"I love Jesus but I drink a little."

I normally hate imbedding videos without anything witty, clever, or inspiring to say, but this is absolutely priceless and totally worth 6 minutes of your life.

I'm going to need a hacksaw.

It pains me to say it... but I put 24 on hiatus. I watched the first 4 episodes with Tom back in January, and then the next 3 with Jack Daniels about a month later, and then when I tried to watch #8-9 last night, I was so lost and confused that I had no idea what was going on, and I was so daunted by the fact that I was still 5 episodes behind that I totally wigged out. Plus, I needed my DVR last night to record Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer on TCM, and when it asked me "which of these three scheduled programs would I like to delete" (24, Heroes, or Gene Kelly)- well, I just made a snap decision and chose 24. I will have to watch it this summer when it comes out on DVD. It really is the better way to watch it. Plus, how excited can I really get about a 24-iverse that doesn't include Tony Almeida????

Speaking of Gene Kelly, I watched "For Me & My Gal" last night and did a little swooning. Ladies, start your DVRs. Gene Kelly is TCM's Star of the Month.

anatomy of a *swoooooon*

I know Krysten and Gina will back me up on this; I'm watching Harvey on TCM and oh, Jimmy Stewart!!!! *sigh* They just don't make 'em like they used to.

"In this world, you have to be oh-so-smart or oh-so-pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

Atlanta

I promised Erin I would update today, because apparently she likes to read about my life, even when nothing is going on. I'm in Atlanta, one of my least favorite cities, mostly because there are only chain restaurants to choose from. It's especially hard right now, because I gave up meat for Lent. Dude, there's meat everywhere in this city!

In better news, I'm staying in a nice hotel, and I just made Gold with Marriott so I'm up on the fancy floor. This hotel is a Renaissance, and I love staying in Renaissances because they have Lather bath products, and as you all know, fancy bath products that I can't afford are truly the way to my heart. I almost never get my room serviced when I'm traveling for work (unless I'm somewhere for more than like, a week) but I totally am every day on this trip, just for more lavendar and lemongrass soap.

So, yesterday one of my union guys came up to me, and I haven't seen him in a few months, and he was all "Yo Jamie! What's different about you?? Your face is redder!" and I was all "...ummm, thanks, Junior." And then he was like "no! I've got it! Your hair is lighter and that's what makes your face look redder." To which I say.... awesome.

Well, my hair IS lighter. I got it cut and colored last week. I was going to post a picture but I left my camera at home. Plus, now I'm totally self-conscious about my ruddy complexion.

I'm ready for this show to be o-v-e-r... I have some serious time off after this show and I. cannot. WAIT.

life changes

So, I've made a big life-altering decision this week. (One could argue that every decision is a life-altering decision but that's another post for another day.) I've decided to take the summer off from school. It's been plaguing me for a couple of months and I just finally broke down and decided. I feel better already, actually.

My original plan was to quit my job in May and take my last 2 science classes (+ 2 freshman goverment classes... stupid Texas public school requirements) over the summer, to apply in the fall, to start in the spring, and be done December 2009. But the last 4 sememsters I have been balls-to-the-wall (figuratively, of course) with work and travel and school, and I've really been stressing myself out lately. This semester is hard. All of the sudden life was screeching up to May and I am just not ready to quit my job. I'm not ready financially; I'm not ready emotionally- I'm just not ready. Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure quitting my steady income job to wait tables and take 4 classes in 12 weeks wouldn't really do anything to alleviate my stress level. I feel like I chose the quickest path and there was really no need to do so. It's not like nursing is going anywhere. Plus if I wait another cycle, I can do the fast-track plan (15 months instead of 2 years)- which will only push back graduation 9 months from the previous plan, allow me to take out fewer student loans, and put me in a program of people my age, who have degrees in other fields and have real-life work experience under their belts. All in all I think it will be a more enjoyable experience for me to do it this way.

So, summer is mine, like the old days. I'm going to give my brain a little rest from capillaries and tissues and bones. I'm just going to work, and read, and travel, and maybe even go on vacation. I'm going to turn 31 and I'm going to go back to school in the fall. In the end I think my psyche will thank me for it.

Name-that-Movie

OK, so, my friend Tom is writing a treatment for a made-for-TV movie about an internet predator. We were batting around really horrid MOW-worthy titles for it like "Instant Message: Fear" and "Preda-dater" and I decided to hold a contest here at No Day but Today. I bet you guys will have some great ideas.

It's about this tough, take-no-prisoners network TV journalist (is there any other kind?) who hosts a show like "To Catch a Predator." She's going through a messy divorce and her teenage daughter is rebelling, natch, and befriends an internet predator just released from prison (put there, of course, by her mom's show). But then, the predator dies, so who is she talking to? Is it the high school date rapist? Her dad, looking to make Mom look bad so he can get custody? The guidance counselor? Her mom's boss? Or... is the predator still alive?

I leave the floor open~

make-up help

Thanks for all the discussion in the book-to-movie post. I'm surprised I didn't hear from Giovanna or Brain Diva so maybe this post will reel them in.

Most of you know, I'm not a really girly girl when it comes to primping. Don't get me wrong, I like to look cute or whatever, but I pretty much only buy drugstore makeup and if my hair takes long than 10 minutes to fix, well, forget about it. It's not going to be fixed. I just don't like wasting an hour of the day in the bathroom looking at myself.

Two days ago, I was a the drugstore and needed to pick up some mascara. I have been wearing the same mascara for about 15 years- Max Factor 2000 Calorie. It's the best. I've tried others but always come back. In fact, In Style did a huge mascara survey a few years ago and good old $4.50 Max Factor 2000 Calorie came in 2nd place after some $30-department store stuff (which I would never buy. I also didn't read said article; someone told me about it, so my facts could be off).

Well, I couldn't find it at my Walgreen's- in fact, I couldn't find the Max Factor display at all. I remembered hearing somewhere that some major drugstore chain doesn't carry some major make-up line, like Rite-Aid doesn't carry Cover Girl or CVS doesn't carry Maybelline, or something. I just assumed that it was Walgreen's and Max Factor and decided to pick it up at Target the next day.

So yesterday, I couldn't find the Max Factor at Target, either, so befuddled (and hungry, and you guys know how all over the place I am when I am hungry), I turned to the first Target employee I saw, who happened to be the Boots rep, and asked where the Max Factor was, and she said they had been bought out!!!!! I was all... "no more Max Factor?" "No," she said, not unkindly. "I can't remember who bought them out, but Max Factor won't be sold here anymore." "So no more 2000 Calorie mascara?" I asked with a quivering lip. Long story short- I was so verklempt that she talked me into a $9 tube of Boots mascara, which by the way, BLOWS.

So, now, I need some girl help. I need a new mascara (drugstore mascara, not department store mascara). Please keep in mind that I spent the last 15 years faithful to my 2000 Calorie, so I'm going to be emotionally distant and commitment-phobic to new mascaras for a little while.

Handle with care, everything (even the predators).

I read Bridge to Terabithia yesterday. I haven't read it since I was about 10 years old, but when the movie trailers started coming on, I was thinking, "wait, that doesn't look right." All that fantasy? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some fantasy. But I just didn't remember Terabithia being a fantasy book. So my memory was right (which is no small feat) - that's not what the book is about. Yet another stunning book trashed by Hollywood.

Why is it so hard to make a good movie out of a good book? With the rare & wonderful exception of To Kill a Mockingbird, I can't even come up with an example of a movie I like as much as the book, much less more. It's not that I think film is a lesser medium- I love movies. I ingest more movies than books. But why is it so impossible to translate the printed word into an acceptable, watchable format?

What are some of your favorite book-to-movie translations??

OK, edited to add: Don't throw things at me, but I actually liked all three Lord of the Rings movies better than the books. Mostly because they are totally dude books and they're so frakkin' long that I'd rather spend 3 hours with one than 3 weeks. Also, they were extremely well done by someone who obviously regarded the original work with the utmost care and respect.

geek alert!

You guys know I love my nerdy t-shirts. Well, I just got this one from my friend Nathaniel in California. Poor, poor, Pluto. I love it!!

I am home from NYC. I can't even miss it right now because it's 70 degrees outside and GORGEOUS. I slept in, watched some TV with Tom, cleaned the kitchen, and cooked a little... all in all, some seriously good Jamie time. I'm going to get some reading done and some schoolwork today, too, and hopefully get to the yoga studio later.

Oh, and my boss just called and asked if I'd be "interested" in working in Hawai'i in May. Um, yes??

because sometimes a post bears repeating:

The sun has left and forgotten me,
It's dark, I cannot see.
Why does this rain pour down,
I'm gonna drown in a sea,
Of deep confusion.
Somebody told me, I don't know who,
Whenever you are sad and blue,
And you're feelin' all alone and left behind,
Just take a look inside and you will find:

You gotta hold on, hold on through the night
Hang on, things will be all right
Even when it's dark, and not a bit of sparkling,
Sing-song sunshine from above,
Spreading rays of sunny love.
Just hang on, hang on to the vine--
Stay on, soon you'll be divine.
If you start to cry, look up to the sky:
Something's coming up ahead
To turn your tears to dew instead

And so I hold on to this advice:
When change is hard and not so nice,
You listen to your heart the whole night through
Your sunny someday will come one day soon to you.