disconnected - from the universe!

I'm watching a documentary on hulu called "Disconnected."  It's about these college students who decided to go three weeks without touching a computer.  I'm kind of jealous and want to perform this experiment as well . . . I was even coming up with preliminary plans and thinking about asking friends to participate.  But then I realized that it is literally impossible to be in school in 2010 and not use a computer.  It is mandatory, and you can't do your work without one.  I don't think this is a bad thing, and I think that the internet makes life way easier.  Judging by the model of cell phone that these students are using, I think it's safe to say that this documentary was filmed around 2005.

Ok, I just checked and it came out in 2008.  Seriously?  They are using Nokias with antennae.  I haven't seen a phone with an antenna in years.

The point is, this thing was made in Minnesota, and people in Columbus use computers, so I can't give up my computer for three weeks.  Furthermore, I would never be caught dead in . . . Minnesota.  Also, thirty two minutes into this documentary, I'm about to turn it off, and my major piece of constructive criticism is that this guy needs to seriously consider putting his shirt back on.  If you are too tired to put your shirt on before you start filming yourself in your bathroom mirror on Saturday morning, maybe you should wait five minutes and come back to that thought, because you look like a tool.

I think that instead of giving up my computer (because let's face it, why would I do that, really?) I will try to keep track of how many times I look things up throughout the day, on average, for a week or so.  Someone called me "google girl" recently, because I almost constantly use a computer or my phone to look up random facts.  You know those moments in conversation when you and the person/people you're with can't remember something, or you want to know something?  In 1995 you would just say, "oh well, I guess we'll never know!"  But today, you can know.  You can know almost anything that would normally require searching through books, and it's usually pretty instantaneous.  So I look it up.

groundhog day

Groundhog Day is coming up, and I hadn't thought about it except the movie Groundhog Day was on Comedy Central this evening.  I just finished watching, and I happened upon this discussion online somewhere regarding how many times Phil Connors must have repeated February 2nd.  It's all very rough estimating, but apparently the director said that in the final cut of the film, the production team assumed that Phil wakes up on Groundhog Day for about 10 years straight.  That's a long time.  Even worse, the original script was based upon the assumption that Phil relives February 2nd for approximately 10,000 years.

Of course, I never thought it was any longer than a month or two, and probably because I first saw it when I was little.  But knowing that Phil Connors could potentially have spent 10,000 years waking up to Sunny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" every single morning, I don't blame him for trying to kill himself multiple times.

I know this post is pretty specific, but bear with me.  Just imagine living the same day over and over and over.  That would be pretty frustrating, because any progress you made with the world surrounding you would be totally erased every day.  I'm surprised that Phil was able to reach a point where he could just be good for the sake of being good; that he could truly love Rita and be fine with her never knowing about the thousands of conversations they had enjoyed by the time Phil had escaped the time loop.

This is the thing that most puzzles me:  It's February 3rd.  At last, Phil wakes up and the first thing he hears is not "Don't forgetchyer booties, cuz it's cooold out there!"  After seemingly endless days when the basic assumption is that his actions will have no consequences, how could Phil ever go back to living a normal life?  And how could he not tell Rita or anyone else what had happened to him?  It's probably February 3rd that sets Phil over the edge, not Goundhog Day.

not wild about my ideas for this title

I am happy and positive!  I just felt like putting something up that isn't a downer or cynical.  I am grateful for my cozy bed.  I should be sleeping instead of laying awake and typing this, but it can't be helped.  I went on a bit of a youtube binge (awful).

You know what's nice about having a roommate?  You have someone around with whom you can do something stupid and random on a weeknight, and I think we really cheer each other up.  And if we're already happy as clams, we just make each other happier by singing really bad 80's music while unloading and drying dishes from the dishwasher or turning the national anthem into an ode to our mothers.  I'm not joking, this actually happened.  Not really sure how.  Also, I've learned that it really is better to not run the heated-dry option on your dishwasher, because the extra heat is damaging to your plates/glassware/plastics, and also you are saving energy.  I've also learned that it is not a good idea to wash your plastics in the dishwasher, because the heat causes the plastic to melt a bit and sort of redistribute onto other items, and you start digesting plastic.  This does not sound appetizing.  If you don't believe it's true (it is) or you don't care, I guess you can just appreciate the opportunity to avoid warping your tupperware, as almost all of mine eventually does.  I do still wash tuppereware in the dishwasher a lot, though, because I'm lazy.  I once ruined a perfectly good blender by putting the jug part into the dishwasher, which was freakishly hot at Riverwatch.  And I don't even know why I had a plastic blender, but it worked great and then it sort of melted into a weird tilted shape and wouldn't fit onto the motor.  It was a very sad day when this happened, because I love smoothies and haven't been able to talk myself into buying a new blender since then.  It takes up too much space, anyway.  Which brings me to another great thing about my roommate:  She has an immersion blender attachment on her electric mixer, which is basically a blender minus the blades.  We've come full circle.

That's all, I think, for now.

learn to live with disappointment?

I would generally like to avoid writing a post when I'm angry, tired, or trying to sort out a problem, but why not?  I'm having a bad night.  Week.  Month.  Whatever.  Someone I trusted at work has humiliated me, and I would never know about it if K hadn't been generous enough to alert me.  The betrayal is just shocking, because I can't believe that after over two years of working together, this person chose such a selfish path.  Not only was I manipulated, but I shouldn't have needed to be handled in this way since I made it clear that I was leaving my job.  I'm coming in on my own time to sort out any details I need to this week, and then it's over.


I want so badly to call this person and demand an explanation, but it's just such a worthless pursuit.  An apology would be unsatisfactory; I doubt any sincerity.


This isn't really the topic I had hoped to write about today, but it's all I've got right now.  I'm just worn out, and I would like to fast forward to Friday and to a good weekend at home.


We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.


True, unfortunately.  Wtf.