LA Countdown - 17 days

I am moving to Los Angeles in 17 days, well, technically I’m driving away from Chicago in 17 days and will move in on January 2nd. Regardless, in two weeks I need to be packed and ready to head out West. Seriously… I might vomit.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I can’t wait – but I am terrified. What if I have no friends? What if everyone in class thinks I’m a loser? What if all the girls have breast implants and I can’t get a date?
Those are the scary things. The not so scary things are the following.
MY APARTMENT IS COOLER THAN YOUR APARTMENT! No really, mine beats yours and here’s why. It’s in a 60 year old building, so all the places where built in the crazy 40’s so I have mirrored walls and a built in glass and mirrored bar. There is a pool on the roof with a 360 degree view. July 4th you can see the Hollywood, Burbank, Santa Monica Pier and Downtown LA fireworks while swimming. It’s also .8 miles from the largest (and nicest) outdoor malls in LA called The Grove. It’s on La Brea and is less than a mile from the Tar Pits. So I say again, my apartment is cooler that your apartment. I’m 30 minutes from the beach – Venice beach and Santa Monica pier to be exact. I’m a mile from the Kodak Theater (where the Oscars are held) and the whole row of handprints. The school I will be at for 6 weeks is located within Sunset Gower Studios – the place the film Heroes and Dexter. I saw Hayden Panetierre getting coffee on my tour. And last but not least, I already worked on a music video in LA (I costume designed it over the phone from Chicago but it was till exciting for me)

Now I really think I might vomit.

Godmother!

I am very excited to tell you all ( haha - no one reads this ) that I am going to be a Godmother! I wish I was a fairy, because that would be way more awesome for the baby, but I think I'll be great nonetheless. My sister and I were asked to both be Godmothers – so we can be sure that Sydney will have great stuff – because if Kelsey and I are good at anything, it’s giving gifts. We are awesome gift givers – no gift cards or sweaters here. Sydney is supposed to come in mid December, although Jenny seems to think that she may not hold out that long.

Being Godmother, if you aren’t familiar with the duties, I will need to be at the Christening in February. I’m already working on her gift – I’m such a dork. It’s pretty good timing that they asked me on Thanksgiving since I was baptized on Thanksgiving 23 years ago!

I can't wait to meet Sydney!

Epic Return to College Weekend

Going to Bloomington for the weekend might have been the best idea I’ve ever had. Not only was I DYING for some cuddle-time, I love a nice healthy dose of college drama – omg I love other people’s drama – it’s like food for a starving man.
It was pretty much a perfect weekend. Omitting the major amounts of other people’s drama I was in on - here are some of the highlights

Drank two bottles of tequila (with Hayden, Nicole, and Will)
Had a sing-along in the bathroom with those same people
Saw a horribly gross but completely awesome movie with Hayden, Even and Zach
Bought shoes!
Ate at my favorite Chinese place (twice)
Saw the Boy in the Bubble alumni show with Amy Leigh
Drank champagne out of a coffee mug at 5am with Evan, Amy Leigh and Hayden
Played Disney Scene It as a drinking game
Went to the bars the night before the IU v Purdue game – INSANITY
Attempted to play pool with Nick
Sang Tik Tok, What You Say, and Bad Romance an obscene number of times
Learned how to break someone’s nose 6 different ways – thank you Evan Keever

By the way – Inglorious Bastards is a stupidly amazing movie. I have never laughed so hard while people were being massacred – oh Quinton Tarantino you are my hero. I mean Bowie did a song for it – YES

My friends are awesome – I love you Amy Leigh, Hayden, Will, Nick, Nicole, Emily, Katie, Becca

Cheerleading

I saw a story today online that I thought was awesome. I am a casual celeb-stalker, I read some gossip magazines and occasionally care what they say - 90% of the time I think they go to way far and generally hate any kind of paparazzi nonsense (except the Lady GaGa song which I LOVE haha). But today I saw a story online about Dakota Fanning that I loved and actually made me miss high school. It was about how normal she is. Last week was her homecoming game - she's a cheerleader and she cheered at the game, stunted (she's a flyer like I was) and danced at half time. But then at half time she was announced as homecoming court and got the sash and crown and flowers. It was so cute, it made me like her even more. She didn't even look like she was wearing makeup. She must have some awesome parents.

But the story made me think about how much I loved being a cheerleader. I was never really a fan of the 'cheerleading group' thing - we didn't actually like each other - but I loved the dancing and stunting and generally looking awesome in a cheerleading uniform. Seriously, that uniform never got old neither did the pom-poms. I am girly and shallow enough to tell you that the day I got moved from backspot to flyer was one of the greatest days ever. I LOVED being thrown up in the air and being the top of the stunts where everyone could see me. If you’ve ever seen a TV or movie cheerleader with the stupid grin and overdone peppiness – that was me! I think it was my way of getting some of my excess crazy out.
Homecoming was always epic. Dancing in a miniskirt on the 50-yard line with hundreds of people screaming is pretty much the greatest thing ever to a 16 year old. Hell – it would still be the greatest thing ever. Not to mention I was in stupidly great shape. No one needs to watch what they eat when you danced and jumped around as much as we did. Thinking about it makes me feel old already – just a few years later and I really don’t think I could have dance practice 3 days a week and a 4 hour Saturday tumbling and stunting class then cheer at games every Friday night. Whew – that makes me feel like doing squats or pushups or something.

Yeah, I’m going to eat an apple or take a vitamin : )

Halloween Weekend

Halloween was always one of my favorite days growing up. I was some version of a fairy a princess or a princess fairy for a good 10 Halloweens in a row - something about the glitter and tiaras. This year I got to dress up twice (with two different costumes) - Thank God for Halloween falling on the weekend.

Friday was awesome - it was just 20 or so people at the apartment but it was fun to meet a bunch of the girls' friends and dance in a living room to Monster Mash. At one point Rob's roommate did a full on Aerosmith concert moment with Annalise - so amazing.

Saturday at Duffy's was one of the wildest things I've ever seen - or been part of for that matter. We danced like crazy people all night - the girls were hilarious - they had a 'topical group costume' so every time someone they knew saw us they would scurry around and get in a line and go "OK what are we?" It made almost zero sense when they weren't all together.

They costumes around us were RIDICULOUS - I saw faaaaaaar too many men wearing diapers. I don't know where that fad came from but they were everywhere. There was a group of about 8 girls that were Wishing Trolls ( with the crazy hair and the gems in there tummy you rub for luck ) They were basically naked from the waist down. But that was about par for course at this bar ( I wasn't super clothes past my waist either - but that's besides the point )
There was a group of guys dressed as the purple teletubby which I will never understand - however, there were some great 90's throwbacks - Quail Man and some Double Dare contestants. One of the weirder ones was a guy dressed as "The Shocker"- as in a giant hand making the shocker. The best story from the night was the guy in the kilt that thought he was a badass because he walked right up to me and introduced himself while I was with a big group of girls - ignored my friends - then he wanted to tell me all about how he "totally would have gone without boxers if it wasn't so cold" - I wanted to punch him so instead I started talking nonstop about how there was a guy in a kilt in Harry Potter until he ran away - it was kinda awesome (and I got to release some pent-up HP knowledge I never get to spew) But I have to admit, Willie Wanka was really nice.

I woke up downtown and walked a few blocks back to Duffy's, alone, for there epic brunch and hung out with some of the bartenders who were there last night. We talked about the costumes we saw and stories from the party - but the best was watching the still costumed guys and girls pouring out of the surrounding apartment buildings and jumping in cabs for their ride of shame home with the Duffy's staff. It was a very fun morning - and now I really want to go back to Duffy's next weekend.

However, on the train ride back I was rocking out to my ipod (not singing out loud but lip syncing every word) only to look over 15 minutes in to see the gentleman across the way looking at me like I was nuts. I can't help it - I have really awesome music.

Life is so short

Just found out Brian Ralls died today. I knew him years ago - the kind of person you once talked to in class every day, then you'd say hi when you ran into each other at football games or with another friend in Green Hills. I always really liked him because he was tall - that was the basis for our talking - I thought he was cute because he was tall.

His family is well known and extremely well liked in Brentwood. Over the years I would here bits and pieces about him or his sister through family friends or at church. BUMC is a strange place because of how many people go there. I think when I was big into Youth Group it was something like 10,000 members. He was never one of the super -every-sunday gang, but he was around enough to know, and to like.

Some stupid person took a phone call and wasn't looking - and now he no longer exsits on this Earth. It wasn't his fault, he was just driving, no idea he'd never get there.
Part of me wants to take this and freak out about how we're all going to die, and I still may, but right now all I can feel is deepest love and compassion for his family - because I know who they are and I KNOW they are good people - very good people. I wish them grace and comfort and love.

I wish it wasn't so late - because this is one of those times when I just want to call all my friends and tell them I love them so much - but it's almost 1 am - so I'll do it on here for now, until I can tomorrow

To my friends - I am blessed to have you in my life, you laugh with me (and at me), dance with me, cry with me, joke with me, and give me comfort, grace and love
I love you

Allison
Robert
Charlotte
Dave
Megan
Robin
Brendan
Ryan
Alex

The Universe

My favorite movie of all time is Labyrinth - if you haven’t seen it, well I just don’t like you anymore, but the main point you need to know is that in the film the main character constantly gets frustrated and exclaims ‘Oh it’s not fair!’

I am very much this type of person. I never think anything is fair, so I feel like an idiot on those occasions in which the universe hands me something on a silver platter and says ‘here ya go!’

This has been happening a lot lately. Now, it isn’t all merry and sunshiny, I had one big bad day recently – but at the end of that day God not only opened a window, he basically lit up a Marquee that said “This Way”

This is awesome and horrible at the same time. Awesome because I really want this, and horrible because if I choose that path I will be nailing the coffin on a huge part of my life. I say coffin because it really is like a death. Letting someone go who has been the literal other half of your days for years is very much like someone dying. You mourn the loss, and I am not totally ready to do that yet. I’m really just putting off the inevitable, because I believe that other half has already decided to do that himself, but it’s still something I’m not looking forward to.

The rest of my life is so happy – it’s almost ironic that this is coming now, right at the start of so much happiness that we both waited for, I guess he got tired of waiting. I don’t really want to mourn the loss of anything while everything else is going so well. I’ve been working and going downtown so much lately, it’s just such a shame I no longer get to share that with him.

But like I said, the universe stepped right in and led the way to something new. I guess that’s God way of saying “get over it, it’s really done” - honestly I’m not sure if I’m thankful or resentful of that – I guess I’ll tell you next year.

Now I have to let go – which maybe one thing I am completely incapable of doing in my life – or at least have been so far. I never understood people who could just walk away from people or places. These are things that meant a lot to me, things that changed me and helped me grow. These people fill my memories and heart – I crossed the country with them, laughed with them, loved them, filled out my taxes with their help – why does everyone think I should remove them from myself?

But I believe the universe will show me. God is probably reading this and sighing and shaking his head – Ok, I’m listening.

Clueless

I don't really know what to post on here anymore. Half of me wants to rant and scream and swear - half of me wants to cry and plead and ask why - less than one percent wants to cheer and proclaim how great life is now. So which do I do?

I guess my fun news today is that I went to the doctor in charge of the drug trial I'm in and when he walked in he actually stopped and gasped and said - "You look great, you look so happy"

That was awesome. To know that even though I had one of the worst weeks ever, I was in the 'normal' happy range and not crazy depressed girl. He looked thrilled - the medicine is keeping me from having any panic attacks or from being way too sad. It's great.

The really bad part of my week is loosing my person, the one I went to and trusted and loved. My person was truly the one I thought would always be there to help me out - thank God for friends. I've been so lucky that many of the people I reached out to ran to my aide. Even the people I hadn't talked to in months - ok more like a year.

I feel like an awful person - blocking him on facebook - but I don't want to know. I don't want to see his new 'friends' or pictures of how happy he is. I kinda just want to pretend he doesn't exist - at all. Everywhere I look I see things I did for him - the yarn from the blanket I made, fabric from the halloween I made, paper from the scrapbook I made him - it's everywhere and I can't wait to move. I wish the deal would go faster.

Blah blah blah blah - I'm too drunk to be typing

Wanna know how to loose 10 pounds?

Get your heart broken - that will do it

I know, I'm usually silly or random on here, but I just can't think of anything cute to write. But hell, at least I can fit into my old jeans, that's got to count for something.

I'm going out again tonight. Last night was lots of fun and I danced like a lunatic for about an hour - totally sober. Tonight it's a friend's frat brother's birthday - this should be interesting.

I'm glad it's fall bc I'm sick of lasagna

I am a picky eater. Ok, that may be an understatement but you get the point. Lately I've been making lasagna like once a week - it's weird and needs to stop. I have like four foods that I eat all the time and it's soooooooo boring. But now it's October and I get to eat awesome winter food - like chili and my uncle's corn dish recipe. I'm excited - it may not seem super awesome to you - but it totally is.

I really like fall, not really in Chicago, but I really like fall. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years - I mean come on. You just don't get any better that. Not to mention shopping. This is the time of year that you can shop as much and you want and no one can judge you, because you’re buying stuff for other people. I had such a good idea for a friend of mine that I’m no longer going to be getting – and it was SUCH a great idea. It was my best one yet…. damn…… Now I just have to find someone else the perfect gift. And that’s not as easy as it sounds. But the upside is I have to window shop even more to get it.

And I can't wait for the Toys R Us catalog - you are never too old to stop looking at the Toys R Us Christmas catalog.

Meg

The Artist Summit

I went to the Artist Summit Chicago over the weekend - it's a makeup and hair trade show for working artist only. ( woooot ) There were hours of seminars and hands-on workshops with the best artists in the country. It was an almost literal kid-in-a-candy-store situation. Liquid color, creme colors, loose powders, pressed powders, airbrushes, pencils, gels, fake lashes, glitter, gloss, brushes, and every kind skin care possible. I nearly fell over when I walked in.

Now - I expected this - I knew the shiny object thing would happen. What I didn't realize was that I would get to sit and watch and be critiqued by the Key Makeup Artist for Lady Gaga and America's Next Top Model. I had no idea I would chat with a 9 time emmy-award winner about colors in front of Makeup For Ever - which he designed - I own half of that line.

I hate to sound like a middle school kid - but it was sooooooo cooooooool. I mean every single ooooo I got lucky - the first seminar I sat in on discussed products and the obessive need MUA's have with buying makeup - they kept repeating 'Don't buy colors you already have or can make in 5 seconds.' So I was much better about buying than I every expected. I learned color theory years ago in art and I use it all the time painting - but I watched a guy make perfect skin color with red, blue, yellow, and white grease paint. You may think this is the most boring thing to ever be typed - but that's the guitar solos of makeup.

All I want to do is type all about the types of brushes I bought and the crazy new application I will do with them. And I really wish you all knew how amazing silicone base is because that's a whole nother blog.

Ok

MOST BORING BLOG EVER AND I LOVED IT

I Don't Wanna Grow Up - I'm a Toys 'R Us Kid

People always talk about getting older and how sad it is to have wrinkles and fell bad about yourself. But the worst part about getting older is you don't get parties anymore and no one calls your mom to ask what you want for your birthday.

Just because I can have a license and can buy liquor does not mean I don't want balloons and candles to blow out and gifts that are actually wrapped in pretty paper. Why can't I have a pinata? Who says I don't have a list of birthday gift ideas? Maybe I do. My grandmothers and aunts now all send my money. Which is fine - but I don't go out and buy myself anything other than food. I end up spending my birthday cash on McDonald's when I'm running late somewhere. Lame.

I just want to go to Chuck E Cheese and play in the ball pit...........

Why I will Forever Love Apple

iTunes 9 just saved my electronic life.

Many people in my generation are computer wiz-kids who can make anything with a circuit board work. I am computer retarded. My sister types faster than I thought possible mainly because all she did in middle school was IM her friends. And internet conversations have to be quick because you not only never know when your mom will walk in, it takes forever to tell a whole story so you get really good at quickly entering one sentance at a time.

I was never really big on AIM - I talked to fast for how slow I typed, so I just called people! It seems, however, that missing that AIM step put me behind everyone else in learning how to work all this stuff. Don't ask me how, I just know it did.

My ineptitude eventually caused me to become iTunes retarded as well. When I bought a laptop in college I did not get rid of my old computer so I kept my iTunes on there. But then I wanted to listen to music while waiting for class, so I imported some CDs on my laptop. One thing lead to another and I had two iTunes accounts on two computers. Well, I couldn't make my iPod mix with 2 computers, so I just bought a second iPod and have 2 in my purse, so depending on what I want to listen to I have the red one or the white one.

The biggest problem with this is now my computers both live in my studio in the basement and I only got wireless internet. So I bought new stuff on the "Just has a little music to take to class" account. But I can't watch TV on that iPod. See, I told you I was completely stupid.

Now there is iTunes 9

I carried the old computer upstairs, plugged it into the internet, cried while attempting to update my 3 year old software, and can now OFFICIALLY merge my accounts. I might cry again (but from happiness this time)

I can once again carry around only one iPod. Seeing how I only have 800 songs and 15 TV shows it wasn't like I was out of room on one of them.

Bless you Apple for making me seem a little less mentally slow.

Megan

Things you may not know about me

You may be asking yourself 'do I really need to know more weird things about Megan?' and the answer is probably no, but while you are here, you might as well read it. Who knows you may realize something about your self - doubtful, but you never know.


I'm afraid of yogurt - seriously. I don't think it's going to kill me, but the smell is so awful is makes me throw up, so now when I see yogurt I practically run the other way. I once fell backwards out of a chair when someone thought putting it near me would be funny - it wasn't.

I worked at Starbucks, but I have never had a whole cup of coffee. The most I've ever had is a few sips, maybe three at the very most. I hate the stuff and have never really wanted to acquire the taste for it. I love my Diet Coke and I will go far out of my way to get one if need be. The coffee phenomenon is totally beyond me.

My dad worked out of town so much when I was a kid that when I was 8 I sat my mom down and told her that dad must be having an affair. I said that he was always going 'away on business' and that when ever I called him a Woman (his secretary) would answer! Mom laughed at me and told me dad would never have an affair - which I get now, but at 8 I was convinced and didn't want to talk to him. It's funny now because my parents are super devoted and my dad loves my mom more than anything on Earth - oops, sorry dad.

On the subject of my dad - he has the worst ADD of anyone I've ever met. It drives my mom and me crazy. If we're eating dinner and talking about traffic then I mention I need to have major surgery, my dad will look out the window and in the middle of my sentence go 'You know the traffic here really does suck.' My mom always says 'Shiny Balls' - it means that dad got distracted by something and may never come back to the conversation.

As a kid I thought that ghosts and aliens wouldn't know I was in bed if the covers were all the way over my head, so I slept all the way under my blanket every night for more than a decade. I thought they would just think that my bed was lumpy..... oh I marvel at how weird I was sometimes.....

I've only been grounded twice. The first time I was grounded for something that I actually did not do. The second time I did something really dumb and had to go to the hospital in an ambulance - but I wasn't grounded for that. My mom screamed at me when I got released and said I was grounded for 3 months for 'almost dying' - she said that she would have been locked in an asylum if I'd died so I couldn't watch anymore TV. Seriously.


During a hospital rotation for Health Occupations class I had to work at a funeral home for 2 weeks. I had never seen a dead person before. I made it through the 2 hours and drove back to school for the rest of my day. I walked into AP Lit and passed out onto the floor. The funeral home let me stay in the office and fold letters for the next 9 days.

My favorite assignment for Health Occupations was at the Kansas City School for Boys. It's a program for psychologically disturbed or abused boys. They live there and the classes are really small, 3 or 4 per teacher. I loved it so much I went for 2 sessions, so I stayed for 6 weeks. I helped one boy more than the others because he listened to me, which was new for him. He was really sweet, about 8 years old. My last week he wasn't there so I asked the teacher where he was. She said that yesterday after I had told him it was my last week he freaked out and tried to attack his therapist. Turns out he was there for stabbing a boy in his 1st grade class. Two other girls in my class had similar things happen there, I can't figure out why they kept letting high school girls in, but I guess they needed the help.

There are about a thousand other things I'm sure, but that's all I've got for now. If you are still reading, good for you - you now know some odd things about me. Yay

Megan

Why I watch so much TV

I am obsessed with my TV. If it was not me and I met someone else who watched as much TV as I did I would think they were kind of psycho - but here's why you shouldn't I'm psycho.
I like stories about other people's lives. In school I was that girl who read more books than were actually assigned and had talks about books at lunch at the teacher's table. But sadly, today we live in a world were everyone is writing spin-offs of other successful authors. Every book is just a very well plagiarized version of Harry Potter, Twilight, Kite Runner, The Other Boleyn Girl or The Devil Wears Prada. So finding a great book is much harder than it looks. Oh, and I do NOT do sad endings. This eliminates 65% of the books out there. In my happy little world people do not die at the end of the story. They can die in the middle - but not the end - they need to find peace and happiness at the end.
Some people watch lots of movies. I love lots of movies and am very outspoken about my favorites - but for the most part movies are just too short. I want to sit and watch someone's life for hours, days even - 1.5 hours doesn't make me love them. You can't really go on a journey in under 2 hours. Epic 3 part movies (LOTR for ex) are much better - these I feel like are worth the effort.
Real people are great, don't get me wrong, but with TV everyone has a destiny - it's built right in. I wake up and have no idea what's going to happen - but TV is a constructed world in which life can be molded in such a beautiful way. Kind of like apples in the market - the organic ones are healthy and natural but they have spots - the pesticide-riddled ones are still pretty good for you and they are way shinier. I like life to be a little more epic and shiny than just plain real life.
And now Wearhouse 13 and Defying Gravity have finished downloading - so I'm going to my happy place.

: )

New New Testament

Sometimes I get annoyed at God. Moses and the Israelite got tablets and Joseph had dreams, all I have is a book that was finished a thousand years ago and had to be translated a dozen times for me to even understand it. King James did his best, but most of the time I can't figures out who thine is or which one was thee and which was thou. The young adult versions are even worse - it's a little creepy to have the Bible written like a teen drama with slang and modern day 'examples' about Lisa and her boyfriend drinking in his pickup.
I know that God said no more chats through burning bushes or heaven opening up - but come on! I mean would it really be that bad for God to just send us a new chapter after revelations that tells us if sexting is a sin or how skimpy my string bikini can be before I need to say a Hail Mary? How about a few verses on rap music or on internet porn? Jesus didn't have to worry about lusting because no women wore daisy dukes in Bethlehem. I think we could all use a few updates about whether or not shopping on the Sabbath is really ok when I'm busy the other 6 days. And what about the premarital sex thing - can we clear up the language here and maybe clarify the wording on 'coviting thy neighbors wife' - I know some people who could really use the insight.
Allison (the smartest girl I know) said something the other day that stuck with me - she said that she knows something is what God wants when it makes her feel at peace. I like that and I think she's right- now if only I could relax long enough to feel the peace. But while I'm waiting for peace to wash over me, I wouldn't mind a giant road sign saying "Go THAT Way ---> Love God"

Graves and Birthdays

The end of August through the end of September is a weird time of the years for me. Fall was always my favorite time - I love Fall holidays and I loved school starting and my birthday is at the end of September.
My best friend in middle school was Marshall Estes. In 6th grade we were both outsiders and are names were next to each other, so we sat together and had touching lockers. Plus we were born 24 hours apart, so we celebrated together. We stopped speaking in 8th grade and I never really saw him after that. He called sometimes and we would talk a little - but we had grown up and were different.
August 16th 2005 Marshall overdosed and died. His funeral was freshman move-in day so I didn't go. I didn't know what I would have said - he had other friends by then.
My birthday is always sad now. I love fall but I hate it. It brings memories of middle school when Marshall locked me in his locker and the janitor had to get me out and our joint birthdays - he gave me a Betty Boop clock that finally broke 2 years ago. I only have 2 pictures of us. One is a polaroid that you can barely see and the other is of Marshall spinning me at our first dance.
He was the first person who didn't think I was weird for having such a dirty sense of humor or for just doing weird things all the time. He thought it was great.
I wish I'd said goodbye.
I was feeling super morbid I guess and went internet stalking my grandfather last week. No one in my family talks about him or has pictures of him. Last week my Aunt finally found 3 pictures in her wedding album that my grandmother didn't burn. I'd never seen him before. He looks different than I thought he would.
I've been bugging my family for years to find out where he was buried. Not one person in my family went to the funeral or read his obituary. I finally found a record of his 2nd wife's death and found the cemetery. Part of me wants to see it - but what would I do with a gravestone of a man I never knew? I'd rather go see Marshall.
I hate this time of year - it make me think about death - I swear I'm not usually this morbid. At least I hope I'm not because it's kind of creepy.

Why I will force my kids to watch 90's Nickelodeon

I grew up watching the basics - Rugrats, Doug, Salute Your Shorts, Clarissa Explains It All, Ahh Real Monsters, Pete and Pete, Secret World of Alex Mack, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Rocko's Modern Life, and Hey Arnold.

After school we had Nick at Nite - which was the old classics like I Love Lucy and The Munsters. While I was visiting my cousins ( ages 3, 5, 7 and 7 ) I had the chance to watch an hour of the worst TV I have ever seen. All the characters are pop stars or have models for moms or live in giant hotels. Rugrats had totally normal middle-class parents with bad accents. I didn't have to worry about buying whatever Angelica was wearing. There was no pressure to be made up like Clarissa. And at night I did not watch ABC Fam shows about pregnant teens. Is this really the best thing for kids to watch?

So here is my plan = I will buy every season of every great TV show and will program my TV to play them instead of the crap that's on. They will never know they difference. No creepy doll commercials and no mini-skirts on 10 year olds.


I will do everything in my power to make sure they will be NO Miley Cyrus posters in my house - I shudder at the thougt.

The first day of school (for everyone else)

Tomorrow is the first day for the school across the street. I, however, have no plans. I spent 12 years in school then 4 years in college and in all that time, no one taught me how to be an adult. It's a little like that overly told story where the bird pushes her chicks out of the nest to make them fly. Well I don't fly really well without lessons.

You'd think that colleges would have a class in life skills - like how to buy health insurance and what all that crap on car commercials mean. I have no idea how to file a tax return or even what all my car needs to have done every 3000 miles. How can someone go for 16 years, learn 2 languages, read hundreds of books and never learn what all the buttons on the washing machine do?

The worst part is that for the first time in 16 years, I didn't go back to school shopping. No new folders, no new pen colors to try, not even new fall shoes. I was always ready a full week before with my outfit carefully chosen and my backpack stuffed with everything on my list. Even after the time when school was exciting, at least the first week was worth the effort. I may not have read my summer reading, but I had every gel pen made and all my folders were color coded. I was really the queen of the locker signs because I had the most complete collection of pens and markers to choose from. If someone needed to write a note and wanted glitter purple with blue highlights, I was their girl.

I loved to make friends with the new people too. I think it was a mix of understanding from being new so often and wanting to know them first so I could have the good gossip to share. When I was the new person I made friends fast. Not because I was particularly awesome, but I was loud and not at all shy. I was pretty obnoxious for a while actually. I like to think the horrors of high school knocked most of it out of me, however.

Tomorrow hundreds of kids will walk across my yard to the school across the street with new backpacks and shiny shoes. They'll have rounded scissors and 24 pack crayons, 2 glue sticks and a pack of #2 pencils. I wonder if any of the kids will have crazy parents who found some way to accidentally buy #3 pencils.