Monthly Archives: September, 2011

Words and Whales

Today feels like the end of two very long days, so I am entirely uninspired to do a proper post. Instead, here’s pictures.

I usually try not to post images from other sites without CC permission, but this was too cute to resist. I was trying to post something on Twitter for work, and this was the error message. (Click for larger image.)

At a totally different point in time (the end of June), my favorite dictionary/site, Merriam-Webster, unveiled its time-sensitive vocabulary quiz. I powered through it for the results below.

I’m not sure how the “70 and above” group came in so high, but I’m all for smart grandmas.

Friday Five: Photos

This is intriguing. I’ve been very pleased with these last few F5s.

Post a picture of the following and explain.

  1. Yourself. Do you like having your picture taken? Why or why not? Do you have a “good side”? I hate having my picture taken. I just don’t photograph well, and I’m such a perfectionist that I’m rarely satisfied with photos of me. My good side is my right. My left eye naturally opens less than my right eye, so I flinch noticeably at camera flashes.
  2. Your pet(s). What are their names? How long have you had them? I don’t have any pets. I don’t really like them. I’ve thought about getting fish or a turtle, but then someone would have to take care of it for me when I leave town, and I like not having to worry about that. When I was little, though, I always wanted a tiger, since they’re (still) my favorite animal.
  3. Your favourite [sic] vacation spot. Describe exactly where the picture is taken. What’s special about this place? I don’t really vacation. I’m more of a staycation kind of girl. Less travel. The last time I traveled for pleasure was my friend Niki’s wedding last summer. In the photo, I am digging in my (old) purse, Andra is laughing at something her husband Pat said, and Niki (the bride, in white and sunglasses) is just chilling. We are standing on the lakeside terrace of a Doubletree in Durham, North Carolina. We girls had not all been together in ten years, and it was a fantastic reunion.
  4. Your bedroom or favourite [sic] room in your home. Explain or tell a story about some of the items in the room. I’m not comfortable posting photos of my actual bedroom, and I don’t have many rooms to begin with, but that is one from my old room. The cross is from my confirmation retreat back in ninth grade. Only the purple beads on the cross are woven onto the gold cord (which turned out to be too short to wear). The middle pearl-colored one is held in place by the others. There was some symbolism I have unfortunately forgotten. I used to hang it over a framed photo of me and my friend Kat at our eighth-grade banquet.
  5. One of your favourite [sic] pictures of all time, whether for artistic or sentimental reasons (it doesn’t necessarily have to be one you took yourself). Why is this picture special to you? There are so many to choose from! I use Picasa, which lets me star photos I really love, so I currently have about 60 favorite photos. This one is from a CSC trip to Blob’s Polka Park. That’s the night I learned to polka (very very basic polka). My dance partner is my old friend Tim, who was one of my small group leaders on the CSC First Timer’s Retreat. He’s a seminarian now, and I think he’ll be a fantastic priest.

That was actually quite fun!

The Friday Five

Booking Through Thursday: In Public

Do you carry books with you when you’re out and about in the world?

And, do you ever try to hide the covers?

I do carry books around. I do a significant amount of reading while I eat lunch at work. Sometimes my coworkers feel like they’re bothering me when they come in and see me with a book, but I am always willing to put down the book and switch to conversation. I am embarrassed sometimes to be caught reading my sillier YA fiction, especially at work. My recent Alice run was particularly trying. Now I know how most of the readers of FYA feel. I believe in standing by your choices, though, and I stuck with mine. I have never tried to hide a cover for the same reason. Yes, some cover choices are really awful. (Why would a headless skinny girl make me want to buy a book?) That’s the luck of the draw, though, and at least it gives us something to make fun of. Who doesn’t like a little humor on top of awesomeness?

Hail Marys in Your Hail Marys

I’ve just joined in a novena to St. Raphael the Archangel with my friend Sabrina and some of the other Catholic 20-Somethings. This one is set to be maybe the second novena I’ve ever completed by keeping up with all nine days. We’ll see how it turns out.

In tangential news, recently at work, students have been leading the Angelus before Mass. I usually take the time before Mass to pray the rosary by myself, so I was definitely caught off guard the first time they did it. I was a few Hail Marys shy of finishing, so it was particularly unusual to be interrupted for the Angelus since it’s just more Hail Marys. I felt like this image from LOLSaints:

which parodies Xzibit on Pimp My Ride because he put everything from fishtanks to clothes dryers in the cars he “pimped”:

except that for me, it was, “Yo, dawg, I heard you like Mary, so I put Hail Marys in your Hail Marys so you can pray to Mary while you pray to Mary.” It was an odd thought to have in church, but it made getting interrupted a whole lot more fun.

This One’s for Everyone (Review: “Who Gets the Drumstick?”)

photo by ND Tom

Do you have a favorite childhood movie? Mine was probably one of my Disney Sing Along Songs videos. I also remember the real movies my mom made me watch: Grease (which I was definitely too young for), The Sound of Music (which is always awesome…when you have 3 hours to spare), and Stephen King’s It (which was a very bad call). She also made me watch Yours, Mine, and Ours, though, which was so much fun, and not just for the novelty of seeing Lucille Ball play someone who was not a caricature of herself. I recently discovered the book upon which the movie was loosely based. It is far superior.

The original Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968) starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda as a widow and widower with eight and ten children, respectively. They meet, fall in love, and have madcap adventures blending their two large families into one. The movie was remade in 2005 with Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid, but all that remained of the true story was the sizes of the families and the parents’ names. Dissatisfied with the Hollywood edits, I sought out the original book, titled Who Gets the Drumstick? It’s out of print, but the good old Austin Public Library just happens to own a copy.

Read the rest at Austin Catholic New Media.

Friday Five: Lasts

Another nice topic this week, but this one’s better executed than the last (pun not intended).

  1. What was the last book you read, and what is your opinion of it? I finished Alice in Charge so I could finally return it. I wrote a mini-review on Goodreads, where you should follow me if you’re a member.
  2. What was the last movie you saw, and what is your opinion of it? I watched the middle of 21 this morning over breakfast. I’ve seen the whole movie, which I thought was pretty good, actually. The characters were fleshed out enough that I cared about them, and the story was intriguing.
  3. What was the last TV show you saw, and what is your opinion of it? I watched a few reruns of How I Met Your Mother this evening. I love that show; I’m so excited for the premiere on Monday. The first episode I saw tonight was “Brunch,” which is where Ted finally explains why he’s telling his kids about his failed relationships and hookups in all their shamefaced glory. His parents get divorced without telling him, and he declares that when he tells his kids how he met their mother (i.e., the show), he’ll tell them everything since his parents told him nothing. I don’t fully buy it (he’ll tell them about his sexcapades, but not about doing drugs?), but it was helpful to finally get an explanation.
  4. What was the last album you bought/downloaded, and what is your opinion of it? Technically, I last pre-ordered the new Switchfoot CD, Vice Verses, and that came with a download of the lead rock single, “Dark Horses.” The last album that actually came into my possession (via download from Amazon MP3) is Sara Bareilles’s Little Voice. I got Kaleidoscope for $3 and liked it so much that I paid $5 for her first album. Or maybe it was New Way to Be Human, also by Switchfoot. That was definitely my most recent physical CD. I tend to buy more digital music since I got my iPhone and realized how moving-friendly it is to own more digital music.
  5. What was the last meal you cooked, and how did it turn out? I just made myself a peanut butter sandwich on a wheat bagel, which was quite tasty. The last meal I actually prepared was probably the lasagna I made last week(end?). It turned out much better than my last lasagna because I used more sauce so I had enough for the last layer. No one likes dry-topped lasagna.

The Friday Five

Booking Through Thursday: Replay

I’m in just under the wire this week.

Have you ever finished a book and loved it so much you went right back and started re-reading it again?

(And obviously, if so, we want titles!)

I don’t think I’ve ever reread a book immediately, but I’ve definitely read books that I knew I would reread: Feed, The Westing Game, Holes, The Hunger Games, and of course every Harry Potter book. Now, I haven’t actually reread all of those, but I know I will. Some books just require a second look.

Hello, friends!

Lindsay Wilcox

My name is Lindsay. I love Jesus. I love grammar. I love Harry Potter. And I just plain love. Join me as I share my loves with you. (More?)

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