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aruanI turned 25 on the 30th, an experience best left as low-key as it was; there's no joy in being able to measure one's lifespan in terms of a century. My father and aunt came through town for a whirlwind lunch at Olive Garden on the 1st, leaving Godiva chocolate and some wicked good nutty mini croissants in their wake. My mom spent the past weekend up here, shopping on Saturday (have you ever bought something off the rack that was meant for you? TWICE) with dinner at Texas de Brazil Churrascaria (the garlic sirloin was dreamy, though really, if you're going to have men with large knives and skewered meat walking all around, take away their shirt privileges) and Universal Studios on Sunday.
The Mummy coaster was very meh, except for the double-plumb fake in the middle, Disney does a better shoot-em-up ride with Buzz Lightyear, and nothing else will make this park worthwhile now that Back to the Future has been closed. Also, the gelato was v. sub-par, and two useless employees in the boulangerie spilled hot coffee all over my hand and both our cakes, then did not apologize and tried to sell us one of the ruined desserts. Needless to say, the complaint form was very detailed.
Workwise, I haven't not wanted to go into the office as much as today in a long time - my co-crime reporter quit two weeks ago, conveniently right after being out for a month for surgery, and the reporter who mentored me and commiserated about the fact that one of our direct supervisors actually uses the phrase "I'm gonna need you to go ahead and..." has switched offices because he hated being stuck with higher education (after BOTH our education reporters left, with no replacements planned) and now works out of our Winter Haven bureau. I may have cried a little watching him pack up his stuff Wednesday night. Oh, and they switched my weekends to Saturday/Sunday a couple weeks ago to keep the cops shift covered with overtime, so I now see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flatword for an hour before work, for a half-hour dinner if we can get out, and about two hours afterward until I inevitably fall asleep on the sofa. Let me tell you how well that's working out for us.
But then I get to work yesterday and there are three kids waiting in the lobby who asked for me by name to talk about the raw deal they got from a Lakeland cop Saturday night, and in my mailbox is a letter from the stepfather of this kid, telling me he was re-rereading my story and that he never said how much he appreciated it. Sometimes my job reminds me why people do it, despite the unpaid overtime and missed meals and backwoods trekking.
Otherwise, Brandon plays a lot of Halo 3, I play a lot of Warcraft, and we respectively try to make time for reading and TV.
NEW
Journeyman is not particularly good, but it mashes my time-loop-mystery button.
Chuck, The Big Bang Theory and Reaper are endearing, if not particularly clever yet (though I think that will improve once the writers get all their respective genres' cliches out of their systems).
Kid Nation is surprisingly good (can I get an AMEN for Michael?)
Survivor China has no right being as boring as it is.
Bionic Woman is a write-off save Katee Sackhoff.
Back to You fictionalizes my real life yet manages to be thoroughly soulless at it.
Big Shots is Desperate Housewives with men, which makes it amusing but not particularly good.
AWAITING Dirty Sexy Money, Viva Laughlin, Cavemen (I KNOW but it'll be like Office Space with hairier guys!) and Pushing Daisies
RESIGNED Heroes, Smallville, Friday Night Lights and Doctor Who to be watched once I live in the same zip code as another TV enthusiast, because catching up without some serious DVD time commitments at this point is zero.
RETURNING My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, SGA (though the first episode was tedious like Armaggedon - rolling crises are not my thing, though capers are! Which bodes well for this week), Boston Legal, Nip/Tuck, The Hills (Brandon already gives me enough grief, thanks) CSI:Miami, D'Onofrio's episodes of Law & Order:Criminal Intent, Family Guy, Iron Chef and random home-improvement programming for all the things I'm not allowed to do to my tiny, cluttered one-bedroom apartment because if I stay in journalism I'll never be able to afford any kind of property in this state.
Oh, and how did the Defuser win Who Wants to Be a Superhero? Hyperstrike must've kicked a puppy or something in the last episode.
The Mummy coaster was very meh, except for the double-plumb fake in the middle, Disney does a better shoot-em-up ride with Buzz Lightyear, and nothing else will make this park worthwhile now that Back to the Future has been closed. Also, the gelato was v. sub-par, and two useless employees in the boulangerie spilled hot coffee all over my hand and both our cakes, then did not apologize and tried to sell us one of the ruined desserts. Needless to say, the complaint form was very detailed.
Workwise, I haven't not wanted to go into the office as much as today in a long time - my co-crime reporter quit two weeks ago, conveniently right after being out for a month for surgery, and the reporter who mentored me and commiserated about the fact that one of our direct supervisors actually uses the phrase "I'm gonna need you to go ahead and..." has switched offices because he hated being stuck with higher education (after BOTH our education reporters left, with no replacements planned) and now works out of our Winter Haven bureau. I may have cried a little watching him pack up his stuff Wednesday night. Oh, and they switched my weekends to Saturday/Sunday a couple weeks ago to keep the cops shift covered with overtime, so I now see
flatword for an hour before work, for a half-hour dinner if we can get out, and about two hours afterward until I inevitably fall asleep on the sofa. Let me tell you how well that's working out for us.But then I get to work yesterday and there are three kids waiting in the lobby who asked for me by name to talk about the raw deal they got from a Lakeland cop Saturday night, and in my mailbox is a letter from the stepfather of this kid, telling me he was re-rereading my story and that he never said how much he appreciated it. Sometimes my job reminds me why people do it, despite the unpaid overtime and missed meals and backwoods trekking.
Otherwise, Brandon plays a lot of Halo 3, I play a lot of Warcraft, and we respectively try to make time for reading and TV.
NEW
Journeyman is not particularly good, but it mashes my time-loop-mystery button.
Chuck, The Big Bang Theory and Reaper are endearing, if not particularly clever yet (though I think that will improve once the writers get all their respective genres' cliches out of their systems).
Kid Nation is surprisingly good (can I get an AMEN for Michael?)
Survivor China has no right being as boring as it is.
Bionic Woman is a write-off save Katee Sackhoff.
Back to You fictionalizes my real life yet manages to be thoroughly soulless at it.
Big Shots is Desperate Housewives with men, which makes it amusing but not particularly good.
AWAITING Dirty Sexy Money, Viva Laughlin, Cavemen (I KNOW but it'll be like Office Space with hairier guys!) and Pushing Daisies
RESIGNED Heroes, Smallville, Friday Night Lights and Doctor Who to be watched once I live in the same zip code as another TV enthusiast, because catching up without some serious DVD time commitments at this point is zero.
RETURNING My Name Is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, SGA (though the first episode was tedious like Armaggedon - rolling crises are not my thing, though capers are! Which bodes well for this week), Boston Legal, Nip/Tuck, The Hills (Brandon already gives me enough grief, thanks) CSI:Miami, D'Onofrio's episodes of Law & Order:Criminal Intent, Family Guy, Iron Chef and random home-improvement programming for all the things I'm not allowed to do to my tiny, cluttered one-bedroom apartment because if I stay in journalism I'll never be able to afford any kind of property in this state.
Oh, and how did the Defuser win Who Wants to Be a Superhero? Hyperstrike must've kicked a puppy or something in the last episode.
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Date: October 9th, 2007 06:20 pm (UTC)Happy belated, babycakes; keep making a difference to those people.
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Date: October 16th, 2007 03:02 am (UTC)Thanks, love. I'm trying, but without being a natural schmoozer, journalism is just not something I will ever be great at.
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Date: October 19th, 2007 07:27 am (UTC)I cried for hours that night.
no subject
Date: November 18th, 2007 01:09 am (UTC)......
o.O With any luck, I'll be within glaring distance the next time.