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April 30, 2005
Just don't get engaged!
The woman from Georgia who faked her own kidnapping so she wouldn't have to get married is the single most selfish person on the face of this earth right now. There are many many better ways to not get married. Most of them being much better than what she did. Why couldn't she just say something? Or tell her family she was leaving and not getting married? Does she not care about the feelings of anyone? Her fiance, family, friends, neighbors, and the entire country were worried about her. Tons of people searched the town looking for her. Her parents probably haven't slept in days, terrified over what may have happened to her. And she runs off to Vegas, not bothering to tell anyone. It's just so disgusting. I hope her fiance refuses to marry her now. She doesn't deserve anyone. She should be eaten by this giant robot thing that I know is trying to take over the world.
Posted by laura at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Who am I?
You may have noticed that I haven't posted my picture on this blog yet. I've been meaning to, really. I swear. I am just sort of picky about pictures, I either look really good or really awful. And I always forget to bring my camara everywhere. I want to start bringing it to everything, including work and the supermarket (so I could take a picture of the woman who called me a fucking bitch, haha), as well as poker and trivia and Stowe and RI. That way, you'd be able to see what I look like, in case you are too lazy to look at Peter's blog.
Now, I am reconsidering. I don't think that anyone would go wild with my picture like what happened to this kid, but you never know. Thanks to Paul Philips for the link.
Posted by laura at 09:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 28, 2005
Knitting
I signed up for a knitting class at The Knitting Room, right next to the Capitol Theatre. I have been meaning to learn how to knit for over a year now, but I just can't get myself to start. So I'm trying a class and hoping it sticks. The class I'm taking is meeting on the next three Thursdays at 11am. I really hope it works out, they have a ton of other classes that I'd love to take. Here's what my class is about:
BEGINNING KNITTING This class will teach you the basic stitches (knit and purl), and how to cast on and bind off (how to end) and get you started on a simple project of your choice. Materials: bring in a ball or skein of medium weight (worsted weight) yarn and a pair of straight or circular needles in size 7, 8, or 9 (or you may purchase the items in the shop prior to the start of class).
I think my project is going to be a scarf because I decided this winter I want to start a collection of scarves. They are such a fun accessory. Maybe I can make a Harry Potter scarf. I think a Slytherin one would be awesome.
Posted by laura at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 25, 2005
Stop your crying!
I hate Harry and David's. Everything in the damn catalog that came today looks great. I seriously considered for a moment buying the throw on pg. 29 for only $59.95 before I realize that I have a ton of throws that I never use. And it's not like I've ever actually gone on a picnic so I've never truly needed an ourdoor one (yes Peter, we will go on a picnic one day, I swear). But it's still calling out to me. I still have no idea what to get my mom for Mother's Day, but I want to get her everything in this catalog. Who doesn't want a ham or a Royal Tower of Chocolates?
I finally finished reading The Namesake. It was really good. However, I finished it late at night when I was really tired, and I proceeded to cry for the next hour or so, waking Peter up twice because of my bawling. I had to take something to fall asleep, or I would have cried all night long. I was crying because I don't want Peter to die or my future kids to hate me and all other silly reasons that proved I should have gone to bed hours before. But the book is totall awesome. Jhumpa Lahiri is so good at putting into words feelings that we all have but can't quite conceptualize. The very end of the book was a feeling I've had many times before, but I always felt silly in that feeling, like I was making too much of a silly moment like that. But she understood. I felt the same way after reading Interpreter of Maladies.
I also saw Fever Pitch this weekend. I almost cried twice during the movie (are we noticing a pattern developing?). First, when he picked up the Red Sox onesie, I was so upset! But that's not surprising considering my current life. Then when the Red Sox won, I wanted to cry because we won and it was beautiful and I was so happy just like when it actually happened. I still can't believe we won. Tell me that when I'm crying and I'm so happy!
I know you all are waiting for a cheekbone update. I didn't bruise and there was only very slight swelling, that's why there's no picture. I'm sorry to disappoint. I can now even sleep on that side of my face and smile without it hurting, so in the long run no damage.
I can't post on Liz's blog. So Liz, here's what I wrote:
Don't go to graduation. I didn't (had my wedding shower that day instead), and the only reason I regret it is because Jhumpa Lahiri spoke at it, and later that summer I read Interpreter of Maladies and was totally kicking myself. It's a dumb ceremony, totally a waste of a day. Very anti-climactic. Remember high school graduation? Totally pointless. My brother's way ok, but that's because he did a speach that wasn't approved of by that evil witch that replaced Wortheimer, and the entire class sang a song that also wasn't approved, which made it exciting. Go out for ice cream and take a nap instead, it'll probably be more fun. Congrats on graduating!
Normal post again: I really hate graduations, and all sorts of ceremonies, just like you. In a great anthro class at URI, my prof talked about the in between stage, when you are not in one place or another in your life. Like right before you graduate. You are totally stuck in the middle, and it's an awful, uncomfortable place to be. You are done with what you were doing for years, but not yet moved on to the next part of your life. I don't know if you feel as awful about it as I always do in such situations, but I think you should totally just do whatever you want, something fun. For me, it's ice cream and a nap. For you, it might be something different, although who hates a nap and ice cream?
Posted by laura at 06:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 23, 2005
I'm not flying with these guys
Watch out for terrorist penguins. There's making the world a little less safe with every flight.
Posted by laura at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
McMahon? Who?
I was thinking the other day that if someone from my past that I've lost contact with wanted to find me, they couldn't, not even by searching the internet. After all, I moved around town a lot when I was younger, my mother moved out of state, my brother is about to move out of state (going to NYU Law! yay Terry!!!), and I've had a new last name for almost four years now. I was wondering if I should put a big Laura McMahon somewhere on the site. So there, I did it.
Of course, the other issue I'm pretending to ignore is that I doubt anyone is trying to find me. It's not like I had a ton of friends that I was so close to that are going to search me out. In fact, I can only see a few people I don't want to contact me actually contacting me. But have you ever searched google for Laura McMahon? It's scary. The best person I could find with my name writes Christian poetry. Eek, not exactly my cup of tea. So now I will hopefully be up there on the list for Laura McMahon, so former flames, old friends and sisters, and long lost relatives who are willing to give me millions can all find me.
Posted by laura at 09:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Killer Frozen Yogurt
Peter brought home Creme Caramel frozen yogurt. He didn't think I was as pleased as I should have been about my surprise dessert (for the record, I was excited, just tired). I thought I'd prove this to him, so I got a spoon out of the drawer and ran into the computer room with the frozen yogurt container. As I started opening it, Peter realized what I had done and ran into the room to stop me. I hate being chased, so I freaked and lept over two laundry baskets on my way to the bathroom where I could lock myself in and eat. Peter was wiley though, catching my arm as I entered the bedroom, and I twisted to free myself. Twisting worked, and I had almost escaped as I made my way across the room. Unfortunately, I also accidently let go of the frozen yogurt. My dessert went flying into the wall three inches away, and promptly bounced back into my right cheekbone. I had an awful time laughing hysterically while pain was shooting through my face. So after placing an ice pack on my cheekbone for the past two hours, I realize that I am very sore and may have not been putting it in the right place. If I have a big welt or bruise tomorrow, I promise I'll take a picture so everyone can see. On the up side, the frozen yogurt was delicious, and we ate the entire container.
Posted by laura at 09:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 21, 2005
Japanese makeup lesson
Stick with it, I think it's a bit of a creepy concept. I guess that's easy for me to say because I don't have heavy or slanted eyelids.
Posted by laura at 12:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
My baby's name
Most Popular Girls' Names of 2015?Annika
Ansley
Ava
Avery
Aviva
Clementine
Eleanor
Ella
Emma
Fiona
Flannery
Grace
Isabel
Kate
Lara
Linden
Maeve
Marie-Claire
Maya
Philippa
Phoebe
Quinn
Sophie
Waverly
Most Popular Boys' Names of 2015?Aidan
Aldo
Anderson
Ansel
Asher
Beckett
Bennett
Carter
Cooper
Finnegan
Harper
Jackson
Johan
Keyon
Liam
Maximilian
McGregor
Oliver
Reagan
Sander
Sumner
Will
Taken from here. Of course, the boy's name we'd already decided on is on this list. And I've found a new favorite name for a girl on here, although it reminds Peter of a bully from elementary school. I'm going to find cute baby girl pictures and put them all over the house with the name written on them until he changes his mind, or divorces me because I'm obsessive and a freak. I'm putting my foot down here though, it's the most perfect name ever! And I'm not telling you what it is in case you tell your cousin who tells his friend who names his baby this name. I want to keep it all for my own!
Posted by laura at 08:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 17, 2005
Peabody Essex Museum
I'm really excited to read Freakonomics. It's a new business book that's come out that reminds me of The Tipping Point in that it isn't really about business (meaning it's entertaining to the average joe like me), and it has a lot of interesting trivia types of info. I guess the author just started studying the numbers of a lot of different things and crunched them to come to some very interesting conclusions. Here is an article about the book. I'm going to start reading it at work on Monday. I haven't been able to find a good work book recently. They all seem too involved, and I'm not in the mood for involved. I want to be able to put the book down and talk to Connie or John or Deanne or whomever I'm eating lunch with at the moment. We have some weird conversations in the lunch room sometimes, so I need to be prepared to be a part of them. However, I did start reading The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing which seems really good, and My Sister's Keeper, which also seems excellent and is currently on our trade paper bestseller list and totally pulls you in during the first chapter.
Today we are going to the Peabody Essex Museum, and then we'll probably take a walk around Salem and maybe down to the water. It's such a nice day out today, we can't stay inside the museum the whole day. I'm super excited about the Yim Yu Tang, which I saw on a Discovery Channel type of documentary a long time ago. They took the house apart in southeastern China little piece by little piece and put the whole thing together here exactly how it was. It was lived in by the same family for 8 generations, over 200 years. I also may look for a good costume to wear for the Harry Potter release while in Salem. I definitely plan on working on the July 16th release and I need to look the part. Last time I guess everyone got wizard hats that lit up. I tried to get someone who still had one to give it to me when I found out, but no one would.
The AEPi house was partially damaged at URI yesterday by a fire Friday night. No one is living there right now, but I'm rather upset by it. I hate that so many of the fraternity houses on campus have become URI owned houses that they've converted into boring things (IEP House) or destroyed (Sigma Chi, which was beautiful with all it's big Greek columns out front) in order to put up a boring alumni building. Many people know my issues with the alumni association at URI, I'm not even going there. Back on topic though, my sorority doesn't own it's house. Each time a fraternity house is destroyed or taken over, it's one less house that we will be able to take over and one day buy. I don't know how long we'll end up staying where we are, but Phi Sig used to live in our house and was kicked out for TKE to move in (for about 3 days before they were caught with coke rumor has it). Tri Sigma actually once owned the house, so maybe there is a chance TKE will let us buy it. Until something happens, our housing situation will be a concern for me. The one positive is that ZBT has just broken ground on their new house, right next to the AEPi house. They recently won The Brummer Cup, an award stating URI's ZBT chapter is the best collegiate chapter in the nation for their organization, and I was really excited for them. They exemplify the values of a fraternity perfectly.
Posted by laura at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 14, 2005
My not so true personality
| Advanced Global Personality Test Results
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
Stability results were moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious.Orderliness results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.
Extraversion results were moderately low which suggests you are reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive.
trait snapshot:
neat freak, organized, worrying, phobic, fears the unknown, irritable, pessimistic, emotionally sensitive, fears chaos, risk averse, fragile, unadventurous, depressed, frequently second guesses self, likes to fit in, does not like to stand out, perfectionist, hard working, does not like to be alone, clingy, dependent, practical, ordinary, cautious, takes precautions, good at saving money, suspicious, heart over mind, busy, altruistic
I can't say that I'm depressed, nor am I pessimistic. I don't like change, I am definitely irritable and worry and am organized. I wish I was a neat freak. I don't know how to be secretive, but I am dependent and good at saving money. So maybe 75% correct I would say. I am going to make Peter take the test. It's a little over a hundred questions, easy to do when you're bored at work.
Posted by laura at 08:44 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 12, 2005
Moody t-shirt
I came up with a great idea for a t-shirt today. It would say your mood on the front of it, changing as your mood changes. So today while I was angry, it would say angry. Or it could have a "smily face" that is angry, with the knarly teeth and eye brows that make a V. That way everyone would know what is going on in my head, they could avoid me if they choose, not get mad if I am a little short with them, or comfort me if they are my friends. I think this would be very beneficial at work where I'm dealing with at least 30 coworkers on a daily basis that come in to punch in and out all day long. Husbands would also like it, when the big PMS came up they could just leave the house, go get a lot of chocolate and french fries, and sit with us as we cry or scream or need to watch girly movies like You've Got Mail. Does this sound like a good idea Peter? :)
In reality, a changing shirt probably won't work. So instead I need to make t-shirts that have one mood on them, and wear them as I feel it is appropriate. For instance, if I wake up exhausted after a long night of trivia (this is tomorrow for me), I can put on my TIRED t-shirt and everyone will know why I am slow and am cutting myself with my box cutter. I think TIRED should be light blue, ANGRY should be red, but so should PMS. HAPPY would be orange, but I need to think of what to do for the other colors and which moods I actually feel relatively often.
Posted by laura at 06:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bad work makes Laura a MAD girl
Work is bad. Our store manager has come up with all these decisions regarding receiving, even though she knows nothing about what we do. I think she only steps into our room about once a month, basically when her manager comes to see our store. She's cut our shelvers, so our carts are always full, so it's hard to receive. And because we just had inventory, we got a psycho huge, Christmas style shipment today that we came no where near finishing. Plus, we have to open more boxes an hour. Plus we do everything wrong. Oh, and returns are piling up again, as usual. I had to shelve a cart too. I wanted to cry during lunch, I was so frustrated. Then I went into the receiving room to punch in from lunch, and I couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous the whole situation is. When I got home I was just plain angry. If I didn't like the people I work with so much, I would have left a long time ago. I'm once again really considering leaving. I'm going to work on my resume on Thursday since I'm off.
Faith McNulty died today. She is somehow a distant cousin, her mother was a Robinson, as was my great grandmother I believe. She wrote Burning Bed, a true account of a woman who was abused and kills her husband. It is the book on abuse. She also wrote some kids books too that are still in print. She lived in my hometown, but I can't remember actually meeting her. I just heard about her my entire life.
I made it into the current The Quarterly, page 16. Notice how my purse is front and center. I really like Nashoba, the wine is good and the restaurant was wonderful. We're having the event again next fall for our Founder's Day. The drive isn't too bad either. We have such good events with the alum chapter, which I now take full credit for since I am the VP Programming. I plan on having our purse making party at 1154 Lill again, that was the best event ever, and we have a Build-A-Bear philanthropy coming up soon too.
Posted by laura at 05:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 11, 2005
Cow Flops
Here's the recipe for everyone that wants it. I lost it at some point during the party. It's really easy, which has been proved since I actually made them.
Cow Flops
1/2 c butter 2 c sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa 1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c milk 3 c quick oats
In a saucepan, mix butter, cocoa, milk and sugar.
Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Add peanut butter and oats, stir well.
Spoon onto wax paper and cool completely.
I've been super tired for about a week now. Everything is just so hard. I also want to stay up later, but if I do I regret it. I'm waking up in the middle of the night again. I was hoping the insomnia was gone. I feel like I should be doing all these things, learning how to knit and cleaning and beginning to go through all my Chapter Advisor materials, etc. I don't have the time, so I'm frustrated. Christi was right when she said spring is the angry season.
Does anyone want to see Warm Springs at AMC Fenway? I didn't realize that it's an HBO movie. I thought I was getting free tickets to a real movie. If anyone wants them, they can have it. I also don't like Cynthia Nixon, I hated that Sex and the City show. They were all whores and complainers.
Gemelli's is my favorite take out right now. I could eat them every night. They are extra wonderful because they have poppers. Every pizza place in the country should offer poppers, there is no better food, except maybe chili con queso.
Posted by laura at 05:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 06, 2005
Today's tv shows were awful
First Boone dies! Granted, it's tons better than Sayid dying, but why couldn't it be Shannon? And now I am so worried about Locke. Lost is so stressful!
And then Nikko gets kicked off AI. I'm not even sure I want to watch it anymore, he was by far the best one on the show. Everyone else is totally boring. I can't believe the public liked abuser Scott over him.
At least The Office was funny.
Posted by laura at 09:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 05, 2005
Which president never married?
I let my hair dry naturally since it's so warm out today. It dried in ringlets, so cute. I hate my hair now being wavy, but ringlets are the best kind. It was really messy though, so I brushed it out, and it just got wavy boring gross. I picked up my flat iron to make it pretty again, and my hair iron doesn't work. It must have died in the drive back to MA. At least it worked on Sunday so I could look impressive amongst the sorority girls. I'm thinking of doing pig tails tonight for trivia. Maybe they'll help me envision myself as a school girl back when I actually knew something. I'm going to brush up on my presidents before we go since there's always a question on them. I could also wear one of my plaid shirts and pretend I'm Daisy Mae, just not quite so blond and volumptuous.
So Tony Pierce's magazine Lick isn't porn. I figured this out after I wrote my initial post, Peter searched for it. I don't really get what it is, writing and art I guess. Some of the writing is better than others, but I like the backgrounds. But the blog is from September, so he doesn't seem to be keeping up with it. But he linked to me, Peter and Liz both saw that. It totally creeped me out, that someone would actually read my blog. I don't know why, that is a major part of blogging. I just wish it was for something more interesting that being too lazy to spend 10 seconds searching for something. Also, one of the comments said something about how I find Motley Crue boring, like sorority girls usually are fans of theirs. Maybe if I was a 40 year old sorority girl. Anyway, now that people might come to my blog, I have to work on making this place look presentable. Of course, Peter'll be the one to do that, not me. He did such a good job on Boston Phis, I trust him. However, his work is hard for the next two weeks, so I'll have to live with purple for a little longer.
I was thinking about the end of the world today. Some Catholics are saying that the new pope will be the last one, my father-in-law included. I guess something big and bad will happen, like the second coming or something. I don't really know what that means. But I was casually wondering how I'd find Peter if this happened during business hours. Should we make up a meeting place in case we can't get home? I then began to wonder what I'd do to survive. Selling books isn't something that will carry over to the end of the world, neither will receiving rooms. I should start learning how to hunt with a bow and arrow or something that'll benefit me. I should have started today when I lost power for 3 hours. Instead, I just read a magazine, cleaned a bit for Saturday's party, and walked around the house a bit. Besides, the closest thing I see to wildlife is the neighbor's dog.
Posted by laura at 06:48 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Birthday Boy
Driving home from the gym today, I realized how nice spring is. Boston doesn't get as much of a spring as southern RI does, but this year seems to be better than the previous ones I've experienced up here. Every day is around 50 degrees for at least the past week. Today is supposed to get up to 60! I'm reminded of the first really nice day of the year in 2001, which was also April 5. I had the windows down, radio blaring, and I was going 45 on South Road on my way to my grandparents' house. Big mistake. I got pulled over and my first and only ticket. But I didn't care because it was beautiful and it was Peter's birthday. I love birthdays, even if I do hate getting older. This is the 10th birthday of Peter's that I'm celebrating with him. The first one involved going to the DMV to get his new "adult" license. I'm glad it's sunny and nice today, Peter deserves a beautiful birthday. He is one of the sunniest things in my life. Happy Birthday Peter! I love you more than anything in the world.
Posted by laura at 12:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I'm not going to my 10 year reunion
I've wanted to write about this past weekend, but I haven't known where to start. I was really looking forward to going to RI and all of my reunion type events, but they all sort of ended up uncomfortable in one way or another. It was great seeing people I hadn't seen in years, but spending a few hours with them just wasn't enough to get past that initial uncomfortable stage. I felt like I was on the entire time, forced to be happy and nice and smily. It really made me appreciate my Boston friends and how I can totally be myself in front of them, even if it is at times moody or bitchy (yes, that's right Jeff :) ). They will make fun of me for being those ways, but they won't hold it against me at all.
And when will people learn not to talk about the things they do together that they don't invite me to? That's fine that I wasn't invited to the party the week before, I don't really care and may not have gone anyway, but to talk about it in front of me makes me feel like I wasn't wanted. Ignorance is bliss in this case. Didn't people learn that it is rude? Every time it happens I am reminded of 8th grade when Tom was having his birthday party and invited all of my friends and they all talked about it in gym class in front of me, making me feel like a total loser.
One good thing this weekend was that I got all the URI gossip. Greek life has changed a lot in the past year plus since I've been involved. Sigma Pi has a house, ZBT started building the one they burned down, Figi and Phi Sig live in the same house, total is now 95!!!, we are still doing really well, although they don't have a website which bugs me. Maria and I went through the old photo albums, that was really strange, looking at myself in college at formals and retreats. It seems like it was yesterday and forever ago. I hate growing up, but everyone who knows me knows that, it's my daily whine.
Posted by laura at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack