Sifl and Olly



This is one of my favorite shows of all time. Chester is the best ever!

Apocalyptica - Sandra Nasic - Path Vol. II.



Nothing like 4 hot metal guys playing electric cellos!!

Thanks for introducing this to me, Brother!

Tori Amos Behind The Music



I was so excited when I ran into this, I've never seen the original that aired. Since I seem to be on a Tori kick, I thought this was appropriate.

Tori Amos Behind The Music (Part 2)

Tori Amos Behind The Music (Part Three)



Tori has released 4 albums since this BTM came out (as well as a few compilations). She also had a daughter and wrote a book!

My first Tori



The very first time I saw Tori Amos, it was on MTV for a making of for this video. I have loved her madly ever since. While I don't always get her lyrics (sometimes I think I'm just not deep enough), she writes some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. Plus they're way fun to sing.

One day when I have my own yard, I'm going to get myself one of those slate pianos...

The Words Are Dying

Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. -- Emo Phillips

Emo is the new Goth

I'm confused...

What the heck is "Emo"? I keep hearing this word lately and when I look at these supposed "Emo" people, they're all dressed in black with punked out hair and dark makeup. It looks like they listen to the Cure but 20 years later. What's with the name change? Goth not cool anymore?

I hear "Emo" and I think of this guy:

Emo Philips is a comedian who hosted a long-ago half hour comedy show on MTV when I was in high school (I think it was called The Half Hour Comedy Hour). One of my favorite one liners from him is the following:

...and always remember the last words of my grandfather, who said "A truck!"

Of course his delivery is way funnier, especially with his falsetto voice.

There's a comedy team that is jumping on the "Emo" bandwagon and have a pretty funny site called Hope is Emo. It's a podcast of a girl named Hope who is, well.. Emo! There's only three chapters so far and my favorite is the first one, "The Words Are Dying". I wish YouTube would let me put the video right in my current blog but they make me do separate blogs for my videos! So alas, it will be out of order. Hope does bring up one good point tho, maybe being called "Emo" is better than being called "Gothtard"...

Now I leave with more Emo wisdom:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" He said, "Like what?" I said, "Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious." I said, "Me too! Are you christian or buddhist?" He said, "Christian." I said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me too! Are you episcopalian or baptist?" He said, "Baptist!" I said,"Wow! Me too! Are you baptist church of god or baptist church of the lord?" He said, "Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you original baptist church of god, or are you reformed baptist church of god?" He said,"Reformed Baptist church of god!" I said, "Me too! Are you reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1879, or reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed baptist church of god, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off. -- Emo Phillips

It's official

Cockroaches are taking over the world...

I always knew I loved He Man...

Henk van Rensbergen

I can't go to bed tonight without posting this. For anyone that reads this blog, you must go to the below site:

Abandonded Places

It has to be one of the most fascinating websites I have come across in a very long time (thanks, Brother!). Henk's photography is incredible and the images are haunting.

Of anything that he has chronicled on his site, please go to Photo Wheel #1 (it's the circle with the 1 in it). On the bottom right of this wheel is The Lemaire Institute. There is one section in regards to the Lemaire Institute that he put pictures when the hospital was at it's prime and then you put your mouse over the picture and it turns into the hospital of today. Freaky freaky stuff! I also love how he sets the scene before you start looking at the pictures. I think it helped a little that I had Raindrop Prelude from Chopin playing in the background...

I'd post a teaser photo but I would need his permission first and I don't want to wait another moment to post this link!

Red, The Doctor, Magneto & Mickey Mouse

Well I thought I'd try something a bit different and go for a new hairdo yesterday. The stylist straightened it as well (just with an iron, not chemically straightened) when she was done. It's funny how every stylist I come across, they can't resist straightening my hair. I guess curls will do that to a person. I was just going to do the normal hilites + cover my grey but the hubby talked me into a little more color. I wish I could figure out how to do pictures on this thing. I hate that they stack them one on top of another. I'd prefer the one of me first then the one of me and Faythe further down in this blog but whaddya do! I'm going to have to ask D to show me how she does it!

Just finished watching an episode of the new Doctor Who series. I must say it's fantastic! We got season 1 on DVD and season 2 started a little bit ago in England. The writing is really good and we're enjoying it a lot. The Doctor changed from season 1 to season 2 but I guess in the 30 years of the show, it's not new for the Doctor to change form. As much as I liked Christopher Eccleston (played season 1 Doctor), I love the new Doctor now, David Tennant. He's great! So far my favorite episode is The Girl in the Fireplace with Sophia Myles as Reinette (Madame De Pompadour). I think my hubby has probably watched it 10 times since the episode originally aired lol. We were really loving the new version of Battlestar Galactica and when it finished it's season, they announced the show wouldn't be back until October. We didn't know what we were going to fill the void with but we've happily found it now! If anyone is looking for a new show and likes the sci-fi genre, please go to your local video store and rent Season 1. You won't regret it!

One last note about Sci-Fi/Fantasy...saw X-Men: Last Stand last night and it was really good. Some people thought it was a little too much but I quite enjoyed it. There was one part with Magneto that I thought was a bit over the top but the rest was great. Bring your tissues though! A lot of things happened that I didn't expect and I ended up tearing through quite a bit of the film. The boy in the movie that played Leech was driving us crazy because we recognized him and couldn't figure out where we knew him from. Then we finally realized he had played on Stargate SG1 last season. Oh one more thing, be sure you stay for the end credits, there's something you don't want to miss!

4 more days until Florida! 7 more days until Disneyworld! Woohoooo!!!!! Can't wait! I just have to get through month-end at work and then we're off. Although I must say it's always very strange for me when I go on a plane that my destination isn't Chicago. I'm crossing my fingers that we have enough $$$ to go home for Christmas this year. Not sure if we can do it but I can hope!

Well I'm off to practice the piano. Hubby wants me to try to learn the music from the fireplace episode. It's very pretty! Not to mention I have loads of laundry to do (no pun intended...or was it!) and have to start organizing to pack for our trip.

Have a lovely Sunday!

And a good time was had by all...

Had Alan's Dad over yesterday to celebrate his 60th birthday. It was lots of fun. A friend of the family from California was there (Uncle Lee!!) and so was Alan's Mom, Sister & Niece. Everyone talked lots of "memories past" and laughed a whole bunch. Alan's Mom made her signature Angel Food cake with chocolate pudding in the middle and it was soooo good! I'm on a diet? Huh?? What was that? lol Ah well, I'll start again on Monday! ;)

Faythe always loves when Jaedyn comes over. She was so excited and running around crazy all afternoon (believe me, my downstairs neighbor can attest to it!). She was so broken hearted after Jaedyn left that she cried for about 2 hours. I think part of it was that she hadn't napped so she was a little extra cranky. Poor thing finally fell asleep after her Daddy walked her around the house singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Funny how that still puts her to sleep! I figured she was just going to take a late nap since it was about 6pm but she ended up being down for the night! She woke up once about 10 and then at 4 wanting something to drink but didn't wake up completely until 7am. I was pretty suprised!

Sad news on the Everquest front. My husband has retired....again. Granted he has been doing that a lot lately but this time it was for good. He even sold all of his gear and is now nekkid. I am officially heartbroken. I'm not sure what I want to do. I don't have much wanting to play (as much as I love ya Sav & Lutz!) without my partner. I have just joined a new guild with my main and went on two raids already. It was quite fun and very interesting to see another aspect of the game. My only problem is that I don't like being locked into anything and if you are in a raid, you can't really stop to change a diaper or get food or whatever. I also have 2 characters on another server that I have enjoyed a lot and so I'm pretty torn as to what I want to do. What I want is for my husband to be back! I miss my Friday Night the-kid-is-in-bed-let's-play-all-night adventures!!! /mourn Amra

On another topic, we're going to Florida on June 1st and I can't wait!!!!!! It's going to be so great to see Tara & Florin again and to see their new little one. Plus with Imogin and Faythe being so close in age (4 months apart), they are going to have a blast together. We're also going to go to Disneyworld (thanks Keira for coming early enough, ha!). Alan and I went there for our honeymoon almost 6 years back now and had so much fun. It will be great to go there now with friends. We actually met Tara & Florin originally through the first Everquest. We were all in the same guild together. Then Tara came up to visit us and Florin happened to be from the Vancouver area. Next thing you know they're married, living in Florida and have 2 kids! They've already beat us to the punch with 2 kids as Keira was born last Wednesday morning. Hopefully our second one will be coming soon!

Well that's it for now, I believe. We have a 3-day weekend this weekend (Canada's version of Memorial Day but insert Queen Victoria and take out remembering dead people but keep the bbq's, etc) so I'm planning on quite a bit of rest and relaxation. I was hoping for some EQ time but my heart just isn't in it at the moment...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bush sure loves his fish

Bush to German newspaper Bild after being asked about the high point of his Presidency since taking office in 2001:

You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best. I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake.

Source

Funny how this man never seems to suprise me anymore...

Bill Maher always knows the truth!

"All right. New Rule: When you marry Charlie Sheen, don't be surprised when he turns out to be Charlie Sheen! We are talking about a guy who paid hookers by check. Marrying Charlie Sheen and getting mad he's a freak, is like electing two shills from the oil industry and getting mad when the price of gas goes up." --Bill Maher 04/28/2006

Source: hbo.com

Family Electrocution

Note to self...

Do not have your husband turn off the TV while you are using a semi-wet Magic Erasure to wash off the crayon put there by your daughter while holding her with your left hand who happens to also be holding onto her Daddy.

It completes a circuit...and it hurts!

Happy Easter!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter yesterday. Faythe had a lot of fun since it was her first real Easter. She really enjoyed trying to find her basket and all of her eggs.

Boy did we ever pay tho for letting her eat chocolate all day!

Bed Potato

Guess what we found under the bed!! Yes, my daughter left us another growing spud. Thankfully we did some spring cleaning or who knows when we would have found this one! Too bad I don't have my own place or I'd root the sucker and plant him!

We have now thoroughly checked the rest of our house to make sure we have no more suprise plants growing. Thankfully, this seems to be the last of the bunch!

On a side note, it seems we still have black widows as the hubster found another one in one of our boxes the other day. He tried to kill it but unfortunately it got away. We're going to have to rent a suit of armor and go through all of our boxes to get rid of them. I'm nervous now as to how many might be there since another has been spotted! It also scares me because it's in the same area as my cat's litter boxes. Thankfully that's one reason why they have fur, spiders can't bite through it!

Couch Potato Story

Sooooo....

My daughter decided she wanted to play with the bag of potatoes. No problem, she likes to count, sort & stack things so why not count, sort & stack potatoes.

When she was done, I thought I had recovered all the potatoes but apparently I missed one.

I missed the one that rolled under the couch.

We noticed one day Faythe was trying to grab something under the couch and when we bent down to see what it was, low and behold it was Mr. Potato. Alan tried to grab it and had to literally rip the roots from the carpet as they started to take hold!

After being severely grossed-out for about 10 min, I finally got myself to grab it and throw it away. Not until I snapped a few pics tho, of course! Hubster thought it was funny that I had to take the pics of it on the couch, tho. He said I was staging them but what was I to do? Take a pic of the potato in the garbage?

Needless to say Faythe hasn't played with any more vegetables as of late. Except when she's eating of course. ;)

Couch Potato Pics