Hmm. Wait a minute…I saw them in 1990, not 1991. Did I just lose an entire year?? LOL. Maybe my 4 days of pretending to be retired has given me early onset Alzheimers.

Xavier

Georgia

Tennessee

Syracuse

Texas

Notre Dame

Louisville

Purdue (!!!!????!?!?!?!)

UNLV

Vanderbilt

Georgetown

St. John’s

Oh well, as Gene said to me at dinner last night, “It’s a good thing we don’t depend on your earnings as a sports forecaster”.

and I also have finished the Daria and The State DVDs…

First up was Winter’s Bone. The heartwarming tale of a poverty stricken daughter searching for her father, a crank “cooker”, I think that this was 2011′s “Precious”. Gene and I both enjoyed it but were not sad when it ended.

Next, Black Swan. Wow. I really wanted Annette Bening to win the Oscar for Best Actress (for The Kids Are All Right)…until I saw Natalie Portman’s performance in Black Swan. A totally crazy, amazing movie.

The middle movie was Inception, which we saw back in July (during my luxurious two days of unemployment). Skipped it this time in favor of skeeball and drinks down at Dave & Busters. D&B is a totally different place at midday on a Saturday – all the kids are throwing balls down the alley (?) like they’re hopped up on PCPs. I finally got annoyed by the kids and was just a little tipsy so I decided to explore the mall a bit by myself (bought socks and tried to buy a new bra – I think it is time for either a home breast reduction kit or at least to start buying bras from the tent section at the Army surplus store…).

Next movie: The Social Network. Wow, that was another great movie. I am so glad it got nominated – I’d wanted to see it on the big screen during its original run but we don’t go to the movies that often anymore. I’m not the biggest Facebook fan (ha ha) out there but it was a movie that I really liked and related to. (On a related note, I got a free Social Network mousepad on the first Saturday so now Jesse Eisenberg stares at me all day at work – I have finally decided to turn it upside down so it’s not so creepy).

And finally – HOORAY! – The King’s Speech. I love Colin Firth because he is so. freaking. hawt. And I love Helena Bonham Carter because she reminds me of Brandy (I wish I could find the picture from Entertainment Weekly). And I just – JUST – figured out that the actress who played Geoffrey Rush’s wife played Lizzie Bennet in the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice that has the infamous “Colin Firth walking out of a lake in a dripping wet shirt” scene so prized in Bridget Jones’s Diary (which of course starred Colin Firth).

I literally just blew my mind. Anyway, glad that the Kings Speech won and if I were smarter I’d find a way to use one of the vulgarity riddled moments from the movie and turn it into my cell phone’s ring tone.

2) You know what I want to see (other than a picture of Miley Cyrus post head shave – it’s coming, I can feel it)? A movie with a May-December bromance. I’m thinking Abe Vigoda and Michael Cera in a remake of Lethal Weapon. What do you think? We need to get moving on this – Abe Vigoda is 89 fucking years old.

“This is my stop!

Got to get off!

I may go pop!

Excuse me…excuse me!

I’ve got to beee dirrrrect!

If I’m wrong, please correct!

You’re standing on my neck!”

~Splendora, “You’re Standing on My Neck” (Daria main theme song)

(Why am I the only one singing??)

Anyway, so in another case of awesome begetting more awesome, my baby brother Macauley/Bill gave me the DVD collection for sketch comedy troupe The State as an Xmas gift last year and I finished the set the week before Gene and I went to Las Vegas. Fortunately, the previews at the start of one of the DVDs included an ad for the DVD collection for the equally awesome show Daria.

(Sidebar: Thank you Almighty D for the awesome birthday gift).

(Have I said “awesome” enough?)

Daria was on MTV in the 1990s and I feel pretty sure that the freaking awesome main character, Daria Morgendorffer, was me. She was sarcastic, funny and smart. Unlike me she didn’t spend all night on the internet talking to boys, but I assume that was artistic license. I have watched the first of the DVDs already and it feels like coming home. I also am concerned that this means that high school really was the best time of my life, but that has been a sneaking suspicion for awhile. Who knows, maybe my 70s will be great.

Seriously, guys, I was in high school when that song came out. Hell, I may have been in junior high. Please stop making me feel downright elderly.

That said, my birthday weekend w/ Mom feels like it happened months ago. I think that part of why I haven’t written lately is that I am still upset that Kansas lost to Northern Iowa. I mean, Northern Iowa??? That game happened when Mom was in town and we watched the last 10 or so minutes (on the laptop), cringing the whole time. We also watched the last few minutes of the Purdue game at the restaurant we went to for my birthday dinner.

We really had a great time and I feel bad that I haven’t written about it. (Hope your feelings aren’t hurt, Mom!) Mom loved IKEA (at least the meatballs) so much that we walked through it twice. Maybe two and a half times. We also walked all around the outlet mall another day and part of a regular mall another day.

I was pretty certain that I was going to dislocate a hip, we walked so much. (Oh, and we also walked the dogs on a long route through my neighborhood, which they loved). Mom, on the other hand, did all of that walking PLUS played with our Wii Fit PLUS walked on the treadmill. Seriously. One night we all went to bed and I hear noise upstairs in the guest room. The next morning Mom announces that she made her own Mii and played with the Wii Fit. We went to bed at midnight. Mom cannot be stopped!

(Thankfully she still helped us put major dents in the cakes plus once or twice a day she’d sit down with a mini cupcake or two. She is my mother after all!)

So, that was my birthday. (Except for the huge bag of bargain books from Books-A-Million that Mom and Dad got me for my birthday, which I am still working my way through and probably will be for awhile). (And!!!! My dad sent along a birthday present for me, which was a Fleetwood Mac concert poster that he found on eBay searching for Eric Clapton. That was such a sweet gift!)

Work is work – Stefania was out of the office all of last week so I was Accounts Payable for a week. I have more respect for her than I ever thought possible – how does she not drink at her desk every day??? Two days into last week I was ready to start stabbing people and by day four I begged Gwen to not make me help accounting anymore. (She said no. Grrrr). So, between the A/P Week and being off for Good Friday (ha! I worked from 9 am until 2 pm anyway) I am so. freaking. behind. (Seriously, Gwen, all I wanted was a few freaking days where I could focus on the awesome reports you make me put together so everyone can ignore them – is that so wrong?).

In entertainment news, Couples Retreat suuuucked. So disappointed. Vince Vaughn as a family man isn’t just fiction, it’s science fiction! I am embarrassed to admit it but I love to listen to the stupid pop station on the radio in hopes that they will play Lady Gaga or Ke$ha. Oh, and we have watched all three seasons of Arrested Development. The first season was great and the other two were not bad. And did I tell you I watched the first season of Californication using Netflix Instant Queue? I hope they put the other seasons on the Instant Queue because I really liked it.

And the dogs – Scooby had his annual vet visit today and – shocker! – he’s getting old. The vet said that one of his teeth may have to be pulled eventually. Beyond that, he is fine – good ears, no fleas, etc. The vet’s office is so fraking expensive. Booper is also doing well although she is slowing down a little too and we need to talk to the vet about her legs when she has her annual visit later this year. Love the puppies, so glad we have ‘em. There was a picture on the wall at the vet’s office of a whippet who was a patient there who lived for 15 years. It’s shocking to think that we adopted both dogs as puppies and now we’re almost halfway through the best case scenario, life wise.

Finally – tomorrow is Macauley/Bill and Michelle’s baby shower. (Wasn’t it like 3 weeks ago that you guys called and said “We’re pregnant! Don’t tell Mom!”). Unfortunately, I wa$ not able to attend but I sent a Chicco travel system in my place. (And a surprise dilly present, muah ha ha).

And, nothing new on the topics of Plan B or The Boy.

I am fine, hope you are too.