The Soap Box
A place for me to dump my brain and you to pick thru it

Over
12:24pm

Wow. This dreadful year is almost over. There is no way I'm going to recap it. Most of it is better off forgotten. Time to look forward and make choices that will bring about positive results. Of course, we don't always have the luxury of choice in every situation.

I'm actually on vacation now. I was busy writing an abstract last week or fretting over the fact that I had to write it, one or the other. I've been done since Thursday. I have this nagging feeling that I should be doing something, reading some psychology-related book or article. It's REALLY hard to relax and just be a bum. I'm certain though that I will have it down just as the semester starts up again. Is there anyone out there who would like to write my Master's thesis this semester? I'll tell you all the important stuff and you write it down coherently so I pass. Deal? I could scrape some money together in payment...say, $5?

Anyway, I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a better year in 2006.

Yeah, That's Appropriate
11:56pm

In the year 2006 I resolve to: Getting myself admitted to a mental institution. Get your resolution here

(feefed from Betty)

Quote of the Day
9:11pm

"In the ten-fold universe, there is no one more worthy of loving-kindness than yourself."
       - Gautama Buddha

And They All Lived Happily Ever After
11:00pm

So UPS did stop by last night around 8:30 and dropped off all kinds of loot. (I smell a rat curry.) The package I was expecting from USPS, however, did not make it which was the present for my mom. I did get guaranteed shipping on it so now the present is FREE! Mom will still get her present, albeit late, and I will get a refund. Not too shabby.

I got lots of wonderful presents from friends and family. I am truly a very blessed person...except that I live less than a mile from this:

which is just amazing in its tackiness. What you can't see is all the things spinning and whirling and that Wyle E. Coyote is on a surf board in a Santa Claus hat or the inflatable Santa Claus held up by ropes above the reindeer on the roof.

I hope all my readers can spend the holidays with loved ones and away from such eyesores.

Happy Holidays!

There is a Scrooge and His Name Is UPS
5:45pm

I ordered some presents from Amazon last weekend to be shipped 2 day. It's now Friday and I have not seen them. Amazon is so overloaded with people looking for their orders I can't even get the shipping number for UPS from their site. So, that's one present for my mother and one present for a niece and nephew I won't get until after Christmas. The other present I got my mom also had "guaranteed" delivery by Christmas. Wanna guess where it is? Well, I couldn't tell you but I can tell you it's not here. So tomorrow I go up to mom's for Christmas Eve with no gifts for her. How shitty is that?

To add insult to injury, I'm running a fever. Humph!

Here You Go mike...
7:17pm

mike has asked me to list my favorite song by each of the artist below. I must pick one and only one...Well, I did the best I could...

rolling stones? "Paint It Black." "Shattered" was a close second and of course, "Mother's Little Helper" was in the running.

beatles? "You Never Give Me Your Money." Could name plenty for this one but let's just leave it at that.

kinks? "Picture Book" because of those goofy HP commercials. (Never been a big fan of the Kinks.)

led zeppelin? OK, if we are talking about Led Zepplin singing a Led Zepplin song, then it's "When the Levee Breaks." If it's any Led Zepplin song recorded by anyone, then "Battle of Evermore" by The Lovemongers.

boston? "Rock & Roll Band." I can actually tolerate listening to it still.

the eagles? Does "Boys of Summer" count? Probably not..."Take it Easy" I think for sentimental childhood reasons.

billy squier? There ain't one. Sorry mike.

Here Comes Santa Claus
2:23pm

These...

showed up in my mailbox yesterday. All of them. Including 3 different catalogs from Coldwater Creek! I think I might have ordered one item from them in the past year, if that, so what the hell?

Joke's on them though. I finished all of my shopping on Sunday night at the mall! Just as I suspected, very few people knew the mall was open until 10pm on Sunday so when I arrived at 8:30pm, I could just stroll right in to any store I wanted. When I actually saw the corridor was virtually empty instead of a sea of humanity, my whole body relaxed. I didn't realize I was so tense until that tension left. The mall was actually a pleasant experience! It was pretty picked over tho but what are you going to do?

Nick and I tried some Boba tea. It's some pretty funky stuff. It's sweetened tea with big "pearls" of tapioca at the bottom. They give you an extra fat straw so you can suck the pearls up. All I have to say about the pearls is "eww." Thanks but no thanks. They were the consistency of perhaps a drying out, thick jello. The tea itself was pretty tasty albeit on the sweet side.

Anyway, anything I didn't buy by the time I left the mall is not going to be purchased by me. So all those catalogs are going straight into the trash. I have to wonder if the mailman was collecting them all to dump in one massive load or if all the retailers actually thought I'd still be shopping on December 19th. Either way, what a waste of trees.

Quick Quiz
9:23am

Will the malls be less crowded tonight (Sunday) or tomorrow night (Monday)? 'Cause I gotta finish my shopping and I'm not psyched about running into a sea of humanity.

You Know You Have Too Much Money When...
5:12am

Recently, 2 levels of the famous Rainbow Room in NYC was rented out for a very special affair. At this exclusive party there were such famous performers as 50 Cent, Don Henley, Aerosmith, Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. Gift bags worth $1000 were given to each attendant and included a digital camera and video iPod. The total cost for the evening was a cool $10 million. What was this event? A Bat Mitzvah. Not just any Bat Mitzvah but the Bat Mitzvah of the daughter of David H. Brooks. Who's that you say? Well, David H. Brooks is the CEO of DHB, the company that makes body armor for our troops and when we are at war, business is good...so good, in fact, that it is reported that Brooks made $250 million in the past year.

This man has made $250 million from the government making body armor. Do you see something wrong with this picture? This is our tax money paying for a fricken $10 million Bat mitzvah! Where the hell is MY damn gift bag? Can you say "war profiteer"? And if recall correctly, for the first part of the war, the families of the soldiers were having to buy the body armor for their loved ones because the government didn't have any. (Today is day 1002 of the war, in case you're counting.)

There is something here that just does not add up.

Fear not, little ones. Mr. Brooks, who made most of his money selling his stock in his own company, will be investigated by the FTC to make sure no insider trading went on. Good luck Mr. Brooks! I'm sure the video from the extravagant Bat Mitzvah will help prove your innocence. HA!

Pay It Forward Holiday
(Does This Count As A Meme?)
1:54pm

Hey! Us bloggers need to celebrate a little too! As almost all of us do this for the sheer enjoyment of it and don't want or expect anything in return but a few faithful readers, I am asking fellow bloggers far and wide to do something nice for another blogger.

Pick a blogger (just one) that you read on a regular basis and get them something from their wishlist or something you know they want. Spread the holiday cheer and embrace the old saying: 'tis better to give than to receive. I'll be picking someone today and sending them a little gift. (No, I won't tell you who I pick.)

Happy holidays fellow bloggers!

PS: Please feel free to pass this idea along on your blog.

Nadir
11:02am

Now that I'm 40 I will admit that I listen to the "Classic" Rock stations on the radio when i'm driving in my car. It's mostly enjoyable but there are really some songs I could do without. In fact, there are bands that I could live without ever hearing again. For Nick, he'd be happy to never hear another Eagles song. I disagree with this. I still like hearing old Eagles songs. They are comforting to me. I think they remind me of when my life was a lot simpler. However, as I grew up in the city of Boston while the band Boston was big, I could die happy if I NEVER heard them again. I think mostly because they only had one good album. The rest just ripped themselves off.

The other artist I could do with never hearing again is Billy Squier. Unfortunately, Billy Squier also was from the city of Boston so he was heavily played there when he was popular. But come on, haven't we all grown beyond the song "The Stroke"? I remember an MTV special where they were retiring some REALLY bad videos, like "Ice Ice Baby." One of the videos that was just embarrassingly bad was from Billy Squier (probably for The Stroke but I don't remember) and one of the commentators, who included Denis Leary, Janeane Garofalo, John Stewart and Chris Kattan, was yelling at the video, "Punch the air! Go ahead, punch the air" then a huge "YEAH!" when Squier actually does this asinine move, thinking he was the coolest shit around. OMG, how did I live through such a terrible time in Rock & Roll?

Now, in case you think I just have something against Boston bands from the 70s and 80s, I will admit there are still plenty of older Aerosmith songs I happily sing along with when I hear them on the radio...like "Mama Kin"," Sweet Emotion", and "Train Kept A Rollin"' (for which it is rumored there is no studio version, only live). And once a year or so, it's nice to hear a Cars song and of course, I'm always pleasantly surprised when a hear a J. Geils song, mostly because they are so rarely played. But please, no more "More Than a Feeling" or "Smokin'" or, God forbid, "Amanda." That last one is a particularly large pile of stink for whom time has not been kind.

What bands wouldn't you miss if you never heard them again on your local Class Rock station?

Random Observations
10:38pm

I was walking in the Student Union Building (SUB) on Wednesday and I noticed a table with a sign stating they were offering free stress tests. I thought, "How nice! The Student Health Center is offering stress tests before finals!" mA young woman had some sort of box in front of her and a young man was sitting facing her holding a metal cylinder in each hand. I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to measure exactly. I heard the young woman say, "Now what is it in your life you most want to change?" Then I looked on the table and saw stacks and stacks of the Dianetics book...and I knew...they were Scientologists trying to recruit new members on campus! Not only on campus but in the SUB! My mind flashed back to the recent South Park episode that mocked Scientology, except that everything in that episode was happening right in front of me! I wanted to go up to the student sitting there with those weird metal cylinders in his hands and yell, "RUN! RUN AWAY NOW! While you still have the chance!" but I didn't. I just thought, "who the hell told the Scientologists they can go poaching in the SUB?"

You know it's close to Christmas when you see ads on TV for Chia pets. I haven't seen the Clapper or the Norelco razor commercials but they can't be far behind!

Again, while in the SUB, I passed the room where they have spinning classes or stationary bikes or whatever you call them and the people in there always look miserable! Why they hell would you go do something that makes you miserable? I don't get it. Go take a walk in the beautiful New Mexico air. Go dancing. Go do some yoga. Go play Frisbee. Do something that will make you happy and burn calories at the same time.

Concert
10:20am

The concert was a success. According to Nick, who was in the audience, we had a standing ovation which unfortunately led to an encore. I say unfortunately because when we were warming up before the concert something in my back went out. OUCH! And yet there I was, standing on the stage with my back freaking out. I found out that if I clenched my butt cheeks, it would compensate for whatever was killing me in my back. So I stood there singing for 45 minutes with my cheeks clenched. Charming huh? Then we got to sit for perhaps 20 minutes and then stand again until the end of the show. All I could think about was getting off that stage and stretching my back or taking some serious drugs or SOMETHING! But no, then we had to sing an encore, which is something I must say I'm not used to in a huge choral setting. I don't remember ever doing it before with the UNM Chorus.

So there it is. Overall a success, but a personal hardship for me. I still enjoyed singing but I'm glad it's over. We had a 4 hour rehearsal Wednesday night that just really wore me out. I think it's going to take a couple of days for me to get back to feeling "normal."

An Open Letter to Friends and Family
4:44am

Dear Loved Ones:

If you are expecting some sort of Christmas/Holiday present from me and what you want is not available on Amazon.com, you're not getting it.

Love,

Me

Conundrum
10:55pm

This is the last week of classes for the semester. Next week is finals week. The Chronicles of Narnia start on Friday. (Can you see where I'm going with this?) Do I not see the movie because I'll feel guilty I'm in a movie and not studying for my final or do I procrastinate all weekend, not study then wish I went to the movie? One or the other will happen, I'm sure of it.

Pinnacle
10:04pm

Do you ever think about what album (or CD) is the best album a band put out? You know, that one album that is so original, in which the band is still stretching, still trying new things before they start ripping themselves off? This work is called by my husband their magnum opus. Following this masterpiece, the other albums may have a good tune here and there but as a whole, can't compare in overall quality to their defining work. For whatever bizarre reason, I think of such things often — usually when I'm driving in my car. Anyway, I thought I'd share what are IMHO the magnum opi of the following bands (and as this is my blog, I'm right about these picks):

Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

U2 - The Joshua Tree

J Geils Band - Freeze Frame

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Peter Gabriel - So

Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage

What albums would you add to the list?

Hell on Earth
8:16pm

I have found Hell on Earth. I wasn't looking for it but I found myself in it earlier today when I was in a Costco just weeks before Christmas where they were demonstrating their new video Karaoke machine. As if it's not bad enough being in that madhouse of a building with what felt like thousands of shoppers and no yummy samples but then an employee started singing Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down. I thought my ears were going to bleed. If you're lucky, you might be able to find your own Hell on Earth in your home town!

On the up side, it was the quickest and cheapest Costco run I've ever made.

Forty and Fabulous!
5:41pm

Fuck you, Father Time! I may not be able to stop your incessant march toward death, but I don't have to go willingly! You're gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming into your time ravaging clutches. So there!      :p

Something Else to Do
10:03pm

In case anyone cares, I will be performing in Carmina Burana exactly a week from tonight at 7:30 in Popejoy Hall on the UNM campus. Tickets range from $6-10. To be perfectly honest, I am only in the chorus but it's still a lot of fun to sing! The soloists are from out of town, so you know that means they are good.    ;)

Anyway, it will be a great concert! We sound pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. Come on down if you're a local.

Blog Name: The Soap Box
Email: jenben[at]g-r-c.com
Introduction

Jen's tattoos
Movies
Ways to waste time
Flash
Digital art
Poetry
Olympic pictures
Crafty things
Cats
Officiant

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

November
December

Blogroll Me!