So... it's been a while. Strangely enough for someone who is temping and has nearly no responsibilities, I feel like I've been busy. For those of you who may have somehow missed it (and this is mostly for Invisible P who I purposefully didn't show) I got an early birthday present on 5/20. Mrs. Jones & Lady Ala Mode took me out to get a new hole. In my gutt. I have joined the ranks of the tragically hip. I have a belly-button piercing. It's pretty cool, I guess, but the pain lingered a little longer than I had anticipated. In fact, it's still a little uncomfortable some of the time. Like when I wear pants. Ho hum. The things I do for fashion. Still, I AM the coolest girl in the uber-cube where I work.
Then... volleyball started. Last week was fun, and we played better than I think we did all last season. Some of us much better. Of course, we didn't win -- we are still the same people. BUT! We had our first official game last night and we won a game!!! This is very exciting news. We won, and the other team was on the court the entire time. We technically lost the match, but really, the excitement of the win possibly took an edge off of our competitive spirit. Plus, I think the other team was starting to lose their buzz.
Saturday was spent in Madison, where we narrowly missed seeing my friend S who was in town from the twin cities (not Neenah/Menasha, but the real ones). We shopped and had a generally good time, and then went to Stoughton to celebrate my aunt's graduation from Upper Iowa University. She had an honor cord just like Mr. Jones'. Congrats & much love to both! I'd just like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that despite the fact that I can't see to get a job, I too graduated with honors and I even got to wear a metal. Yes, that's how pathetic I am. I have to toot (tee-hee) my own horn. Anywho! We had a really nice time, saw some of my long-lost relatives and found out that my Uncle Johnnie's middle name is David. Now I will never, ever forget that. When I'm 99 and I can't remember my own name, I'll still remember that.
We drove home late that night after the party and discovered that everyone between Stoughton and Columbus (including those in Madison and Sun Prairie) are reverse-vampires. They hate the dark. NOTHING was open and I, being me, had to pee. We eventually found a lovely gas station that was clean and had toilet paper and all was well and there was no pained outdoor urination. Thank God.
Sunday was recovery (though not from booze so much as from lots of hours in the car) and much preparation for the fun time that was had by all on Monday for the Birthday/Graduation party at the Jones'. White trash clothing required for everyone except my dad who was a little afraid that he'd get pulled over driving his fancy car looking like Gomer and get hassled. He's smart, that one. Anywho... food and fire and nearly Shaft's junk. What more could a girl want for her birthday? Well...among other things: a pretty robe, and fun books, a sparkly bracelet, crazy Hello Kitty things and a Badtz notebook, the smallest pen ever, money, gift certificates, beef jerky, and *hooray* a sewing machine. Now we're all jazzed up about making fun stuff for the Mr. Chan's Machine.
Mother arrived safely home from Napal. Quite a bit lighter and looking a little under the weather, but seemingly happy. She brought me wonderful things for my birthday including a neat purse and envelopes made by Napalese women who actually get paid for their work, interesting and strange snacks, and *a mini unscented car air freshener*. :) I am such a lucky girl. So... thanks to all.
Oh! I almost forgot. Yesterday was super-freak-out day at work because I found out that the disappeared-off-the-face-of-the-earth Pimp Daddy has, in fact, been living most of this time with my co-worker! I'm not breaking into song here, but seriously, the world can't possibly be that small. Maybe we're in some crazy cosmic ant farm. Who knows?
I'm going to sign off now, but I have a message for a certain someone courtesy of our friends at The Onion AV Club:
Star Wars: Episode II—Attack Of The Clones

Now that Star Wars: Episode II is coming out, The Onion A.V. Club can finally cash in by placing this lot of valuable Jar-Jar Binks merchandise for sale on eBay.
In many ways, George Lucas has only his success to blame. As one of the leading lights of the digital movement, Lucas and his effects wizards at Industrial Light & Magic have made miracles look a little more commonplace with every passing year, by turning out CGI worlds so awesome that awe alone is beginning to show its limitations. In Attack Of The Clones, a turgid and uninspired entry in the diminishing Star Wars pantheon, virtually every shot has been designed to introduce jaws to the pavement, with dense cityscapes that stretch to infinity in all directions and breathtaking panoramas that put nature's best to shame. But without the mythical power or giddy adventurousness of the first two Star Wars movies, the impact is strangely numbing, like watching a two-and-a-half-hour ILM show reel in search of moneyed investors. Though a marginal improvement over 1999's The Phantom Menace—if only because it pushes infamous clearance-bin sidekick Jar-Jar Binks to the margins—Attack Of The Clones runs into a similar set of problems, mainly caused by characters opening their mouths to speak. Never a competent director of actors, who often look stiff and disoriented against the blue-screen backdrops, Lucas gets little help from Hayden Christensen, his choice to bring young Anakin Skywalker from precocious childhood into petulant adolescence. As a gifted Jedi under the strict tutelage of Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, Christensen pouts and glowers at the camera every time the Dark Side tempts him, which happens a lot when he oversteps his bounds to stop a faction of separatists that threatens the stability of the Republic. Assigned to protect Natalie Portman, former Queen and now Senator of the peace-loving planet Naboo, Christensen breaks the Jedi code by falling in love with her, though no amount of frolicking and flowery dialogue can get those feelings across. Away from their square courtship, McGregor looks far more comfortable and commanding this time as Kenobi, whose investigation of an attempt on Portman's life leads him to a larger plot involving a bounty hunter (Temuera Morrison), a former Jedi (Christopher Lee), and a massive clone army. Lucas and his technicians sweat heavily over the eye candy, crafting amazingly detailed worlds and opulent interior spaces that wouldn't have been possible before the digital age. But save for a crowd-pleasing moment with Yoda, the movie remains pretty and inert, with no authentic emotion, no cumulative power, and no sense of physicality and danger in the action sequences. In lieu of a proper climax, Attack Of The Clones ends with a tantalizing cliffhanger for the next episode, but Lucas' lumbering series is presenting fewer and fewer reasons to tune in. —Scott Tobias