when i grow up i want to be...

My favorite Metra train conductor is a nice older gentleman with white hair and smiley eyes. As he strolled through the car today he was quietly muttering, "Chugga-Chugga-Chugga-Chugga...

I didn't get to hear the payoff, "Choo!Choo!" Not even sure if he said it. But it made me smile. I think he loves his job.

things people say too loudly on their cells while on the train

I've recently begun commuting to work on the Metra train. I really like not sitting in traffic for almost 4 hours a day. I'm going to LOVE not driving in the snow. It's great for people watching and getting some down time. (Even though I've mostly been editing scripts).

My only compliant is that on a daily basis, someone sitting near me, has a very loud conversation on their phone. It's as if they think no one can hear them. I've decided to post them here for your enjoyment...or not.

(20-something business casual asian male in the seat next to mine)

"Yeah, I don’t know why I didn’t think to Google this before, but a decision was made in Robert’s murder trial."

"I can't believe no one told me."

"Do you think Mom knows?"

"Sure they are going to appeal. I just can't believe he is in this situation."

"I’m not blaming you. I called because I needed to talk! Not because I’m blaming you."

(Heavy set 50-something lady. salt and pepper curly hair. in floral dress. hugged her bag like it was about to leap off her lap and run away)

"You said yoga. Right 7:30 yoga…. But you chose yoga!"

"She started drinking black tea and she said she didn’t have any of those problems."

"When she had coffee it came back just as horrible as it was."

“Oh with the colonoscopy and everything?” Ha ha ha well they twilight you .

"Well are you sure you don’t want to go to the 7:30 yoga?"

"Well I’ve never taken a class on a Wed nite."

haiku review(s)

Diary of A Wimpy Kid

stick figures, alive

greg heffley is everykid

avoid the cheese touch

Date Night

props for comic chops

without carell/fey, a flop

fun flick nonetheless

like spun sugar

cotton candy images fill my morning run

magnolia trees match the pink sunrise

i love spring

oh boy

It was a liiiitle too quiet upstairs while the boy was getting ready for bed. I went up picturing toothpaste finger-paint art on the walls, giant dixie cup constructions, batman action figures disappearing down the toilet, etc.

What I found was J standing at the bathroom mirror, hairbrush in hand, smoothing his hair in to a dapper little coiffure, sort of slicked off to the side.

"Whatcha doin J?" I asked.

"My hair, " he replied.

"Why?" I inquried.

"For [NAMED A GIRL IN HIS CLASS], I want her to like my style."

I just backed slowly out of the room.

wow.

haiku review

Alice In Wonderland

rabbithole redeux

depp, rickman, bonham-carter

gorgeous burton film

J asked me to draw Optimus Prime (in his truck form).

I drew what I thought was a pretty decent Autobot.

His response: "No. [heavy sigh] Here, let me do it."
It was actually a little condescending.

Here's J's superior drawing.

And just because...here's Batman and Robin.

2009 movies

I've never been a fan of the "How many stars do you give it?" or "Thumbs up/Thumbs down" systems of movie review.

My favorite 2009 movies are on the top of the list below, and my liking decreases as you move down. I shuffled these around a lot, and depending on how I'm feeling on a given day, movies can shift up or down a few spots. I'm fickle.

Up
Star Trek
The Hangover
Inglourious Basterds
Up in the Air
Funny People
Sherlock Holmes
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Taken
Monsters Vs. Aliens
The Princess and the Frog
Terminator Salvation
District 9
Inkheart
Twilight Saga: New Moon
Night at the Museum 2
I Love You Man
X Men Origins: Wolverine
Twilight
Angels and Demons
Race to Witch Mountain
The Proposal
Planet 51
Crank 2
The Watchmen
He’s Just Not That Into You
Couple’s Retreat
Shorts
Aliens in the Attic
Astro Boy
G Force
Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel
Bride Wars
*Transformers Revenge of the Fallen
*Knowing

*The movie Knowing was very difficult for me. I don't think it was a bad movie, but it made me so upset and miserable and quite frankly manipulated that I wish I had never seen it. That's why it ranks where it does. Transformers just made me want those 2 hours of my life back, because I think it could have been so much better. But it seems they said let's add 2 pointless and obnoxious bots and 50 bad jokes at the expense of actual character development and story line... the shiny special effects will cover all that up.


Guest Blogger E would like to submit her list as well. She would also like to add that attending the double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 was a cinematic highlight for her. I agree wholeheartedly! We are all really looking forward to Toy Story 3 in June.

So here's E's list:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Shorts
Twilight
Inkheart
Night at the Museum 2
Coraline
Up
Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel
Aliens in Attic
Race to Witch Mountain
A Christmas Carol
Frog Prince
Planet 51
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Monsters vs. Aliens
Paul Blart Mall Cop
Astro Boy.

K had a hard time ranking hers- because she liked them all so much, so she just wanted to say that she really liked Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Aliens in the Attic and Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel a lot.

J wanted to say that his favorite this year was Cloudy With a Chance.

Happy New Year everyone. And here's to a great cinematic 2010.

but this made it feel a little better

okay one thing made me smile today.

i tried

i really tried not to hate fall this year.
i tried to pick pretty leaves each day that i ran in the brisk (albeit) dark mornings.
i tried to push sad and negative thoughts out of my mind and my heart when the cold gloominess started having its way with me.

but i can't get warm.
i'm wet from the rain.
i am miserable from a cold i caught.
i'm going to be less than my best for the 5K for which I've trained so hard.
i'm sad.

i tried, but i failed.

the hof

Conversation with K before our trip:

K: Can we stop at an IHOP during the car trip?

Me: Ooh I love IHOP. Chocolate chip pancakes...we'll see.

K: What does IHOP stand for anyway?

Me: International House of Pancakes

K: Well that's better than IHOF!

Me: What's IHOF?

K: International House of FAILURE!

Me: (laughs hysterically)

K: Or if you were really mad at someone and wanted to fight, you could say "Wanna go to IHOP??? International House of PAIN!!!"

Me: K you are funny.

can i hitch a ride to the circus?

E slept through the first few hours of our loooong car trip. When she woke up she was concerned that she had "missed something."

I informed her that aside from the circus that we passed and the hitchhiker that we picked up, she didn't miss a thing. I got a "Yeah right Mom!"

What? I amuse myself (if no one else).

A little while later, she and K started cracking up hysterically and pointing out the window. In a big field, stood a huge striped circus tent! Seriously it looked like something out of a cartoon. What are the odds? So we joked that all we needed to see next was a hitchhiker.

I kid you not, as we pulled out of a rest stop, a gentleman was in fact trying to hitch a ride from passing cars. Well after the renewed laughter died down, a new travel game was born.

So for the rest of the trip we would name odd things to see if they would show up. The best one that actually did was a chair on top of a car (believe it or not).

So there, next time "cows" or "count the out of state plates" gets old, try "Random Item Travel Bingo."

no fair!

J: Mommy, who was in your tummy first?

Me: It was E then K then you.

J: No fair!!! Why do they always get to go first?

not so current events

The other day over at Ken Jenning's blog he asked readers to recall their first recollected news event.

I went to a wiki page that listed sigfificant events from the year 1975 because I thought I might remember stuff when I was four years old.

Turns out... not so much.

There is a reel to reel tape recording of me talking about "Mister Mitchell and Mister Dean" from Watergate fame. But I do not remember the conversation or what I was talking about. I guess everyone thought it was cute to have me repeat names from the news.

Then I went to 1976 and these I actually remember:

July 4 - United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

July 18 - Nadia Comaneci earns the first of 7 perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.

1977

January 23 - Roots begins its phenomenally successful run on ABC.

May 25 - Star Wars opens in cinemas and subsequently becomes the then-highest grossing film of all time.

July 13 - The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in looting and other disorder.

I wonder what E, K, and J will remember.

haiku review

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

a life in reverse
so similar, life's extremes
a beautiful film