A Time to Honk

I wrote this letter to the editor of my local paper last week.  I don't think they are going to print it.  They usually call me within a day or two if they are going to print what I send in.  (Yes, I have sent a few letters in.  Several have been printed.)  Anyway, since they aren't going to print it, here it is:

To the Editor,

There are times when honking one’s car horn is an appropriate action.  We’ve all be cut off by a reckless driver who may or may not know that they are being reckless.  A honk of the horn will hopefully make them recognize their behavior.  But there are times when it is definitely not appropriate and downright rude to honk the horn.  When the car in front of you probably could have turned about 5 seconds earlier and the light is going to turn green in another 5 seconds?  That is not an appropriate time to lay on the horn until they turn, and then continue to lay on the horn as you turn after them.  That is what I witnessed on my drive home from work this evening.  I was shocked at this behavior by the honker and I felt sorry for the honkee.  What has happened to people?  Why are we all in such a hurry that we can’t wait an extra 10 seconds to turn a corner?  Several times in the past couple of weeks, I or someone in my family have said “Why is someone honking?”  We’ve heard the honking and looked around, trying to see anything that would obviously warrant it.  We’ve seen nothing.  People just need to calm down and think before they honk.  There are more important things in life than arriving at our destinations 10 seconds earlier.  Life’s short…be happy!!

Angela Johnson

The Coat Check Girl

We had an event tonight for LOT and I was helping to take coats at the door.  We were hanging them all in a closet right by the door, but we didn't do the whole "coat check" thing with the numbers and tickets.  Probably would have been a good idea.

When it came time for everyone to leave, we just let everyone get their own coats.  It was probably for the best.  Had I been there trying to find everyone's coats for them, it would have been a disaster.

"Which coat is yours?"
"It's black."
"Ummmm...I'm gonna need a little description."
"It's wool."
"Yeaaaah...what else?  Oh forget it.  Just take this one.  It looks like it will fit you."

Potential fail at the coat closet.  Crisis averted!!!

Scheduling Dilemmas...

I was just looking at my events on Facebook for the next couple of months.  Here is a sample of why I try my hardest to make it to all of my friends' shows, but I just can't all the time:

Seriously, guys...I'll do the best I can.  But I can't be in more than one place at once...and I don't have a lot of money right now.

Oscar Nominations

If you compare my list of predictions to the list of actual nominations, you will see that I only got 2 right.  Toy Story 3 was nominated for Best Picture and Best Animated Feature.  It got some other nominations as well.  Tangled got a nomination for Best Original Song ("I See the Light") and Harry Potter got a few noms in the technical categories, as did Alice in Wonderland.  Country Strong got a Best Original Song nom as well "Coming Home.")  I haven't seen any of the other movies that got nominations.  It's a combination of movies I don't want to see, movies I don't have time to see, movies I'm waiting to Netflix later, and just plain not having enough money to go to the movies a lot.

8th Annual Oscar Nomination Predictions

...based solely on the movies that I have seen this year.  And I didn't see a lot, so this list is going to be...interesting.

*= Will probably get a nomination
**= Should win

Best Picture 
Toy Story 3*
Tangled
Secretariat
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Country Strong*

Best Animated
Toy Story 3**
Tangled*

Best Actor
Paul Rudd - How Do You Know
Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter...
Matthew Goode - Leap Year
Garrett Hedlund - Country Strong

Best Actress
Amy Adams - Leap Year
Amanda Seyfried - Letters to Juliet
Diane Lane - Secretariat
Gwyneth Paltrow - Country Strong
Emma Watson - Harry Potter...

Best Supporting Actor
Chris O'Dowd - Gulliver's Travels
John Malkovich - Secretariat
Jack Nicholson - How Do You Know?
Tim McGraw - Country Strong
John Corbett - Ramona & Beezus

Best Supporting Actress
Vanessa Redgrave - Letters to Juliet
Kathryn Hahn - How Do You Know
Leighton Meester - Country Strong
Emily Blunt - Gulliver's Travels

Here's the list of movies I saw that are eligible for this year's Oscars:

Leap Year

When in Rome

Letters to Juliet

Eclipse

Ramona & Beezus

Toy Story 3

Robin Hood

How Do You Know?

Gulliver's Travels

Tangled

Valentine's Day

Alice in Wonderland

Bounty Hunter

Date Night

The Back-Up Plan

Secretariat

Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 1

Country Strong

Carpet Irony

I just realized the irony of a task that I was doing for Shauna this morning.  We are need of a specific type of carpet remnant for the Bye Bye Birdie set and I have been calling around to the local carpet stores today to see if anyone has what we are looking for.  So where's the irony?  Well, if you have ever been in the basement of my parents' house, you will know that we have about 30 or more different carpet squares making up a checkerboard pattern on the floor.  So me calling every carpet store in Northern Colorado looking for some specific carpet remnants just struck me as very funny...and oh, so ironic!

I couldn't find a great picture of the carpet, but here's one that shows a little of it...and a cute picture of Emily when she was about 2.

Talking with my Hands

I am an expressive talker.  Okay fine, I'm over-dramatic.  But I talk with my hands A LOT.  And I just have realized recently that when I'm on the phone at work, I still talk with my hands...even though the person on the other end can't see me talking with my hands.  So what's the point of doing it?  I have no idea, but I still do it.  Weird.

Golden Globes: Instant Reactions

Note:  Watching the Golden Globes (or any awards show) recorded makes for fast viewing.  Especially at the Golden Globes where if someone in the back wins, it literally takes them 45 seconds or more to get to the stage!

• So excited that Ricky Gervais is hosting again!  Love him!
• Love his interpretation of the finale of Lost.  "I'm pretty sure the fat one ate them all."
• I just realized that I have no idea who is nominated.  I forgot.
• I don't care how many high profile roles Christian Bale does.  He will always be Jack Kelly to me.
• Temple Grandin should have won.  That is an awesome movie!
• Leighton Meester got her dress from the Jane Austen Collection.
• CHRIS COLFER WINS!!!  YAY!!!
• Eva Longoria almost tripped.  Is it bad that I wish she would have?  It would have been so funny!!
• "Coming Home" from Country Strong should have won.  Or "I See the Light" from Tangled.
• Toy Story 3!!!!!!!  Yes!!!!!  (Just watching the clip they showed made me cry.  Now THAT'S good cinema.
• It's a good thing Hollywood loves a good roast, or someone might punch Ricky in the face.
• Tilda Swinton scares me.  Just putting that out there.
• Claire Danes wins!!!  Yay!!!  (I HIGHLY recommend Temple Grandin.)
• Ricky Gervais vs. Steve Carell = SO FUNNY!!
• Putting Tina Fey & Steve Carell together to present = Priceless
• Why do supporting actors/actresses have to compete against TV series, movies and miniseries?  Not fair!
• JANE LYNCH WINS!!!!!  YAY!!!!
• Olivia Wilde's dress is...interesting?
• Ack!  I want to see The King's Speech so badly!  Drat that R Rating.  Boo.
• Dear Mr. DeNiro, Awakenings is one of my favorites, too!
• GLEE WINS!!!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!
• I ♥ Paul Giamatti.  One of my favorite actors!
• No surprise that Natalie Portman won.  Why did the other nominees even bother to show up?
• Still want to see The King's Speech, starring the wonderful Mr. Darcy...er...Colin Firth.
• Host Report Card:  B- (He was funny, but really mean sometimes!)

Pronunciation Guide du Jour

Dear K99 DJs,

Repeat after me:  ah-luh-GREE-uh

It's not:  uh-LEG-ree-uh

Repeat after me:  SERK du so-LAY

It's not:  SERK-uh du so-LAY

Cirque du Soleil's Alegria is coming to the Bud Center in a couple of weeks.  The DJs can't pronounce the name.  It's kind of annoying.

A Rest for the Vocals

Otherwise known as...vocal rest.  Yep, I'm on vocal rest for a week.  No singing, only vocalizing for short periods of time.  Talking is okay, but I have to talk in a higher pitched voice.  I'll be doing my very best Mickey Mouse impersonation for the next couple of days.

This, of course, means that I will not be doing my show this Saturday.  I should be ship shape for next weekend.  So please come see "A Grand Night for Singing" on either January 21 or 23!

I think it's best that I communicate only with sign language for the week.  However, I only know the alphabet.  It's going to take me a long time to say anything.  Shoot.

Blog Recommendation!!!!

I have been doing really well with my project of one blog per day in 2011.  (Of course, it's only the 8th of January, but still!  I've done one a day!!!)  I'm not importing it to Facebook, like I do this blog.  I probably should, but I'm not.  Please check out my "A Year in My Life" blog:

http://mylifein2011.blogspot.com

A Letter Using all 14 Banned Words

To The American People:

I believe we have an epic fail on our hands.  Here's the backstory:  I told my BFF  to  man up, but he had an A-Ha moment and decided to live life to the fullest.  Unfortunately, the video of this went viral, and the Wow Factor of said video forced every one to Facebook it and Google it, so now it's just out of control.  We have tried to refudiate the claims made in the video, but to no avail.  Now it's the biggest disaster of the century.  I'm just sayin'.

Sincerely,
Mama Grizzlies

Confused?  Here is the link with the info on the banned words:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/78815

The Great Ariel Army vs. Spider Man

This is a drawing that my niece Emily did.  She's 5 1/2.  The more I stared at this picture, the bigger kick I got out of it.  I appears that an army of Ariels has trapped Spider Man in an Easter Egg House.  And an army of tiny Spider Mans is on its way to help.  I believe they are going to knock the house down with a large beach ball that has bunny ears.

Follow Up on "Popped Seams: A Moral Delimma"

Thanks for all of the advice on this one.  I took the shirt back to Kohls.  I told them that I had only worn it once or twice and it ripped right on the seam.  I said that I guessed it wasn't sewn very well and could I please return it?  They took it back, no problem.  I would have exchanged it for another one, had I been able to find one.  (It really was a cute top.)  But there were none, so I got my money back.

Just another reason that Kohl's is one of my favorite stores. 

Soundtrack of my Life: Part 8

This is part 8 in a continuing series...

Somebody's Chelsea
by Reba McIntyre

Met an old man yesterday
Next to me on a westbound plane
He said "I was married sixty years
I swear it feels like she's still here."
Then he took out a picture

Staring at that black and white
The tears filled up in his eyes
I said "You were a lucky man."
He said "I feel like I still am."

When he told me her name
I heard myself say...

I wanna be Somebody's Chelsea
Somebody's world
Somebody's day and night
One and only girl
A part of a love story
That never has an end
You know that's what every woman wants to be
Somebody's Chelsea

He made me laugh when he talked about
Their first date and her father's doubts
He said "Even as her hair turned gray,
She still took my breath away."
And that it never changed with time
That's when I closed my eyes

I wanna be Somebody's Chelsea
Somebody's world
Somebody's day and night
One and only girl
A part of a love story
That never has an end
You know that's what every woman wants to be
Somebody's Chelsea

And when we finally said goodbye
I hugged him and said "I'll never forget
How you showed me what it means..."

To be Somebody's Chelsea
Somebody's world
Somebody's day and night
One and only girl
A part of a love story
That never has an end
You know that's what every woman wants to be
And I wanna be
Somebody's Chelsea
Somebody's Chelsea
Somebody's Chelsea
Somebody's Chelsea

Lessons in Bagging Groceries

Maybe it's because I grew up in a grocery store.  Maybe it's because I worked at Albertson's once upon a time.  But I am consistently amazed at the lack of thought that goes into grocery bagging.  Most of the time, I go through the self checkout, just so that I can bag my own groceries.  But occasionally I have too many items to feasibly get away with the Limit 20 at the self-checkout.  Today was one of those days.

My one question:  On what planet is it okay to put 5 one liter bottles of water in one flimsy plastic grocery bag?  Why don't we just put all of the heaviest items in one bag?  Sure!  I'm very lucky the bag didn't break.

I wonder if they assume that everyone has a garage and they can carry their groceries 10 feet or less from the car to the kitchen.  This is SO not the case with me.  I have to carry my groceries quite a way to get them to my kitchen.  The last thing I need is bags breaking and groceries flying all over the front yard.

I'm done with plastic bags.  I need to get some reuseable grocery bags.  But I'm sure they'll stuff more heavy things in those. 

/rant

Popped Seams: A Moral Dilemma

What do you do when you are trying on clothes at the store and you hear a seam pop?  Do you put it back and not tell anyone?  Do you tell a sales person?  If you want to buy the article of clothing, do you put that one back and get a different one?  Do you just buy it?

I took the honest route and bought the top, but now I have a top that I've only worn twice that has a hole in it.  They take stuff back at Kohl's, no questions asked...but I put the hole in it.  And I've washed it.

What to do!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2011 to one and all!  I hope it's a great year!  :)