Cavalcade

It's a cavalcade of death among Deb's favored actors of classic films: Ruth Hussey and Sir John Mills both died last week. Hussey was a talented MGM contract player who is best-remembered for playing Liz Imbrie (Jimmy Stewart's photographer pal) in The Philadelphia Story, for which she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress by the Academy. Hussey generally played supporting roles in good films and ingenue and lead roles in minor films.
John Mills' career retrospective reads almost like a Who's Who and What's What of 20th century film and theatre (despite the fact that modern audiences would be far more likely to know of his spunky and undeniably talented daughter Hayley, of Pollyanna and Parent Trap fame). He debuted in a light British film (which I recall as a Jessie Matthews musical) The Midshipmaid, worked in the Brit film and theatre industry through the 1930s, and emerged to good notice for supporting Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. While Mr. Chips brought him international notice, he continued to work in the UK through the 1940s, notably with Noel Coward and David Lean. His role as Pip in 1948's Great Expectations assured his dubious immortality, due to the fact that it would be required viewing for several generations of high school students who were forced to watch it as part of studying Dickens in literature class (as a filming of Dickens' classic novel, it has really never been bettered, as evidenced by the simply dreadful modernized version from the 1990s). He received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1970.

Ah, yes, good movies.

More angst in life

I've observed that I've indulged myself in an awful lot of angst lately. I suppose I'm finally growing into myself as a drama queen, and I really am dealing with a lot of stuff right now. I am engaged in buying a house (a large house, I might add), we spent all evening talking about it with Mom and Dad, and then we came home and I started to work on my Powerpoint charts for the Technical Review tomorrow, because I haven't finished them yet (they're going well, though, and I'm taking a break to vent). I had cried from exhaustion and frustration on the way home, and I told Jeff, "We have to go up to Visalia this weekend to do paperwork, but I have to do laundry and clean the apartment, and do homework, and save the world, and I just can't do this." I've been stressed about the finances and responsibilities of buying a house, but remembered that our payments for the house will hardly be different from what we already pay each month for rent; such is the reality of living in an apartment in Orange County.

Now back to technical charts.

What is happening with my life?

I am at work. Eating tomato soup. There are lots of people here, customers and contractors, since we have a technical review tomorrow and Thursday. I wish the people would go away. They make it hard for me to work.

I've been edgy all day, and I've been SNACKING, which is quite unusual for me. That is, it's not unusual for me to eat snacks, but I really never just nibble all morning, as I did today. I usually eat a bit, to take the edge off of hunger and maintain energy and blood sugar. Oh, well.

Jeff and I are waiting to hear from a mortgage company today, to see if we will be able to BUY A HOUSE. We are supposed to hear by the end of the day. If it goes well, I'll share details.

I'm done with my soup. I'll sign off now.

Lucky me!

The reason that I am lucky is that Keiko came over and gave me and Jeff professional massages--she has to put in a certain number of hours of internship before she gets her license to practice, so Debbie invited her over as a treat for us. Jeff and I are in Visalia, so a relaxing backrub was exactly what we needed. But seriously, folks, we have a lot going on and a lot of changes happening in our lives, which will be explained in great detail, soon enough.

Biola finally published the course schedules for Fall 2005 classes, and I must say that they are not making it easy for me to graduate. There are few theology and historical theology electives being offered. I may be able to take 4 units over summer school, which would be a good thing, but that still leaves 5 units I'll need in the fall. I don't think I'll be able to fit any Torrey classes into the mix. It is sad, but most of the Torrey people that I like are graduating this spring anyway. Perhaps we can put together something like the Phaedrus group, where some of us can still pursue the logos. I love Plato! I miss Plato!

I'm reading a really good book about the future impact of nanotechnology on the economy. Very insightful.

More Thursday

I haven't forgotten that it is [when I feel like it] theatre, film, and TV day on Thursday.

I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who has many accomplishments to her credit (Did you know she won an Emmy when she was just 18?), not the least of which is her portrayal of Buffy in my favorite TV show. But I think it is a tragedy for an actor to become associated with just one role, so I'll also note that she has starred in several very financially successful movies, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2 (in these two teen horror flicks, she played very well as a member of ensemble casts), Cruel Intentions (I thought she gave a convincingly nasty performance), Scooby-Doo (with husband Freddie Prinze, Jr.), and last summer's sleeper hit The Grudge. The one thing I would note about her career is that she might find it helpful to break out of the horror rut and diversify her career.

More than Midterms on Monday

I had my Cults of America midterm this evening, which was a relief, since I've been studying for the past week or so. I know I got over 90, but don't think I got a perfect score. Oh,well.

My gripe for the day is the total inability of my company's IT (software or hardware) to accomplish anything of worth. I was issued a laptop more than a month ago, and it still does not work properly. Neither the audio nor the modem work properly, and the software people say it's a hardware problem, and the hardware people say it's a software problem. Meanwhile, my computer doesn't operate as it should, and while it does not impede my day-to-day work, all engineers are technically required to have (1) an operational modem for traveling and (2) functional audio to enable video conferencing and such. I just want a computer that works as specified by the company that issues it. Sheesh.

Speaking of work and stuff, my old pal B has been up to some amusing things. He has good motives. For example, he decided that he really wants to dig into specs and manuals and historical documents, and learn the ins and outs of our toaster system. This is great, except that his method of doing so is to photocopy said documents page by page, and he thinks I should have copies, too. My desk is seldom clean, because I have papers and folders scattered all over, and as of today, I have acquired five or six new thick documents, which apparently account for the recent decimation of the Brazilian rainforest.

In other news, Elizabeth has returned from Israel. I'm glad she made it home safely, and I look forward to hearing her stories and seeing her photos. She was still pretty tired today.

Cheryl keeps a jar of jelly beans in her office. They are spicy and tangy jelly beans--very addictive. There are some that taste like cloves and cinnamon.

And we see some Montague/Capulet action in Florida, when two teens' love affair brings the families to bloodshed.

P.S. Futurama is funny. And Family Guy. "Oh, Peter, you are the height of just-too-muchery."

Sun Day

We did have some lovely sun today. I had heard a rumor that it was going to rain this weekend, so it was very pleasant to have the nice weather instead.

I ought to be reviewing for my Cults of America midterm (tomorrow evening), but I'm just tired of studying Jesus-Only/Oneness Pentecostalism and New Age philosophy (guess what--it's pantheism and monism!). I watched George Arliss' Voltaire, which was better than I'd expected, and now I'm eating ice cream--Lacy and Christina left it here last week, and I figured I should eat it, since it would be a crime to let good cookie dough ice cream get freezer burn.

It was an eventful weekend. We spent Friday night and some of Saturday with Mia and Tim, after which we did homework and stuff. Last night, I went to a bridal shower for my beloved Kelly Tooley (soon to be Watts). It was at Buca di Beppo in Thousand Oaks, and I carpooled up with Veronica Wingard and my dear Diana Petroi. I had so much fun spending time with them. The shower was fun, too. It was a group of girls that I've known (some better than others) since Biola, and because they all know each other even better than I, there was a great spirit of joy and comraderie. Michelle Kelman, Melissa Martin, and Janette Hagen were the hostesses; guests included Angie Borges, Jen Chu (she makes me smile), Shay Newland, and Rachael Bond, plus some ladies I don't know as well, such as Jen Jones and Sarah Shevlin. Rachael, Vern, Diana, and I all lived with Kelly in Horton (Di and I were her roomies), and a lot of the other ladies had been with her on mission trips to the Ukraine. It made me miss the closeness that one experiences with mission trips... Anyway, there were lots of hugs and laughter. Jeff and I won't be able to go to Kel's wedding, since we'd already been committed to the Europe trip since before the wedding date was set (heck, since before Kel even got engaged), but we'll go out to Texas some time soon, to meet Derek and have some good ol' Texas fun. =) It was good to be reminded how much I need people, and how much I miss Kelly, Diana, and even Rachael (she lived across the hall in Horton; we've had some great conversations through the years).

Speaking of Horton Hall: Veronica, Diana, and I are going to attend the Horton Wrecking Party (our last Em-Ho BBQ ever!), and my sis will be there. I'll try to get Elizabeth to come. Sherida will probably be there, and maybe Liz Ray. =) I'm going to send some of my pics for the slide show. I wish Biola would make special edition Em-Ho t-shirts or sweatshirts available to alumni. *sniff sniff* I can't believe they're going to tear down Horton!
H.O.T.T.I.E.S. and T.O.U.G.H. Girls Forever!
L.O.U.D. and Proud, Baby!!

Sooo Tired

Yes, indeed, I'm tired! I've been so busy with work and school. Our Cults midterm is on Monday, so I spent a lot of time going over the review sheet, Sara and I studied together on Thursday night, and we're going to have another study session on Sunday. I did a dry run of my problem log presentation for this month's GTR, and it didn't seem like it flew so well, but usually my dry runs are kind of choppy, while my actual presentations kick tail. It's just the way I operate, probably because I'm doing constant mental revisions during my dry runs. I'm a consumate performer, really. *sigh* I hate looking like a doofus in front of managers and senior engineers, though. It was annoying that I was scheduled last--Who thought it was a good idea to schedule me to go late on a Friday afternoon? Anyway.

Jeff and I ate dinner at the Olive Garden, and then we picked Tim up at the Fullerton train station. We nabbed Mia and brought them both back to our apartment to watch a movie and spend the night. We saw Shaolin Soccer.

Now it's bedtime.

Report from the week

It's been a tough week, mostly. Even though it was spring break from school, I had a lot to do at work and Jeff has been in Florida since Tuesday, on business travel, which means that I've not been sleeping well. I had a little movie party with friends (Mom and Mia, Christina and Lacy, Joi and Liz) on Tuesday night; we watched Mean Girls, which was still both funny and thought-provoking--it's a silly teen movie on one level, but a sharp commentary on both societal values and the struggle of being a Third Culture Kid (Seriously, how many Hollywood movies have tackled this issue?). I saw more humor in the film than anyone else, even Mia or my mom, since I was a teenager when I came to the US, and I remember so many of my experiences being like Cady's (although hers were naturally exaggerated for comic and dramatic effect, as well as being resolved in an unrealistically fast and smooth manner). In fact, I don't really see how anyone but an MK/TCK would really get Cady Heron (fake Hollywoodesque TCK though she was). I'm considering reading the book upon which the movie was based.

Anyway, it's gotten really windy here, so even though the temperature itself has been warmer, the wind still makes me chilly. Also, it's brought in a lot of dust and stuff from the desert, which is triggering my allergies: sneezing and sinus headaches. The fun thing is that one of the buildings here at work has these huge grate-type things in the back by the parking lot--I assume they're part of the ventilation system or something--and whenever it's windy, they vibrate and sing, and totally sound like an ensemble of ghostly pan-pipes! Very spooky!

Since Jeff has been gone, I've been keeping busy by watching a lot of the old movies I've recorded from TCM, because we're running out of space on the DVR. I've seen The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The Keyhole, Miss Pinkerton, Dance, Fools, Dance, and Imitation of Life.