Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Is It Fritalian?

Who can resist a business that is brilliant enough to employ They Might Be Giants as their songwriters for their commercials? I'm loyal to Timmy Ho's since we don't have a Dunkin' Donuts in the Chautauqua Region, but I could be swayed... oh yes.. I could.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Two Former Buffalo Sabres Score For Vancouver

YAY RORY!!!!

Canucks 2, Senators 1
Roberto Luongo made 34
saves, Rory Fitzpatrick scored
his first goal of the season and
Vancouver won its third
straight to end Ottawa’s seasonhigh
five-game winning streak.
Taylor Pyatt added a goal
and an assist for the Canucks.
Luongo, who stopped 30
shots Tuesday in a 4-0 win in
Montreal for his third shutout
of the season, had 10 saves in
the first period and 11 in the
second before Daniel Alfredsson
scored 8:13 into the third
to pull the Senators within one.
His shutout streak ended at
154 minutes, 42 seconds.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Random Favorite Movie Quotes

From Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie

Mike: Boy, the landlady's gonna be mad.
Tom Servo: Are you boys cooking up there?
Mike: No.
Tom Servo: Are you making an interositor?
Mike: No!

Thanks to Wil for reminding me of that.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Regional Blogs

For the past couple weeks, it seems every time I check in with Buffalo Pundit, he has a new Buffalo-area blog added to the blogroll. It got me thinking about the local blogs around the Western Southern Tier (Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany Counties) and I realized that either I'm totally in the dark about what's out there or people aren't as into blogging down here.

Take a look to the right at my list of Buffalo-Niagara region blogs and you can easily see the list is huge. I'm wondering if the effed-up state of Erie County and the city of Buffalo has anything to do with that. I would hope that it's not just that our web-addicted population is apathetic to local current events, because I wouldn't say everything is totally peachy-keen down here. For the record, there are some very good things happening to the north of our county but until the control boards are gone, I don't think anyone will say it's just fine and dandy in Western New York.

I've avoided getting too deep into local politics/issues on this blog over the nearly six years I've been writing it only because of where I've worked. Technically, I still have to be very careful lest it seems like I'm speaking in opposition to something that my workplace supports. That's how bloggers get fired, you know.

I will ask, invite, and cajole anyone who reads this to pass on any local blogs you know of that I don't already have linked.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Spontaneous Head Implosion Averted

As I sip a medium double-cream Tim Horton's coffee, I wait for my frayed nerves to achieve normalcy. Ingesting caffeine does tend to have a calming effect on me when it's in the form of tea. Crap. I'm drinking coffee, aren't I? Oh well, I can be assured that I'll be able to stay awake for the 10 pm show of The Unexpected Guests.

Matt stopped down to the Arts Council on Friday and signed me up for UG's Improv Workshop that took place today. It was under sheer duress that I gave my blessings to him to do this. I think there's a special place reserved in heaven for my husband who has to put up my random, paranoid worrying.

The verdict? I had a good time. I laughed quite a bit and enjoyed trying to come up with things that were entertaining. I turned up the Sabres' gametime song, "Hurricane 2000", on my iPod while driving downtown to psyche myself beforehand. Thinking about the Sabres kicking arse on the ice tends to put me in a good mood. And once I got to the workshop space, it was comforting to see participants who looked like they might swallow their fingers for all the nail-biting they were doing helped.

I should disclose the fact that I have performed in front of large groups of people before. The largest was my high school graduation when I played a Mozart Concerto solo on the stage of the Eastman Theatre in front of 2,000 people. But that was a one-time thing never to be duplicated. Um. Shoot. I can't say that anymore, can I? Damn. Well, only one ulcer-inducing step forward in my journey needed for now. Excuse me while I go relax to some Bob Ross.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Overcoming That Which Holds Me Back From Self-Actualization

A couple weeks ago, several of my friends who are involved in an improv-comedy group asked if I was going to attend a workshop they were holding about improv-comedy. It sounded like fun to me, but I decided I wasn't going to sign up for a variety of reasons. The list included my statement that I have a sense of humor but I don't spontaneously impart humor all too well, that trying to do comedy is beyond my comfort zone, that I can't act, and that the living room did need to get painted once and for all.

My reluctance and resistance to my friend's urgings made me think of other things I declined:
"Oh, I only play violin with orchestra or chamber groups because I don't like to play solo."
"You really don't want to read the book/short story I started. It's in very rough form and I suck at writing dialogue."
"I can't go into the morning show on Kiss FM because I'm not good at that morning banter thing. I don't think of stuff to say quick enough."
The last one was my mantra for almost a year until I actually went and hung out with the Morning Show. It was a blast, and I found I could just play the straight-woman, imparting information and other truths. Listeners seemed to like me as a radio personality, which I didn't expect. The thoughts started creeping up on me that if I could do this, why not open myself up to the other stuff? The voice of self-doubt said, "Well, courtesy-compliments generally suck and you don't want to put something mediocre out there that will be snickered at or pitied by people you think are your friends."

The inner-dialogue even went as far as to point out my last post on here. The only comment I got on it was a criticism from a friend who couldn't see that I was being terribly sarcastic. I only just moved his comment from moderation today because I didn't feel like having to explain in a follow-up comment that I was being sarcastic.

The date of that improv-comedy workshop is growing closer. The fact that I want to go, but fear failure keeps everything else on the top of my "thinking" list. I thought to myself, "Self, I want to change. I think I'm missing out on doing some good stuff in this world because I'm too afraid to share it and too afraid to take the risk of failing."

Rather than explain my next thought, here's the link for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I think most people get stuck at the self-esteem level. I heard once that Eleanor Roosevelt is one of the few people who could be considered self-actualized. I'm not sure if I totally agree with that, but on the surface level it makes sense.

A new life goal for me is to try to break free from that which I perceive as holding me back from being a total person. I have no disillusionments about how much work will be involved. I think that's why it's considered a life goal.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Delayed Train of Thought

So how about that execution, eh? It's odd to me that Saddam Hussein is dead. He's been this awkward part of our lives for so long, that I almost feel like I'm going to miss having him and his bad arse ways around. Like he'd be the black sheep of the family that gets wheeled out in a Hannibal Lector suit anytime any pundit needed to make a point about why we invade countries that have crazed dictators. Thanks to endless file footage, we still can I guess. Hell, he was already dead in South Park's first post-911 episode. I'm anti-death penalty if you haven't guessed already.

Cutting to the Scene with the Pixie

Ten years ago, I decided to do one of the most drastic things I had ever done to my hair. I went from a long style (below collarbone) to a p...