Wedding this Weekend...

My sister's wedding is this weekend. I am really looking forward to it. I checked the weather forcast, and it seemed like a miracle. The day before and after is forecasted for rain, but the day of it is suppose to be high in the 60's and sunny. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen. Still haven't planned out my maid of honor toast (shhh...don't tell anyone). But I think I know what I will do and say. Things I am expecting for the day:

Picture taking will be torturous.
I will be uncomfortable the whole night in my dress.
The biggest drunks at the reception will come from my (and the bride's) side of the family.
I won't dance, and if I do it will be with my little cousins (or when I have to, with the groomsmen).
Me to bomb on giving a funny and sentimental toast.
Catching up with some old friends (yay!)
Eating yummy cake.
Seeing my adorable little cousins all dressed up for the wedding.
Did I mention drunken relatives?

Good times to come.

For those who care

Yes, Heroes, was awesome. The pacing was a little odd, but I think that is due to the fact that the cast is so large and they aren't currently interacting with each other (although the pilot shows that they are all somehow connected, in some kind of Six Degrees kind of way). My opinion of some of the characters so far (giving almost all nicknames because I don't know their names well enough):

Hiro: Japanese guy who can stop/bend time and transport himself. He is your standard comic book geek who is super excited about his new abilities. I am liking him so far.
Cheerleader girl: She is unbreakable. Seems a little saddened by her abilities but at the same time curious to see how far she can push herself. Also revealed at the end that she may be adopted. Is one or both of her parents a Hero as well?
Stripper Mom: She has some kind of alter ego/dual personality, which she sees in the mirror. I am still not totally understanding what exactly her power is, but it is the most intriguing. She also has a genius son, who so far, doesn't appear to have any powers.
Politico guy's brother: Thought he could fly, but apparently could not. He is kind of annoying, in that ideal angst-y kind of way, but from the previews for future episodes it seems like he is still some how a central figure to the heroes. I have read on other forums that he may be an empath. I am hoping some kind of human cerebo (See X-Men).
Politico guy: He is the flyer. He is also an asshole, which isn't surprising since he is a politician.
Indian professor: Following up on his dad's research on human potential. I get the feeling that he is going to be a kind of Professor Xish figure on the show. Oh, and the actor who plays him is really nice to look at.
Drug addicted painter: Paints the future (while high?). I felt his character wasn't shown enough, but you get the feeling he is extremely tormented by his powers. If he doesn't need to be high to see the future, I am confused in wondering if he needs his painting abilities to see the future, or can he envision them on his own?
Drug addicted painter's girlfriend: I can do without her just because she is boring so far. Get a storyline please.
Cheerleader's Adoptive Dad: Seems to be chasing the heroes and people connected to them. Is he evil? So far I am saying yes. Does he know about his daughter's abilities? If not, what will he do when he finds out?

Kind of soap opera-y but I am still looking forward to future episodes.

Geekishly Excited

Ok, I am a dork. I am super excited for the season premiere of NBC's new shoe Heroes. Seeing the previews piqued my interest. I don't know if I have always been interested in sciencey-fiction/Superhero stuff or if my brother's interest in that stuff influenced my own interest. Although there are probably some hardcore "fanboys" and "fangirls" out there that would look at this show as a rip-off or riding the X-men/Superman/Spiderman "craze." This is just something else to showoff their superhero knowledge superiority (think of them as music snobs, but replace the music with superhero stuff). Luckily, I am not one of those people. I will fully admit that my knowledge of this stuff is limited, to say the least.

What I like most is the origin stories of superheroes. How did they get their power? What happened when they discovered it? What pulled them into the good/evil side?

In college I took a literature course that was only on graphic novels. We talked a lot about heroes and anti-heroes and the human condition. I am not being facetious in saying that it was fascinating. It really was and it stays one of my favorite courses in college. The professor did a really good job at converting a lecture full of over 100 students, into comicbook/graphic novel nerds.

Anyway, I will be watching the show tonight. To close, I will share what my super human power would be:

I am going to be unoriginal and say---Mind Control (ala-Jean Grey/Phoenix on X-Men)

Holy Crap! It's Fall.

This blog would be confusing to those who never lived in a climate where there are 4 distinct seasons. Wisconsin is one of those climate. Fall is nothing like summer, summer is nothing like spring etc. As much as I complain about the cold winters and the hot and humid summers, I enjoy this type of climate. You get to experience of both worlds. The only thing that sucks about it is the unpredictable-ness of it all. The temperature and weather can really turn suddenly and drastically.

One of the great things about the seasonal changes is how it sneaks up on you. For example, I suddenly realized the sudden change to fall this past weekend. Perhaps it was because it was raining for a week straight before it, that I did not notice the leaves starting to change color and fall of the trees, or the crisp-coolness of the air starting to settle in. I think fall is my second favorite season, following summer.

Whenever I think of Wisconsin seasons this is what I think of:

Spring in Wisconsin: Rain, rain and more rain. Not even the pleasant warm rain. No, I am talking the cold, and humid rain. The type where you develop a cold immediately if you even stand in it for 2 minutes. And it never really feels sunny. It almost always feel grey. I don't know why, but when I think of spring, I think of depression which is weird since spring is almost always thought of as a rebirth and sunny.

Summer: Short, but hot and humid. It's surprising that a state that is relatively far north can get this sweltering during the summer months, but it does. I know that it isn't right to complain considering some states deal with summer heat hitting well over 100, but if people from warm states can complain about 40 degree weather (and bundle up like it is freezing) then I have the right to complain about mid-80 to upper 90 degree weather.

Fall: Usually dry, cool and crisp, and I think of as sunny (especially early fall). Wisconsin has some of the prettiest colors to when you go out to the wooded areas for hikes.

Winter: Snow can sometimes start falling before Thanksgiving, but doesn't get into continual falling until January. Lately the winters have been mild but I remember when there would be heavy snow storms with strong wind drifts and feeling like the snow banks were as tall as my dad (6 feet). Of course everything is exaggerated as a kid, but I can tell that the snow hasn't been that big since then.

In summary I like having 4 seasons.

And for a little change...A Hate Filled Blog

Do you know what I hate most in the world? A top 10

1. Headaches that won't go away. The kind that have no apparent cause. Any type of pain reliever doesn't get rid of it. The kind that feel like someone is constantly hitting you in one spot in your head. The kind that makes you sensitive to light. No, I don't think it is a migraine because it isn't debilitating.

2. Loud talker and/or laughers. People with annoying laughs are added into this. I can't stand it. Oh, I would be added into this as well. I never thought much about my laugh, but once a friend told me my laugh was funny and weird. And then later another friend told me that my laugh annoyed him, but then he grew to like it. So now I know that when someone says that your laugh is unique or cute that what they really are saying is that they want to throw a brick at your head to make you stop.

3. Idiots that use parking/turning lanes to go straight through an intersection. If it were a perfect world I could ram my car into their car without hurting anyone and not causing any damage to MY car.

4. People who pity me because I am not in a relationship and because I say I don't want to get married and have kids (even if I found a man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with). Beside some benefits laws give (SAME-SEX) marriages, I don't see the point. Promising someone eternity is just the same thing, minus a wedding ceremony and reception.

And just because I don't want to get married and have kids does not mean that I look down on people that do and devote their life to that process. I believe people should be able to live their life they way that they want to.

5. The fact that tight pants and tights are now back in fashion. The fashion world really hates me huh? Well at least I can look back at pictures of myself (as I am at this point in time) 10 years from now and not be embarrassed by the way I look. T-shirts and jeans never look weird. I made all my fashion fau-paux (SP?) when I was in elementary school, and that was all my mom's doing. Yes mom, it was all your fault. Shame (wiggles finger in her direction).

6. A certain somebody that is my mortal enemy, and I don't even think that individual is aware of it. I imagine if we were superheroes, I would be the good guy with a dark edge and my mortal enemy would be the "good guy" exterior with truly evil and vile motives.

7. Ann Coulter- 'nuff said

8. Styro-foam - the sound of it rubbing grates my last nerve

9. Exercising. Whatever fool said that exercising "energizes" you and that you will get over that period of loathing working out is just dead wrong. I have been regularly working out for almost 4 months now and I still dread it. But I am doing it nonetheless.

Also, you know how some people say that because of the release of endorphins while exercising you are more likely to be attracted to someone (ex. Running in a park I may pass I guy and want to jump him, both figuratively and literally, when normally I would think that guy is average to fugly). I don't thing this works for me. Instead of wanting to jump people's bones, I want to punch. For example, when the sweaty and stinky guy decides to use the machine next to me, I start to work out faster to prevent me from punching that man in the face when normally I would not even notice nor care.

10. The person that broke off my atennea from my car. Thanks to that douchebag I can only get three radio stations to come in.

Ok, my rant is over.

Bachelorette Party/Bachelor Party

So this went better than I had planned. But then again, I planned disaster beyond monstrous proportions. Here are some highlights.

-Upon driving toward the campsite the people I was driving with noticed a "gentleman's Club" called Crusin' Chubbies. We giggled because we have the maturity level of 12 year olds.

-Once we got our campsite set up, we sat around the campfire trying to warm up, because it was rather chilly.

-We went out to eat at Marley's in Wisconsin Dells. There we ran into around 4 other bachelorette parties that were out to eat. The food was Caribbean style and too spicy for my weak Midwest stomach.

-Rianna told me not to worry about the amount of bars, because there would be plenty for us to go to on the main drag in the Dells. Well, there was two. Both of which were crowded with groups of girls out for bachelorette parties. The few guys that were out, of course, loved this. Many of them were willing to play along with our game, which essentially was making fun of them.

-In order for me to gain a point in the game, I had to ask a random guy to guess my bra size. The guy I asked appeared to be reaching in for a grab. I let out a little scream and ran away before he touched me. He worked at a laser tag place, so you could probably only imagine the scariness.

-Rianna making fun of some "hipster" guy with tight pants, black framed glasses, huge arm tattoo and tiny faux-hawk. She asked him if he was in a band (part of game) when he asked why, she said, "When I went to college the guys that looked like you, usually were ."

-Going back to Marley's (which is converted into a dance club at night) and Rianna joining a dance contest with other bachelorettes. She won and received a 25 dollar bar tab. I think one of the reasons she won was because she was giving away her Blow-Pops from her Blow-Pop bouquet for free while dancing and the crowd was liking it.

-The bachelor party got pulled over for speeding (there was seven people in the 5 person car) and they got away with a warning.

-CM was talking to people!

-There was a guy at the club that made my 6'4" friend look tiny. I looked at him and said, "Whoa," and he laughed at me.

-First time I was at the bars with my brother who just recently turned 21 (come on now, we are good kids that never used fake IDs).

-I got to sleep on the queen size air mattress with one of my friends while my other friend slept on a separate twin sized air mattress (yay for the spoiled camping experience). The one who was alone got cold and said the next morning that she wanted to curl up between us for body heat...like a kitty. But she didn't.

-It was raining in the morning, but luckily it wasn't raining the entire night.

Where were you?

5 years ago today two planes flew into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and one crashed in Pennsylvania (it was headed to D.C. with the Capitol as its target). Today many forms of media are doing different tributes and memorials to remember the day. On the radio they had listeners call in and tell the story of where they were and how they found out. Here is mine:

It was my freshman year at UW-Madison. I got up as usual and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. My roommate was already up and changed, watching television while lounging in her bed. I returned back from the shower in my street clothes, towel wrapped around my head, carrying my little shower caddy. As I opened up my door, I saw my roommate out of bed, standing by her desk, on the phone with her brother. In her other hand she had the remote control. She had just changed the channel to CNN. She then looked at me all puzzled and said, "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center."

My reaction, although to some may seem harsh, is very characteristic to me. I immediately thought, "What kind of dumbass pilot flies right into a building?" I didn't think at all of a terrorist attack. Because I thought it was some fluke accident, I quickly combed my hair, grabbed my things and went to my Math 221 discussion.

After my class I came back to my dorm. First I went to the cafeteria to grab my lunch. Everyone in the cafeteria was talking about the planes but not going into detail. I got confused about the plural use of the word. With my food, I went to my room, my roommate was gone to class. I turned on the television and got the news. By this time not only did I find out that another plane flew into the other building, but that they had both collapsed and that another plane flew into the Pentagon.

I didn't go to any other classes for the day. I just stayed in my room watching the news in utter shock and feeling guilty about how fast I brushed off the initial news.

I guess that this event is similar to the JFK assassination. Everyone asks you where you were when you heard the news, and you remember.

Remember how I said I had no work friends?

A few months ago I talked about how no one at my office liked me. The friends I did have were the maintenance guys. Well not much has changed. But I do have yet another example of how they see me as their little buddy.

One of them was heading out to the gas station to get everyone coffee/donuts/some kind of snack. He stopped at my door and asked me what I wanted. I politely said I didn't want anything. He asked again. I said I had no money. He asked again. I said, "No really its ok." He asked again. I said, "Fine. I will take a can of soda...Pepsi or Coke is fine."

He came back with the can of soda and a little thing of Goldfish Crackers, because he noticed a few months ago I was snacking on them in my office. Aw, how nice.

Hot Cops.

Yesterday at work. There I am. Happily type, type, typing away at my computer. Next thing I know I see one police officer walk by my window. 5 minutes later, I see another one pass by. Minutes later, I see a group walk by. 20 minutes later I see them standing on a balcony in an apartment building across the way.

Not too long after that I see police officers walking past my window again, this time with sniper-looking rifles. I continue staring out the window thinking, "Ok, this is interesting." I get up and go ask my co-workers, "What the Hell is going on?" They look out the window and go, "Oh, will you look at that. Hmm, don't know. Oh, the cute one is here. Heeeey." I accepted the answer and walked away. I still don't know what happened.

Maid of Honor: Why I Will Never Agree to This Crap Again

If I haven't stated it before, my sister is only 11 months older than me. She is just barely older than me, but older than me nonetheless. Growing up, she never let me or my younger brothers forget it. She was in charge. It was her way or... Well there is no end to that statement because there was no question or argument against it.

During our childhood we were close. All the kids were close. It didn't hurt that the four of us were about four years apart. But then, ah, sweet puberty hit. With it came hormones and mood swings. Looking back at it, I think I was the most effected by it. My mom said that I would walk around with a constant rainstorm over my head. I will admit I did, it had more to do with me hating middle school than anything else. For some reason, I think this effected the closeness that my sister and I had. We were still close, just not as close as we once were. We had our own friends and spent time with them alone. Once my sister went off to college, and I followed suit the next year, we became BFF once again.

Her and her fiance announced their engagement this past Christmas and soon afterward she told me I was the Maid of Honor (not that she had much choice in the matter because if she chose anyone besides me my mom would probably cause some sort of damage). My sister reassured me that she would chose me either way.

So last Christmas. That gives them 10 months about to plan and save up for their wedding. Doesn't give me a ton of time to find a job that pays well so I can throw a good shower and bachelorette party. Money and creativity are two necessities in throwing a god shower and party for my sister. I possess neither.

This goes back to my initial paragraph, of my sister being the typical oldest sibling. She wants things her way. Heaven forbid it not go her way. When I first started to send out the invitations for the shower, I told my sister what I was doing. Including note cards so the guests could write down their favorite recipes on them. When Rianna found out that I wasn't decorating them, she got upset with me. She was upset about the note cards? Oh boy, was she going to be upset about the entire shower.

The weeks/days proceeding the shower, she would call me and ask me how I was doing with the planning. I would tell her what I had planned/still had to do and as I would get off the phone with her, I could just hear the disappointment in her voice.

Needless to say I was a nervous wreck for the few days before and during the shower. You know it is bad when your parents are nervous for you as well (I caught my mom the night before re-doing the gift card collection box I made because she said Rianna would complain).

Luckily, it went off well. A lot of guests showed up (without RSVPing of course). There was a lot of food. Decorations were sparse but did the job. Games went well. The party favors were good, but you got the feeling that people were unimpressed with them (people left them there and/or threw them away). They should have just pitied a poor girl and throw it away at home!

Most important of all. No complaining by the bride. Yippee. Well, at least no complaining to my face.

Surfers are Leather-y and Cool

This weekend I went back home to Sheboygan to host my sister's wedding shower. I was looking forward to spending a nice long Labor Day weekend with everyone. I had no idea that this weekend in Sheboygan was also, Dairyland Surf Classic.

I didn't find out that this was happening until during the shower, when guests were talking about driving past the lake and watching people stand by their cars staring at the waveless lake. Heh, suckers. Apparently there was not enough wind.

I know that Sheboygan is considered a great surf location for lakes in the United States, but my entire 18 years of living there, I have never seen A person surf on the lake. I have seen pretty large waves that individuals could surf on, if they wanted to, but no takers. I never went to competitions either, because they were never advertised well around our city.

Anyway, after the shower, my sister and I went to our mutual friend's bachelorette party. The party consisted of we-girls, bar hopping with the bride, who was wearing a "Suck for a Buck" shirt (candies double-sided taped on a shirt that anyone could take off for a dollar using their teeth). One bar we went to must have been a meeting place for all the surfers. They had bluegrass and swing bands playing and a lot of the surfer people were really friendly, talking to the bride-to-be and giving marriage advice and dollars (sometimes not even taking the candy). I couldn't help but be a little grossed out by their leather-like skin. Overly tan people creep me out.

Best quote of the night:

One of the party goers (and high school friend of my sister and bride-to-be): "Rianna, I touched your sister's boooooooooooooooooooobies."

Rianna: "Heh....What?"

Wow. Is it really that important?

Pluto is a planet, goddammit!

Or at least, some believe it should be.