family (hubbie and nephews one and three) in opening stockings, eating breakfast, and then opening pressies. After

2003-12-22T10:45:00.000-06:00

The Return of the King Saw it on Friday. I'll keep this spoiler free, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet (and if this describes you, get off your butt and go see it!!!!). This was an incredible film. Peter Jackson is an amazing visionary, and his translation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been nothing short of amazing. The Return of the King, the conclusion to the story, is the best of the

2003-12-16T09:12:00.000-06:00

Symphony Weekend It was a good weekend. Friday night I watched six episodes of Buffy S4 on DVD (in anticipation of getting S5 for Christmas). Saturday, it snowed and snowed and snowed, so instead of shopping (the original plan), I stayed in and watched more Buffy and decorated. On Sunday my sister and I went to St. Louis and got to see the St. Louis Symphony perform Handel's Messiah. It was

2003-12-12T11:27:00.000-06:00

Too Bored to Blog Stormy called it accurately--nothing interesting is going on in my life right now, so I didn't feel the need to bore anyone with the lack of details. ;-) Brendan's doing great, work is OK, Angel is in repeats, The Return of the King isn't out yet. In other words, nothing interesting happened this week. :-(

2003-12-03T10:19:00.000-06:00

Much Overdue Blog Update Yeah, it's been a while. :-) Thanksgiving was really good. Went over to my parents. Also in attendance were my two sisters and their families, and both of my bro-in-laws' parents. Made for a big crowd. Fortunately, the family dynamic seems to have really improved over the last couple of years, and there was no yelling or screaming and only one or two minor disagreements

2003-12-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

Too Busy to Blog Busy today. 'Tis the price of a short week last week. Will update the blog sometime this week...

2003-11-20T09:42:00.000-06:00

Review for Angel 3.8 "Destiny" My reactions at both the beginning and end of the episode: Beginning: A total Oz moment. When it cut to credits after Spike banging into the door, I paused, looked puzzled, and said, "Huh." Ending: Was wondering if Eve was maybe talking to the guy who did the mis-lead on the prophecy (Sirk, I think). Then when the camera panned to Lindsay, I sat straight up,

2003-11-19T13:19:00.000-06:00

Brendan Update Brendan continues to do really well. He is now out of the incubator, and is now taking bottles for all of his feedings. No more NG tube! This means that Bredan is now meeting three of the four criteria for going home: A) Breathing on his own, B) Maintaining his own body temperature, C) Demonstrating the ability to suck and feed There is just one more criteria--he must

2003-11-13T15:17:00.000-06:00

That's right--I'm a liberal I'm sure this result will not surprise very many people... Want to find out where you are on the political spectrum? Take this short quiz. And believe it or not, in College I was even further to the Left.

2003-11-13T10:06:00.000-06:00

Brendan He's doing great! I went and visited him last night after work, and he's looking really good and healthy. He's been upgraded to a Level 2, which is the level at which they'll discharge him (but not for a few weeks, yet). He's started bottle feedings, though he still has the NG tube for supplemental feedings. My sister is pumping, so he's getting breast milk, which is very important for a

2003-11-12T10:14:00.000-06:00

Brendan I haven't heard anything to the contrary, so I'm guessing the move to the new NICU went just fine. Last I heard (Sunday), Brendan was still doing really good. He is what the doctors call a "grower feeder." In other words, he is in good health and requires only basic premie care. Yay! :-) I'm going to go see him at the new NICU this evening. *Sigh* It was so much easier when he was at the

2003-11-10T11:37:00.000-06:00

Matrix Revolutions--how NOT to end a trilogy I saw Matrix Revolutions this weekend, and my main reaction is that I can't wait for Return of the King to come out so that I can see the PROPER way to end a trilogy. That's right--I didn't like Revolutions. I thought the way they ended it was very contrived. Also, the pacing was kind of bad--they should have intercut the three plots better instead

2003-11-07T14:48:00.000-06:00

The Miracle of Life OK--this little guy is the reason I haven't been blogging or tagging other people's blogs this week. This is my nephew, Brendan Wade. He was born Sunday night at an age of 31 weeks. This is about two months early, but he was a good weight and length for his age: 4 lbs., 7 oz.; 17 1/2" He had a little trouble with his breathing at first, and that's why he's on a

2003-10-31T14:42:00.000-06:00

Rewarding Work Sometimes working in a Children's Hospital is really rewarding. The kids and adolescents currently in the hospital just came through on their Halloween trick or treat route. It's really great to see the smiles on their faces--some of them don't have a lot to smile about so it's really special to see them happy. In particular, one of the long-standing patient of one of my docs was

2003-10-31T11:35:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween! Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

2003-10-30T09:46:00.000-06:00

Angel 5.5 "Life of the Party" Review This one's going to be shorter than most. Overall, I was entirely unimpressed with this episode. Not having the benefit of enjoying Naked Angel, there wasn't a lot of redeemable material in this episode to make up for the bad pacing and so-so storyline. Things I DID like: Gunn "marking his territory", Wes and Fred drunk, Spike with a positive attitude.

2003-10-27T10:32:00.000-06:00

Once again, Missouri Football is the Schnizit! Chiefs are 8-0, baby! They are the only unbeaten team in the NFL at this point! Rams are 5-2! They're tied for first in their division! Mizzou Tigers are 6-2, bowl eligible, and #21 in the AP poll (#24 in USA Today/ESPN poll)!

2003-10-23T09:31:00.000-05:00

Angel 5.4 "Hellbound" Review Since it has been pointed out to me that I tend to run long on my reviews of the new Angel episodes, I've decided to post them over here at my blog so that I'm only using up my own space. :-) If you haven't seen the episode, watch it before reading--I don't do summaries. Story Analysis: I really enjoyed this episode. I'm glad we finally got a more detailed

2003-10-21T10:03:00.000-05:00

Belated Update - Wedding Weekend Yesterday was busy! I didn't have a chance to blog, even! This weekend was my sister's wedding. It was about as perfect a wedding as there is. It was an outdoor wedding, and the backdrop for the ceremony was a series of cliffs north of Columbia called The Pinacles. The ceremony was at 5:30 PM, so the setting sun was hitting the cliff faces and lighting them up

2003-10-17T12:08:00.000-05:00

Busy Work Week, Wedding Weekend It's been a busy week at work, because we have a special speaker coming in next week to speak at several of our departmental conferences. Since one of my doctors is hosting this speaker, I get to do all of the grunt work. :-p This weekend is my sister's wedding! YAY! :-) It should be fun, but I volunteered to do way too much, so I'm going to be busy. :-) Hope

2003-10-14T09:43:00.000-05:00

The Rams won, too! Woo hoo! All my teams won this weekend!

2003-10-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

Great Missouri Football! What a weekend for Mizzou Football! I mean, who thought going into this weekend that the Tigers would beat the #10 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers? Not I, for one. I figured we would get slaughtered as usual! But the boys played a hell of a game, scoring 27 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, for a final score of 41-24! This is the first time Mizzou has beaten Nebraska in

2003-10-08T09:52:00.000-05:00

Very Little to Report Been a rather bland couple of days. Which is usually a sign that something either really bad or really good is about to happen to me. Hopefully it will be the latter. :-)

2003-10-06T13:24:00.000-05:00

Average, Ordinary Weekend--except for Sunday It was an average, ordinary weekend for the most part. Which means nothing really worth reporting. Sunday, however, I had two events which were a lot of fun. The first was my youngest nephew's 6th Birthday Party. It was at one of the McDonald's here, and it was... loud. Too. Many. Kids. Screaming. Running. Yelling. :-p I'm definitely not ready to

2003-10-02T11:14:00.000-05:00

Children of Dune, pt. 3 and Angel Premiere Watched Part 3 of Children of Dune last night and also watched the season premiere of Angel. Children of Dune was good, though I thought the first two parts of it were better than the third part. It was still quite enjoyable, however. I think they made some pretty serious departures from the book towards the end, but I don't remember for sure--guess

2003-09-30T08:37:00.000-05:00

Movies Movies Everywhere I don't even know why or how I forgot to mention this in yesterday's blog, but Sunday night as part of the family birthday bash, we watched the original Batman movie, which my Dad got as a birthday present. I'm not talking the Michael Keaton movie, mind you, but the one with Adam West and Burt Ward. Oh yeah, baby! Best. Bad. Movie. Ever. :-) It is so bad it's good. Much

2003-09-29T14:25:00.000-05:00

Birthday Weekend Friday Night: Went to Old Chicago's (for those of you not in the midwest or pacific northwest, this is a pseudo-italian chain that has many, many imported and domestic beers--110 I think). It was fun--my friend Justin showed up, and I don't get to see him a lot, as he's always busy with his teaching job and with his band. I drank enough to get pleasently buzzed, but not enough

2003-09-26T16:16:00.000-05:00

Fried-Brain Friday It's been too busy for a Friday. The human brain isn't meant to do vast quantities of work on Fridays. It's just wrong! Saw a neat personality test on kde's blog, so I thought I'd give it a try: The Big Five Personality Test Extroverted|||||||||||||||| 66% Introverted |||||||||| 34% Friendly |||||||||||||||||||| 84% Aggressive |||| 16%

2003-09-25T12:59:00.000-05:00

Slow, boring day This day is dragging by. :-P Even playing on the internet isn't holding my interest today. I'm tempted to invent a time machine just so I can come back to this day and skip forward to 5:00 PM. ;-)

2003-09-24T13:49:00.000-05:00

No worries Just so you all know in advance--there will be the occasion when I just kind of disappear for a few days at a time. Don't worry about it, as long as I resurface within a week. It's one of the things that I do on occasion--withdraw inwards. This time I was actually sick, but even if I hadn't been, I probably would've been quiet all the same. It's one of my defense mechanisms. When I

2003-09-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

I'm here I've been sick. Hence the lack of posts. That is all. Oh yeah, and I turned 30 today.

2003-09-18T10:27:00.000-05:00

Calmer Now Thanks everyone for their kind and supporting words. Now that I've calmed down, I'm not plotting revenge on the director, so for now you can put away the blunts and sharps. :-) I like the director, and I do understand the age thing, but of course I'm going to be a little ticked off. However, I'll still help with the show, since I know the set is going to be a bear to put up. Also,

2003-09-18T08:07:00.000-05:00

Well, Shit I didn't get cast. I can't begrudge the guy who got Gary, 'cause he's a friend of mine and I know he'll do a good job, but the guy who got Philip--I don't think he can do a British accent to save his life and I KNOW he has NO comic timing. He is a very buff, nice looking guy though (which is no reason to be cast, but I have a long-running suspicion that this particular director likes

2003-09-17T12:12:00.000-05:00

What's in a name? I got the link for this name analysis from Kde's and FoX's blogs. Here's supposedly what the name Tom indicates: As Tom, you have a natural interest in the welfare of your fellow man, and a desire to help and serve others in a humanitarian way. You are responsible and generous, although somewhat scattering and disorganized at times. Any jobs requiring systematic and

2003-09-17T09:05:00.000-05:00

Noises Off Audition, pt. 2 Last night was the second night of auditions. If possible, I was even MORE nervous last night. :-p There wasn't really any additional competition for me, just the same folks from the first night. The director started out by having me read for two parts that I knew I had no chance in Hell of getting (Loyd, the director and Tim, the stage manager), so I was really

2003-09-16T09:16:00.000-05:00

Noises Off Audition, pt. 1 Last night was the first night of auditions for the local community theatre's (Columbia Entertainment Company) production of Noises Off. I was so nervous before hand that I couldn't eat dinner, and then by the time 7:00 PM rolled around and the auditions started, I was feeling like I was going to either A) Pass out and die, or B) Throw up and die. :-p The readings

2003-09-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

Monday Morning Quiz Madness Heh heh. This will probably be the only time in my life I ever get compared to George Clooney: Fun at the Titty Twister. Which B-Movie Badass Are You? brought to you by Quizilla

2003-09-13T13:41:00.000-05:00

At long last... Vacation Pictures! That's right. Only a month after returning, I've finally finished editing my vacation photos! And, for your viewing pleasure, I have posted them on my website. Just click on the link below to go check 'em out. As an added bonus, I also included entries from the journal I kept during the vacation. Enjoy! http://www.geocities.com/tomsmeagol/vacation/

2003-09-12T12:02:00.000-05:00

Is Hollywood Cursed? What's with all these famous actors and performers dying recently? Now Johnny Cash and John Ritter have both died! :-( *sigh* Both are great losses.

2003-09-11T13:12:00.000-05:00

Remembering 9-11 I have a confession to make. I've been so busy today that it wasn't until I stopped and actually paid attention to the outside world that I remembered what day it is. Two years ago, we all watched the worse tragedy in the history of the United States unfold on live television (or we listened to it on radio, or we watched the replays on the news). But I'm not going to relive

2003-09-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

A very embarassing Moment Ever have one of those moments you wish you could just kind of sink into the ground and disappear? I had one last night. I was driving home from work, and I was in a right hand turn yield lane, along with one other car who was in front of me. I was listening to The Beatles: One on the CD player, and a song with exceptionally powerful bass came on. So I looked to see

2003-09-09T08:59:00.000-05:00

Not Much to Say Today Still tired from the weekend. Still working on getting vacation photos published. Newest challenge on that front: 25.5 MB of photos, 25 MB of server space. :-( NFL opening weekend was this weekend and I somehow missed it. *shrug* Oh well. I caught all the highlights and recaps for the teams I actually care about. The Chiefs rule! :-D The Rams suck! >:-(

2003-09-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

A Bittersweet Weekend The wedding reception was a LOT of fun. I left Columbia late (big surprise), so I was about 45 minutes late to the reception, but as it turns out it didn't matter--everyone was just starting to line up for the Buffet. The food was really good. If you're ever in KC, consider eating at Californo's--if their regular menu is as good as their catering... As anticipated, I got

2003-09-05T16:26:00.000-05:00

Wedding Reception Time Two of my friends got married in Jamaica a week ago, and they're having a wedding reception tomorrow evening in Kansas City. I'm looking forward to it, as I'll have the opprtunity to see several mutual friends that I don't see that often. Also, the bride and the groom are two of my favorite people. When they lived here in Columbia, we used to hang out all the time. Oh, the

2003-09-05T15:09:00.000-05:00

Stupid Car! So my "Check Coolant" light has been coming on recently, and I took the car in to get it checked. My radiator is cracked. They can't repair it, so I have to have a new one put in. $400. GRRRRRRRRRRRR! I hate my car.

2003-09-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo! According to UPS, my Angel S2 DVDs are sitting at home waiting for me! YAY!!!! This is the one season of either Angel or Buffy that I have NEVER seen ANY of the episodes, so I'm doubly excited to get to watch it! Also, I finished the editing work on my vacation photos last night (finally, thank god). So I should be able to get those posted on my website this weekend. I must say, it's

2003-09-03T08:26:00.000-05:00

A Bad Movie I watched a movie last night that was not good: Scary Movie 2. Why did I watch it? Because someone told me that the Exorcist rip-off at the beginning made the rest of the movie worth sitting through. Actually, the Exorcist rip-off is hysterical--I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe--but I would have been happier had I shut off the movie after that, 'cause I don't think I laughed

2003-09-02T08:43:00.000-05:00

Relaxing Weekend and Random Silliness It was a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. Actually, it was an extraordinarilly geeky weekend, as I played Dungeons & Dragons for the first time in 10 years Friday night, and then hooked up my computer with my brother-in-laws and ex-brother-in-laws computers and played Axis and Allies most of Saturday. Oh, and Sunday, too. *sheepish grin* I don't normally

2003-08-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Two Towers I rented The Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers last night. It was just as amazing as I remember from the theatres! Woot woot! I cranked it up with the 5.1 surround sound and enjoyed. I even managed to get a knock on the wall from the neighbor, which is a first (usually, it's the other way around). :-) I must say, as much as I enjoyed the movie, I enjoyed the Special Features even

2003-08-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

Bored bored bored I get to go home in 20 minutes, and all I can say at this point is THANK GOD!!!! I'm so friggin' bored right now that I'm tempted to shove a pencil in my eye just for a little excitement!!! Well, that's an exaggeration, but I'm really, really, bored. >:-|

2003-08-27T10:45:00.000-05:00

Not Much to Say I don't really have much to say today. I called in sick yesterday, which is why I didn't get around to posting a blog. Oh, I ended up getting my nephew a computer game: "Age of Empires II: Age of Kings." He loved it, as I knew he would. Also, I made an error in the previous post--he's eight, not nine. *oops* I haven't touched my photos since Sunday. I'll probably get back to

2003-08-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

We are sorry for the inconvenience, but there will be a slight delay I spent most of the weekend editing my vacation photos. I didn't realize going in that this was going to be such a long and drawn out process (because as we all know I'm foolishly optimistic). Anyway, I got about half of them done, only to discover that either there's something wrong with my printer or I'm going blind, because

2003-08-22T13:08:00.000-05:00

They like me! They really like me! I've kept mum about this so as not to jinx it, but I've known that they were going to announce raises at work for several weeks. Well, they finally did it today, and I got a 3% increase! YAY!!!!! This may not sound like much, but don't forget I work for a State University that has been in (and continues to be in) financial woes for the past several years. In

2003-08-21T10:01:00.000-05:00

Middle East Woes I seldom talk about world events and/or politics on my blog, but the most recent events in the Middle East have me very discouraged. Here's the MSNBC article: http://www.msnbc.com/news/801833.asp?vts=082120030735 More and more I feel like neither the Israelis or the Palestinians really want a lasting peace. If the Palestinians truly wanted peace, they would crack down on

2003-08-20T11:56:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated Birthday, Labstar! Yesterday was my friend Labstar's 26th birthday (she's such a youngin'). ;-) We went out to dinner with a group of friends at one of the best local restaurants, and then watched "Boy Meets Boy" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." The former didn't really move or groove me (no reason why it should've) but I found "Queer Eye" to be highly entertaining. The guy

2003-08-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

Vacation Pics Coming Soon! I got my vacation pics back last night! Yay! They turned out pretty good for the most part, though I am highly disappointed by the quality of the indoor shots, even when flash was used. I really need to just bite the bullet and get a good digital camera, but the good ones are still kinda pricey. One minor mishaps with the photos: they gave me one packet that wasn't

2003-08-19T13:33:00.000-05:00

Feeling Better I talked to one of my friends who hung out at the 'berg with me last night, and we agreed that it sucked about the place burning down, but that we would find a new place 'til they rebuilt. So I'm not as upset about that now. In fact, I'm back to feeling cheerful and positive. :-) However, I'm concerned about a friend of mine. She's got a lot of stuff going on in her life at the

2003-08-18T13:50:00.000-05:00

Just when everything was going so well This isn't going to be a blow to anyone but the other Columbia people, but one of my favorite haunts, The Heidelberg, burned down this morning at 1:30 AM. Here's the news article for you fellow Columbia-ites: http://www.digmo.org/news/story.php?ID=3249. I'm in shock. I go there (well, went I guess) all the time! Where are we going to have our Bitter

2003-08-18T10:29:00.000-05:00

Nice Relaxing Weekend I had a very relaxed weekend at home. I was supposed to go out with some friends on Friday evening, but I decided to be a homebody instead. So I downloaded some Buffy and Angel sims and played The Sims. It's kind of funny to see famous faces on Sim bodies. LOL I definitely feel fully recharged from vacation--I don't even mind that I'm at work! :-) This should be a good

2003-08-15T13:23:00.000-05:00

Back from Vacation Ah, it's good to be home. I mean, I could easily have spent a couple of more weeks in North Carolina, but still there's nothing like one's own bed. :-) The trip was fabulous. I'm going to put up some web pages with pictures and entries from the journal I kept in the upcoming weeks. My friend Cibby is going to love some of the pictures of Dawson's Creek locations, which were

2003-08-01T14:39:00.000-05:00

I obviously forgot to knock on wood Naturally, since I bragged yesterday about having everything done at work, several new things were dumped on me this morning. So NOW I'm done with THOSE, and I don't care if anyone brings me anymore projects--I am done. It is vacation time. Amen.