Oh man.
This top ten crap is stressing me out. Too many albums! Too many artists! Everyone wants to be on the list! I NEED A DR. PEPPER!

I'm off to the corner store.

I have returned!
Just like a bad case of VD. I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was lovely. I had a good time hanging out with my family and eating too much. We did brave the mall on Friday, but I was a good girl and didn't buy anything. I've got most of my Christmas shopping done anyway.

Ryan got a Friendster message from someone that we went to NYC with eleven years ago. We went on an Arkansas-wide Methodist youth trip to DC and NYC over Thanksgiving week, which was a big deal for us small town kids. We got to see the Macy's parade (in a freezing rainstorm) and some musicals. Ryan and I were going through a big musical thing, which thankfully we have pretty much left behind. I was thinking about that trip on Thursday when we were watching the parade on TV. What an interesting coincidence that someone else was thinking about it too, and found Ryan on Friendster.

Today, I'm going to work on my Top Ten list. I've got the field narrowed down, so I'm going to start writing. Tomorrow is the day, people. Mark your calendars.

Cough, cough, sniffle.
Well, well, well. You know all the publicity that the flu has been getting in the news? I'm about to give it some more. Yes, ladies and gents, I am still sick. Monday I lost my voice, but I still made it to work. I couldn't do it yesterday, though, and stayed home watching movies and drinking OJ. I'm feeling better today, which is good since I'm flying out to my grandma's house, but I'm sure that the nasty influenza will rear its ugly head once more before it's gone.

I took Victor to the airport last night so that he could go home for Thanksgiving. Karen's taking me to the airport in a couple of hours. I'm flying into St. Louis, and my family (who are driving from Arkansas) are picking me up and driving me the last hour or so to Grandma's. My dad and brother-in-law are going to spend some time hunting, so they are bringing the dogs. Yes, we're rednecks. My sister, mom, aunt, grandma and I are going to go shopping instead. Although I've already gotten a lot of my Christmas shopping done, there's still more.

I've also got a deadline of Monday, December 1 to get my top ten of this year done. So far, Victor, Mark, Ryan and I are participating. I've got a lot of work to do this weekend. See you Saturday!

Oh yes, another list.
Look, y'all! The Top Ten of 2002 is up. New, improved, with added Victor!

Return of the Mack Mandy
Barely here, barely alive, hacking up a lung! Oh yes, it's just like you like your Mandy.

To bring you up to speed, my car is running better, though it still has a few bugs to be worked out. I'm confident that my new mechanic will be able to help me out without taking me to the cleaners.

Friday night, Victor and I had a nice dinner at North by Northwest and then saw a movie. The dinner was excellent... North by Northwest may be one of my new favorite restaurants. I had a yummy salmon dish and Victor had pork. Then we went to see Lost in Translation, which remarkably we had not seen before. I cried. I wanted to take Bill Murray home and bundle him up in a big fluffy comforter. Victor has decided that every movie should have Bill Murray in it. I though Sofia Coppola did a great job... she had some really beautiful shots, and I enjoyed the story.

Saturday we went shopping. We went to By George and then to the swanky mall. I had a gift certificate to Nordstrom so I was able to get some really fabulous shoes for only $10. While I was trying on shoes, we saw Mia Hamm, decked in head-to-toe Nike, shopping for shoes as well. Victor was really hoping that she'd be with her fiance Nomar Garciaparra, because he loves him (I think it's his ass, or maybe this picture might explain everything). Anyway, we didn't get to see Nomar, but we did hear on the news that they were in town for a charity event and are also moving here!

Saturday night, it was Girls' Night at Kat's house. We ate a lot of yummy food. I made a salad which was basically a rip-off of one of Panera's salads, the Fandango salad I think, but since we don't have those down here, everyone thought it was extra cool. I miss going to Panera for lunch. Hmmm... I'm going to be in St. Louis next week (Panera was formerly the St. Louis Bread Company) so maybe I can sneak in. After Girls' Night, we went to Dylan's birthday, where I met some Gavin Friday fans and learned about DJ Screw. For those of you who don't know, he was a Houston DJ who slowed down hiphop songs so that you could listen to them while f'ed up on sizzurp. Tragically, he died of the sizzurp. A couple of years ago. I'm so far behind.

Did I do anything Sunday? Hmmmmm... good question. Oh, ate and went shopping with Mark, Ryan, and Victor. Skipped soccer because I felt icky. Read Save Karyn's book. Shut up. I'm stressed out and needed something light and fun.

The workweek has been a blur... we've been super busy with a huge project. I missed work yesterday because I was hacking up a lung and could barely talk (I've been losing my voice since Saturday... it's coming back now). Today we finished most of the grunt work of the project, now it's just analysis. And that's it. I'm busy deciding what my top ten of this year is going to be... speaking of, have you visited the Top Tens section yet? I'm going to be putting up 2002's lists shortly, after I finish coding them.

Yuck.
So, how are you? It's been a weird week. Currently, I feel like crap. I think Karen may have given me her cruddy throat thing.

The weekend was great. We had a really good time in Wimberly for Kat's birthday. I've been working on a big project at work all week, and I'm pretty stressed out. Not to mention that the mechanic wants to charge me another $306 for my car (the computer supposedly needs to be replaced). So, tomorrow I'm going to pick it up and take it to my boss's friend, who is also a mechanic. The consensus of everyone I've talked to (and my boss's friend) is that the service place is trying to screw me over. Uggh. I can't deal with it.

I'm sleepy, my head hurts, and I want to hibernate. So instead of rambling, I'm going to leave you with some top tens from 2001.

Prison isn't all that different from a nightclub.
So last night we went to see Party Monster. If you've been reading the reviews, you've probably already figured out it's a tanker. It's pretty bad.

Macaulay Cullkin. I never thought he was cute, not even as the Home Alone kid, although I still enjoyed that movie. But he's grown into a not-so-handsome adult. Ryan did point out that he had great legs, and I agreed and commented on his nice ass. Ok, I know I'm being catty and mean. But my God, the boy can't act his way out of a paper bag. Nowhere in the movie did I feel he was committed to his character. Basically, I think his acting technique here was "How much of a prancing fairy can I be? How many gay stereotypes can I throw into my role?" It made me sad.

On the other hand, I thought Seth Green was very good. I thought he was totally believable. It was nice seeing him in a different role than what he usually does. I think he's got quite a store of talent underneath that red hair. Anyway, he totally stole the show. I saw an interview with James St. James, and I think that Green had the part nailed.

I didn't really read any reviews before I saw the movie, so I didn't know who the supporting cast would be. Did anyone else recognize Rickie from My So-Called Life as Angel the drug dealer? I kept thinking it was him, but I couldn't tell for sure, since his face has lost the baby fat. Turns out, it was! And Wilmer Valderrama (Fez from That 70's Show) as Superstar DJ Keoki was an interesting surprise. I remember when Ryan had a Keoki CD. Apparently, it wasn't that good.

So, on the way home, my car died twice. I am so angry. It is a bit peppier now, but still, they didn't fix the problem!

Today, we're heading out to Wimberley, TX for Kat's birthday. I'm really looking forward to a nice relaxing Saturday!

My little motorcar
My car hates me.

So, I took it in this morning because of the stalling problem. I got a call from the service center that it was a problem with the map sector, and they would have to replace it. We're talking $258. I sucked it up and said ok.

Now I just got another call. When they were taking off the part, two bolts snapped and fell into the engine block. They're going to have to open up the engine block and get those bolts out. Apparently, they're going to have to replace some sort of gasket or something-or-other because they're opening up the engine block. All told, this is adding another $200 to the price. So now I'm up to at least $450. They said it wasn't their fault that the bolts snapped, because they were weak and the mechanic was turning them with his hand, so no excessive force was used.

This really sucks. Really. The car is 8 years old, and has only one other big repair, so I guess that I can't really complain. But I'm still sad.

update:They just called again. It came to only $405. I use "only" here in a very broad sense.

I wonder if the snow will settle on the ground this year...
Wow, it's cold here in Texas! I love it.

I had an interesting encounter at work today. As I was leaving the building, walking through the big lobby, I saw a little lizard on the ground. He was tiny. It was right next to a column with a planter next to it. I wasn't sure if it was alive or dead, so I touched it. Sure enough, he was alive. I picked him up so that I could put him outside. I figured that he wouldn't make it with all of the cleaning crews, etc., inside the building. Plus, what would he eat? Anyway, I carried him outside and put him in the grass. As soon as I walked away, I started to wonder if I had made the best decision. Like I said before, it's cold today. And I can only assume that it's going to stay that way. Will he be OK? Now I'm worried.

Victor left today to go to a conference in Florida. He's going to be interviewing with lots of companies at the conference. I hope he gets some good leads. He's been worried about finding a job when he finishes his MBA this May. I know the job market is pretty shitty right now, but he's very smart and someone should hire him.

My car is sick... it's been stalling on me a lot. So tomorrow morning I am going to take it to the shop. I guess the good thing about Victor being gone is that I can borrow his car while mine's in the shop. I hope it's not too expensive, because my finances are in a pretty sad place right now. But hooray, I get paid tonight, and I'm going out for pints with my firends!

Your tax dollars at work.
Apparently, the US Government has decided that supercool band The Postal Service must stop using that name. I mean, really.

On a side note, this was a pretty funny Pitchfork news item as usual. It's a shame that their album reviews have to be such turds usually.

(via Pitchfork)

New Feature!
It's coming up on Top Ten Albums of the Year time... so I have added a nifty Top Tens feature to the sidebar. I'll be adding previous years' lists throughout November to get you ready for the big 2003 list.

Show me please how I will look in 20 years...
This weekend was BUSY.

Friday was Halloween. Victor and I went as Spider and James from James and the Giant Peach. Pictures will be forthcoming, as we used Victor's camera and he hasn't downloaded them yet. The party at Victor/Karen/Ryan's house was fun. There were so many people there, including lots of friends-of-friends and neighbors. I won "Most Original Costume." I thought it was deserved, because I worked long and hard on it (Victor helped too). Victor and I had dinner with Debbie and Aaron before the party, and at around 1am we all went to Kerby Lane with Mark and Kat to have a snack. By the time we got back to the party, most everyone was gone.

Saturday I ran some errands. I picked up my Indian hand-painted silk paintings from Hobby Lobby, who had framed them for me. They look very nice. Victor and I went to New Braunfels to Wurstfest, where we ate way too much.

We were supposed to play soccer on Sunday, but it rained. Ryan and I went shopping to get outfits for the Belle and Sebastian concert later that night. A bunch of us went, and it was super good. The setlist was not as good as the last time I saw them, but it was still fantastic. We went to the afterparty at Emo's, but we were very tired so we didn't stay long. I wasn't feeling well either. In fact, I didn't go to work yesterday because I still felt sick.

But I'm here today. I still don't feel great, but I'm here.