Media-crity

Um you’re not taking that on the highway are you ?
Originally uploaded by Ms. O’Brien.

I can’t put my finger on which one but i think this must be violating uhaul’s terms of use … (PS: He did not take it on the highway)

In response to the unfortunate situation I found myself in last week in which I felt unable to refuse to sign the Lieberman as Independent petition last week, I’ve decided to use my blog here to quite enthusiastically endorse Ned Lamont.

I’ve had my reasons over the years to dislike Good Ol’ Joe. We just don’t agree on most things. His witchhunt for media he felt was corrupting our children. His assertion during the height of the Terri Schiavo mess that government should get a say in such personal matters. The war. The war, the war, the war.

Always humming underneath those more pressing issues has been his inability to just accept defeat. He’s always gotta have a back-up plan. When he was Gore’s running mate, it was his trusty Senate seat. Now that he’s in a forced primary for that Senate seat, it’s … his trusty Senate seat, but this time with a scarlet “I” on his chest.

He’s a political whore that needs to keep his options open, rather than settling down with one role. If he got VP, it would have been “See ya, Nutmeggers!” but since he didn’t get VP, the state was all too happy to welcome him back like a litter of kicked puppies hoping that maybe, maybe, maybe this time master would let them sleep in the house. Now, if he doesn’t get the democratic nom, he’ll just run in the back door as an independent and split the vote. That bastard is going to split the vote. If he truly cared about the direction of this state, and the democratic stake in the Senate, he’d let the chips fall where they may.

Joe, if the chips hustle your ass into political obsolescence, the Joementum yourself to the shuffleboard court. More than your political prostitution and your cuddly Republican-in-sheep’s-clothing stances, you’re trying to cheat this state the chance at fresh blood it deserves.

Happy birthday to me!
Originally uploaded by Ms. O’Brien.

Mmm Snapple and cupcakes! Thanks Amanda!

Well, we reached our boiling point, as it were. The heat is just unbearable. It’s not good for anyone. It’s not good for Nate, who is cranky and sticky all the time and can’t sleep. It’s not good for me, trying to recover from the hospitalization. It’s not even good for our hamster, who has taken to sleeping on any open surface, trying to catch a breath of air. He now has two fans aimed at his cage. Yes, I’m serious. I love the little guy and if anything happened to him because of this heat, I’d just be devastated. But he’s a scrappy little thing and he’s hanging in there. He already survived a pretty traumatic injury as a young’un (the loss of his right eye and a bit of his ear in a fight) so I have faith he’ll be okay.

Our boiling point was not providing our 5-inch-long hamster with more windpower than necessary to keep a small hut in electricity for a day. It was going to Walmart. Few people really know the extent of my Walmart loathing. I despise Walmart and all that it stands for so much that I don’t even allow it to enter my consciousness. If I think “Hm, where can I get the best price on Item X?” Walmart never even crosses my mind. I am that dedicated to my boycott. However, at 9pm on a Monday night, they’re open and they sell fans. So, off to Walmart we went. It was just what I needed to remind me why I never shop there. Their shady business practices and the crappy way they treat their employees and the effect they have on local business when they move into a community are enough to keep me in a fit of moral outrage for a good long while, sure. But sometimes I just need the visceral experience of confronting the behemoth head-on. The noise, the crowds, the beaten-down looks on the cashiers’ faces, the disarray, the screaming children, the glacial pace at which the lines move, everything. We escaped, fans in hand, crankier than when we had arrived, despite the sweet sweet arctic breeze that surrounded us like the loving embrace of an eskimo. So, we did what any other sane people would do with a Walmart experience behind them and a night of sweating and tossing and turning and wishing for a blizzard would do.

We went to the movies. We saw The Devil Wears Prada in the icebox known as the Crown Palace theater. I had just finished the today at lunch, so I was eager to see what Hollywood had done with it. I actually liked it better than the book, which is a rarity. The pacing was better, the characters more real, and seeing the clothes up there on the big screen was just … wow.

Not sure if this is necessary but … SPOILER ALERT!

A few minor quibbles: they cast the beautiful and brilliant Tracie Thoms as Lily, then relegated her to background status; they had Adam (now Nate) working as a chef, which is one of the most demanding jobs out there, taking away his right to criticize Andy; no more Avon shout-outs! I did like how they encapsulated just how demanding Miranda was without draaaaggggggiiiiing it out. I liked how much more on top of things Andy was, and how she moved up in the Miranda ranks based on her own merits and not on Emily’s unfortunate immune system. I’m glad they ditched Lily’s car accident drama. It had potential but the plot just fizzled out. I mean, it went from “OH MY GOD SHE’S NOT GONNA WAKE UP COME HOME NOW!” to “Three months later, we woke up in my parents house …” I’m not sure where I stand on the whole selling the clothes vs. giving them to Emily plot. Mostly because I would have kept them. I mean, I guess they had to show that the “old” Andy was back, but she didn’t have to atone for anything with Emily. Emily would have done the same thing to Andy if the situation were reversed (gone to Paris) and probably would have gloated about it.

I’m still hung up on the clothes. I love clothes. I love making outfits. I love visualizing my clothes in my head and picturing what I’ll wear the next day. I just got a giant bag of clothes for my birthday from my aunt and I just want to pet them. I wish I could wear them all at once, but at the same time I want to savor them and make them last so the “newness” doesn’t wear off too quickly. I wonder what I’ll wear tomorrow. Or, y’know, in 7 hours.

Mmm tasty pizza
Originally uploaded by Ms. O’Brien.

The biggest and best slice of pizza can be found at Benny Tudino’s in scenic Hoboken, NJ.

Happy two years (and one day)
Originally uploaded by Ms. O’Brien.

My beautiful surprise roses i got yesterday! July 10th, 2004 was our first date. How time flies.

I was all ready to go back to work today. Here it was, three weeks after I was admitted to the hospital, a full two weeks after being discharged. I was ready to get right back into it after taking baby steps last week. Then, around noon, I felt that now-familiar shake and twinge. I was crashing and crashing fast. Energy sapped, hitting the proverbial wall, as it were. So here I am, back on the couch. I refuse to turn on the TV, though! I’m done with daytime TV!

Bah. I mean, i know half days are better than no days at all, and I got things done in my half day, but I’m just so tired of being tired. Up and down, better and worse, I just want to be back to normal. I’m terribly impatient. Even my second or third day in the hospital after, y’know, the whole “you were an hour from death” part, I was annoyed that I was still feeling lousy and sometimes felt like I was getting worse.

I think I sometimes think I’m superhuman or something. Then something like this reminds me that, no, I’m just a regular old human.

Well, the Emmy nominations are out.

I remember the days when I had seen more of the Oscar nominees than the Emmy nominees, now the situation is reversed. Hey, TV is free! Lost kinda got the shaft, except for Henry Ian Cusick, who plays Desmond and also makes an appearance on my list.

He didn’t even get a “real” nom, though, just “Guest Actor” for the Creative Arts Emmys. I mean, I care about those awards, but the general public does not. They also got some other random noms, like casting, and directing for “Live Together, Die Alone,” but in that category it’s up against the freakin awesome “Everybody’s Waiting” Six Feet Under episode. Oh, it also got a Best Writing nod for “23rd Psalm” but, again, up against “Everybody’s Waiting.”

But hey, former listie Peter Krause was nominated! Frances Conroy was also nominated, so Six Feet Under was well represented. A lot of other really good shows, such as Scrubs and Arrested Development, also got nods. So much good TV, so few awards! This doesn’t even cover the great Letterman vs. Colbert race!

Oh, yeah, if Julia Louis-Dreyfus wins I’ll … well, I’ll boo really loudly. If I’m watching.

I drove around downtown quite a bit today, my first time in awhile. I never thought I’d miss downtown Hartford. My last night in the hospital, I was walking around my floor with my mom to prove to the nurses that I was strong enough to go home. We stopped at a bank of windows to watch the storm, and I could see all the way to the tops of buildings downtown. I felt such a tug of longing that I surprised myself. I’ve really gotten quite attached to this little city.

I’m very excited to go to Amanda’s 4th of July BBQ tomorrow. I got a new shirt today at Target and I’m so excited to wear it. Is that sad? It’s not quite 4th-specific, but it’s very appropriate to celebrate my recovery and how far I’ve come in two-and-a-half weeks.

This is, obviously, not the shirt on me:

0701061003.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ms. O’Brien.

These beautiful gerbera daisies arrived today from one of my aunts and my cousins. I’ve just been so overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and love and prayers. Every day, more cards arrive, and they all mean so much to me. I mean, I got a card from the CIO of my mother’s company! I had 151 nuns praying for me daily! All of this really has made a huge impact on my well-being. I really believe that it’s driving my recovery. I can’t stop smiling.

I’m still steadily getting better. I almost feel, dare I say, normal. I can drink Snapple again! Snapple is even above diet coke in the Flann’s Favorite Beverages hierarchy. Diet Raspberry Iced Tea Snapple is the pinnacle of refreshment.

Thank you, everyone.