Tonight, I bought a TV in anger

I've been thinking about getting a new tv for myself for Christmas. (Merry Christmas to me!) So I swung down to Best Buy and wandered over to the tv section. I wandered around and waited for a helpful sales associate to show up. No one did. Eventually I noticed that there was one sales dude in tv, (ONE!) and that he was helping an elderly couple. It was clearly going to take awhile. I looked around for someone else, but didn't find anybody. So I waited. And waited. Eventually I decided that since I'm going to need a new computer soon, I'd wander over to computers and knock out two birds with one stone. I walked over and browsed, looked at some models, had some questions. But once again I couldn't find any helpful sales associates. So I wandered back to tvs. Still one dude. Still helping elderly couple. And I waited. And waited some more. I wandered through the phone section thinking I might get lucky. I didn't. I wandered back to computers. I finally found a sales guy. He said that he was already helping someone and three people were waiting behind them. He suggested I talk to his coworker. He pointed at a harried looking surrounded by 5 people. I went back to tvs. Still no help. A comcast guy who had been watching this fiasco the whole time but who was not allowed to help me (he wasn't wearing a blue shirt) went with me for another round of "Let's try and find a sales associate" he then informed me that if I went to customer service they could probably help me. That's pretty much where I lost it. I'm not going to sit in some hellish holiday customer service line for the privilege of giving Best Buy a bunch of money. Screw you Best Buy! No Freaking Way! Or, I pointed out, I could just go to another store and buy a freaking tv. So I went to Target. I pointed out the tv I wanted. Same model. Cheaper price. I was helped the minute I went to the desk and 5 FREAKING MINUTES LATER they had it out of the back room and were helping me load it into my car. Oh yeah Best Buy. 5 minutes. Take that. Fortunately both of my roommates were home, since I hadn't actually planned on buying a tv today. They helped me get into my room and hooked up. Now I'm making sure it works. And I'm not so angry anymore. I'm still going somewhere else for a new computer. There's a principle involved. Take that BestBuy. Ninja Corbeau stands triumphant!

Mesmerisizing

This is the best Griswold house...evah.

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Awesome

They've combined two of my favorite things, Jane Austen and Violence.

Halloween

This year I went Steampunk, with an outfit I've been putting together since Otakon in August.
The goggles are mirrored, so I can see through them, but they cut off all peripheral vision. Combine that with the corset and the boots and walking became an adventure.

I wanted to show off my awesome boots, so we took this photo, and my roommate called me a "tart" for flashing some leg. :) The other one informed me that since I have a front lacing corset, I was already a hussy. It's rough being a Victorian lady.

RED

This movie is a lot of fun. I had to pee so bad it hurt but I couldn't make myself leave the theater because I had to see what happened next.

Its that good.


Its way over the top action fun, but the dialogue is witty and you can tell everyone involved is just having a good time.

Plus Helen Mirren fires a 50 cal machine gun while in formal evening dress. Every word in that sentence should make you want to see this movie.

Navy vs. SMU

Last weekend I went with a big group from church to the Navy game in Annapolis. Because of our group we got awesome tickets. I was on the front row on the 20 yard line, on SMUs side. It was awesome. Some people asked if we were a sorority.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a game, and the midshipmen had a cannon, their goats, and the cutest bulldog sporting the Marine colors. It was really cool to see all the Midshipmen march on. They had a couple of random Air Force and West Point cadets with them too.

The first half they were behind 0-14. But then they came from behind to tie the game 21-21 with two minutes left, then intercepted to win. Everyone was going crazy and it was such an intense nail biter.

Afterwards we went down into historic Annapolis, which I will really have to visit again sometime during the day. I mean, I saw a fudge shop down there.

We got some Italian and found this amazing hat shop that was still open. It made me want to go the Kentucky Derby just so I could buy a huge fru fru hat.

I did end up with a fedora with this great cherry blossom band because it was on sale. I love hats.

Huzzah!

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate is back at Starbucks!! AND Krispy Kreme has their pumpkin shaped donuts out.


I love fall.

City of Music

This weekend I went to Nashville to see Dolly Parton sing at the 85th birthday of the Grand Ole Opry.
I'm not a huge fan of country music, but it was Dolly. She's a legend! It was a great show. It probably would have been even better if I knew more. They had a lot of country legends there, which would also explain the massive amounts of older folks roaming Nashville.
Seriously. They were really nice, but it was a little odd. A couple from Kansas City told us of a good restaurant, and when we caught the shuttle for the concert, the shuttle was filled with crazy old folks. They were funny though, and everyone was in good spirits for Dolly.
Trace Atkins and Taylor Swift also performed. Those were the only other names I recognized. I knew Trace from Celebrity Apprentice, and Taylor Swifts songs were much less annoying live.

Although watching her fans wig the crap out was hilarious.

Nashville is still recovering from the floods in May.

The culprit

The river flooded its banks and put a serious chunk of Nashville, including the Grand Ole Opry, under 4-6 feet water. We watched a video about the reconstruction of the stage, and it was weird to think of all the places under water.

Secretariat

I saw this Thursday night and I really liked it. They do a great job of showcasing Virginia horse country. I've only been out there twice, but its just as gorgeous as it looks in the movie.

Fun Fact: The farm where Secretariat was filmed is now the site for the VA state fair.

The shots of the races are also really well done. I guess this movie is a bit like Titanic, in that you already know how it ends, but they do a good job building up the tension anyway, and its just fun to watch the horses run.

Since we all know Secretariat is awesome, they build drama with the owner's story. I did wonder if her husband was as much of a jerk as he's protrayed. I think they might have beefed that up to make it more dramatic.

Its a good film though and an excellent one to see in the theater. Even if there's some dude snoring through the first third.

(Seriously, why did it take so long for whoever was next to him to wake him up?)

Star Wars Fun

Cave of Doom

Last weekend, during one of the hottest days on record, with a heat index of 120 and actual extreme heat warnings being broadcast over the emergency networks, I moved to a new house that's closer to work.

I've cut my commute in half. Totally worth it.

So my new room is in the basement. The lovely, cool, dark basement. And since I've been in it for all of 5 days I feel I know it pretty well, so I don't always flip on the lights before walking around.

And that is how I ended up lost in a storage space around 3 am last night.

Sweet

Although with work I have no time to play and with moving I have no money to buy it with. Sigh.

Chim Chim Cheree

We went and saw the musical Mary Poppins Thursday night at the Kennedy Center. It was a lot of fun, and we had great seats. In fact, we were right in the flight path of Mary Poppins, which filled me with wonder and a desperate hope that she wouldn't lose her grip on that carpet bag.

They used elements from both the movie and the book, but I think they used more from the book, because so it was much different than I expected. The children were actually naughty, unlike the movie, where they just run away to fly a kite. In fact, Jane was a real little snot, and even fights with Mary Poppins.

The story was more dark and far more dramatic, and there was one scene where Mary Poppins straight up sends an evil nanny to hell.


The numbers were really good, especially Step In Time with the chimney sweeps, and I loved the Mary Poppins struck a pose everytime she went up or down the stairs.

SYTYCD: Ninja!

They have a ninja dance! And it was awesome:

Blergh

My neighbors were out on their deck until 3 am. They weren't noisy or anything, just having a conversation. Which is fine except that their deck is right next to my window and the wall is apparently made out of paper and wishful thinking.

So I pretty much heard this all night. "Murmur murmur murmur Then I said murmur murmur murmur HA HA HA murmur murmur murmur Yabba Dabba Dooo!"

I kid you not about the Yabba Dabba Doo. That is a direct quote that occurred at 1:55 am. If I had known in advance, I would have just joined my roommates at the midnight showing of Sparkly Vampire 3.

Warsaw

Statue of Chopin in the park




Cool fountain

One of two remaining buildings from Warsaw ghetto, you can still see the bullet holes.

Weird Warsaw architecture. Seriously, this parking garage looks like its falling down.


Excellent example of Soviet art. Note the jackhammer.

Lublin

Lublin's castle


One of of Lublin's city gates.


One of Lublin's awesomely beautiful buildings.


Mejdansk, the concentration camp outside Lublin

The Salt Mines

The salt mines were my favorite part of the trip. They've been in operation since the 1100s, and we had to climb down 378 steps just to get to the starting point. The walls are all salt rock, and you're allowed to lick them and see how salty they are.



The miners carved all kinds of cool things into the salt, including this massive chapel, where even the chandeliers are made of rock salt, and the walls are decorated with carved frescoes of Christ's life.




They mines are also full of water, and now instead of mining the salt they collect and refine the water, which is heavily saturated. There's a point where they let you try drinking some of the water as its coming out of the pipe. I collected some in my hand, drank it, and it was so salty I almost gagged. After I finished choking and making funny faces I noticed one of the guides watching me with this expression that said "Well what did you expect dummy?"

The mines were awesome. The best thing to see in Poland.

Krakow

The town square




Milk bar!

Trumpet Church


The old city wall of Krakow

Poland

Poland was colder than expected. It is also under construction. Poland is a beautiful country with a very sad history. Most of what we saw had been stolen, hidden, burned, torn down, raised to the ground, and then returned or reconstructed from photos and artwork. Poland is still very religious. There are churches everywhere, as well as nuns and even monks still wearing their brown robes and rope belts. One of our guides told us that the only South America has more practicing Catholics. It was a fun trip. We started in the city of Krakow, which still has original older buildings and walls. It also had a great town square or Rynek. It had a church that we called the trumpet church because every couple of hours a trumpeter would climb to the top of the tower and play a sad Polish song that helped rally the people during a battle. There were also all kinds of shops. Poland has a lot of wood work. I bought a couple of beautiful little wooden boxes, and when we went to palaces and castles, they had the most amazing carved tables and chests, and intricate wooden floors. Poland also has a lot of amber, with a amber mine operating out of Gdinsk. I got some beautiful pieces there. We toured churches, and went to the castle at Krakow, which has a series of caves underneath which, as the legends go, used to be the home of a mighty dragon. The dragon is the symbol of Krakow, and you can find him everywhere. We also ate street food (there are donner kebab stands everywhere), belgian waffles, and pirogi (Polish dumplings). The dumplings we got at milk bars, which are little street cafeterias left over from the Soviet era. They now operate as a sort of Polish fast food. I had the best Russian pirogi (cheese and onion) at the milk bar in Krakow. Poland is also good at mushrooms. Ordering anything with mushroom in it was a good bet, and I got some amazing pirogi stuffed with mushrooms, cream, and parsley at a pirogi shop in Warsaw. I also tried Borscht, which is beet soup. But honestly I had this inclination to use the bright soup for an egg dye rather than a meal. While in Krakow we took a bus to Aushwitz. Every major Polish city has a concentration camp nearby. I never realized just how badly Poland fared during World War II, or how many of them died. Its estimated that 5.5 -6 million Poles died during the Nazi occupation, 3 million of them Polish Jews, the rest Polish citizens. And its everywhere. We were always running across plaques that said things like "Here is where 30 people were shot by nazis" Anyway, Auschwitz and Aushwitz-Berkowitz were hard places to tour. The size and scale are enormous, there's a room that has several tons of human hair, and another with thousands and thousands of shoes. Rough. We also toured Schindler's factory, which has been turned into a really good museum about Krakow during WWII, and the Jewish quarter. In Warsaw we went to the last remanents of the Ghetto, the Ghetto musuem, which was hard, the Gestapo headquarters, the uprising museum, and even during our day trip to Lublin the group I was with voted to tour another concentration camp instead of going to the castle. I don't know why. Both my roommate and I were pretty much done with horrible things by that point. So after 4-5 days of Nazi Atrocities, we got to see some pretty things, such as the gorgeous park in the center of Warsaw where they have professional pianists come and play free Chopin concerts every Sunday. We also saw the beautiful summer palace there, compeletly reconstructed after the Nazis burned it down. During the Nazi occupation, Warsaw staged a major uprising that lasted several months, and when it was finally put down, Hitler order the city to be destroyed. About 85% of it was. But they've done some amazing things. We went to Old Town, which has been so faithfully reconstructed from old photos and paintings that all the buildings down there looked at least 200 years old. We also saw the royal way, which was reconstructed to the prettiest street in Warsaw, where they have city benches that will play Chopin if you press a button, and we saw some amazing art in various palaces and castles. I took loads of pictures, mostly of buildings and statues, and honestly, anything beautiful that didn't have a horrible story attached to it.

Its been awhile AMV

I've been watching Fate Stay Night.

Stuff and Thingeys

I'm flying to Poland on Saturday with some friends. One of them served her mission there, and has set up an awesome trip plan, complete with her as our Polish speaking guide.

I can't wait, and given that I get sick everytime I even look at a plane (last year's Belgian plague put me out for a month) I'm starting a strict Airborne/Vitamin regimen today. Soon my immune system will be so buff, germs will simply implode on contact.

Team T-shirts

Every year my unit has a picnic where the work teams compete against each other. Every year my team loses horribly, but takes refuge in the fact that at least we look really good because we have the best team t-shirt.

This year we're going with roller derby, and everyone on the team is coming up with a roller derby name and number.

Mine is "The Spanish Inquisition."

The Great Diet Challenge

So the great diet challenge is finally over, and while I didn't make my goal weight, I still lost 12lbs. Which feels pretty good. Now that its over, I went a little crazy this week, eating all the bad food I haven't had in months. I've been to McDonald's twice, taco bell once, had pancakes twice, french toast once, and bought sugar cereal (cookie crisp and Cinnamon Toast Crunch) Not to mention my bday fudge. I really need to calm down, before I put all my weight back on. Friday we saw Iron Man 2, which is an awesome summer flick. It was all action and fun and bright, shiny visuals. There is an extra scene at the end of all the credits, so hang out til the bitter end. Saturday we went to Gadsby's Tavern, which has been around since the revolution. They offer Washington's favorite meal (duck breast) as well as other historical meals. I got the grilled filet mignon with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. It was really good. The owner came by a couple of times to talk with us. He wanted to know why four young ladies were eating so early. (we got there just as they opened at 5:30) we told him we were going to an art show that our friend was curating. He was nice and funny, and later he sent the Benjamin Franklin impersonator over to our table, and that dude was fricking hilarious. Especially once he started cracking himself up. He started by informing us that as we were four young ladies, unescorted, it was clear that we meant to ply our wanton wiles upon the town, and that the local constabulary had been notified, and that all single available young men and been locked safely inside their homes. He went on like that, cracking all kinds of jokes in that colonial manner of speech, for at least 10 minutes. It was awesome.

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Monday AMV

I spent the weekend watching Naruto battles:



Which are much better when they've been edited out of 15 boring episodes and then stitched together.

Tuesday Music Video

Ha ha ha!

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Beautiful Day

I've told myself that I need to start writing again. I've been slacking off these past few months.

I love cool, rainy days in Spring. The tulip trees are blooming, the cherry blossoms are about to start, and its been in the 70s.

It would've been a perfect day except that I took an elbow to the nose in Krav. What makes this even more exciting is that I have my work physical tomorrow, so let's all hope it doesn't swell or bruise.

Monday Anime

I watched Evangelion 1.0 this weekend.




Its basically the first 6 episodes or so smashed together, with updated animation and a few new scenes.

Somehow, these few new scenes make Shinji an even bigger passive-aggressive weasel than he was before. I finished this movie really hating me, whereas in the original series, I didn't hate him until the final movie.

Alice in Wonderland

I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. I wouldn't see it in 3D though, the 3D made parts of it hard to see and follow. I think I would have liked it better if I had just seen it normal. I liked all the Wonderland references, I liked his version of Wonderland, especially the Bandersnatch and the card soldiers. Helena Bonham Carter is awesome, Johnny Depp is Willy Wonka with new hair, and Anne Hathoway is horrible. Shortest review ever eh? I did two hours of Krav tonight and my hands are shaking.

Fun Videos

Work's been crazy this week, but I've been sent some video links.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter



A fanmade trailer of P&P and zombies



And an awesome ninja song:


Poor ninja kids don't get to see their ninja dad.

Pull Up Update

Tonight, during fit class, sometime during the 4th set of pull ups, I made a jump for a bar, got it with my fingers, swung forward in an attempt to pull myself up, slipped off the bar, and ended up crashing down on my butt.

Luckily, everyone else's workouts were so intense they didn't notice. The instructor did give me a "good effort" pep speech though.

Percy Jackson Review

*SPOILER ALERT* *This review contains spoilers*

The movie is okay, which is kind of a bummer because I was really excited for it. Its directed by the same guy who directed the first Harry Potter movie, and like that movie, it has some pacing issues.

I mean it is slooooow. It's only a 2 hour movie, but it felt like three. And sometimes it was really boring.

The best part was when they battle Medusa. That was actually exciting, scary, and the effects were really good. Everything else was kinda ... 'meh'

Storywise they changed a lot of things, and removed a lot of plot points that will make it much harder to make any of the other stories. For example, they took out everything involving prophecies, the oracle, the titans, and why the big 3 can't have children.

Instead, the just say that kids for the big 3 are "rare" and gods aren't interacting with their children because it just makes them too human. Seriously. They also reveal that Poseidon is Percy's father right away, so that whole mystery of finding out is gone as well.

Also the gods are still hanging out in togas and Greek armor, which made me sad. I liked how in the books, each one had modernized according to their personality.

They also combined Annabeth with the daughter of Aries that is always kicking Percy's butt. I can't remember her name, but the overall effect is Annabeth: Warrior Princess. They also took out the fact that Annabeth is in love with Luke, and she starts flirting with Percy from the moment they meet. They also downplay Percy's friendship with Luke, so at the end, when Luke's big reveal happens, there's no crushing sense of betrayal. Annabeth and Percy are more like, "Hey look! That smarmy jerk had it the whole time!"

My advice? Netflix it.

Monday AMV

I spent a good chunk of my weekend watching the new Soul Eater DVDs.



Its pretty awesome on HD. ;)

On Pull Ups

Krav has a new pull up bar installed in the gym. It hangs from the ceiling, can support about 8 people at once, and is high enough for tall guys to find challenging.

If I do a running jump I can usually grab it.

But I cannot do a pull up. I've never been able to do a pull up. When I was at my peak in the Navy the best I could manage was chin ups, but never a pull up.

Like the mighty T-Rex, I have weak and useless forearms. So I've decided that should be my Krav name. T-Rex.

Anyway, since I can't do a pull up they either get the box out so I can stand on it and do chin ups or, like today, I just have to grab the bar and hang as long as possible. My arms are killing me.

Monday AMV

Finally found a cool one.



That's almost enough to make start watching Naruto again. Almost.

Monday Movie Trailer

So excited!

Random Olympic Thought

We've been watching mogul skiing, which is awesome, but our ski suits make all our skiers look like their wearing big, fluffy pajamas.

Sweet

I love Lego games. They're my favorite.

I need to go outside

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Make it stoooopppp

Today we have horizontal snow. And its still snowing. It started yesterday afternoon. Sigh...it was supposed to be over by now. Fortunately we still have power here. We lost it briefly in the night when the wind was blowing really hard, but thankfully our power lines are higher than the trees.

Monday AMV

We've been stuck indoors for days now.

Thank heavens for the Wii and Samus Aran.

Snowpacolypse 2010

Work is canceled today, which is good since I'm still snowed in. Hopefully a plow will make it to our complex today.
It took me two hours to dig this little pathway out. We have two sets of outside steps, and the drifts on those suckers was ridiculous.

What our cars looked like after three feet of snow.

This is me, showing off my Virginia snow gear. A military watch cap, leather jacket, jeans, and "snow sketchers." Also notice the vast expanse of pristine snow behind me. That is our parking lot.

Sweet

An awesome rap for an awesome movie.




Its been snowing non-stop since 9 this morning.

Snowpacolypse

We're supposed to get two feet tomorrow. People are going insane, and the grocery stores have been cleaned out. You'd think it was the end of the world. On the upside, work might get cancelled, or end early tomorrow.

Monday AMV

One month into the great Ninja Diet Challenge and I'm down by 8 lbs. Yeah me!

I've been watching Tsubasa, mainly because of a friend of mine at work is getting me into all things Clamp, and a little because its February.

Sigh..bring on the romance.

Monday AMV

Wiggity wack or normal wack?

Restaurant Week!

Needless to say, my diet was blown this week. On Wednesday we went to Sushi Taro, which boasts authentic Japanese cuisine. This had a set restaurant week menu, which started with a Japanese New Year Platter. On the platter was a bowl of sweetened black beans, two fish cakes (which didn't really taste like anything) some slices of duck (very good) a pickled beet salad, (okay) and six candied baby anchovies, staring up at me with their wide fishy eyes. They were odd, and had a strong fishy flavor, but I ate them all in one big bite. I figured that my chopstick skills were bad enough to embarrass us already, I didn't need our waitress to think I was a wuss on top of it. The second course was tempura shrimp and vegetables, and then a sushi box with miso soup. We drank the miso and the sushi wasn't rolls, but slices of fish on rice. There was tuna, yellowfin, salmon, flounder, omelete (cooked eggs on rice) shrimp, and salmon roe, which was seafood wrapped around rice, and then filled with salmon eggs. It was gooshy. For deserted we got a little square of jelly filled with fruit pieces. It was good. It was an interesting experience, but not one I would rush back to. On Friday we went to Cheff Geoffs, and since one of our party was late, we started with hush puppies served with maple butter, and fried plantains with guacomole. Then I got grilled lamb skewers, served with cucumber-yogurt sauce, and onions, tomatoes, feta, and cucumber salad. It was a gyro without a pita. For my main course I got bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin which was amazing. It melted in my mouth it was so tender. It came with sweet potato gnocci and greens glazed with a sour cherry glaze. For dessert I got pumpkin cake with marscapone filling, and came in the shape of a giant moon pie. It was awesome. Starting Monday though, back to the diet. ;)

Monday AMV- late

I was at book club last night, so I didn't have time to get online.

I weighed myself yesterday and ... after the first week of my first ever diet...

*drum roll*

I have gained a pound. This is very discouraging, causing pain that can only be soothed by Cookie Monster singing German Rock.



It really is frustrating. Apparently, I've been hitting the granola a little hard.

Info that would've been Helpful on the bottle

Much like swimming, one should wait an hour after eating before irrigating the sinus.

The sugar cravings started today when I found a root beer I'd forgotten in the office fridge.

I wanted it ...SOOOOOOO BAAAAAAD. I managed to fool myself with a cherry coke zero, and then I went and bought some dried fruit for the next sugar attack.

Monday Movie Funtime

I finally saw Twilight.

I saw it with the rifftrax by the MST3K guys and laughed so hard it hurt. Here's a taste:



I joined this competition at work. Everyone weighed themselves today and then put 50 dollars into the pot. We have 4 months to lose 10% percent of our body weight. If, on May 1st, you've lost the weight you get your 50 bucks back. If not, it gets divided by those who had more self discipline.

I've never tried to lose an actual amount of weight before, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I have a great workout program with Krav Maga, but I LOVE to eat. And I love to eat a lot of really crappy foods.

It is Day One. So far I have not cheated.

I have also learned that when it comes to sinus irrigation, lukewarm to your finger feels like an icy torrent of death once its shooting up your nasal passage at speed.

I hate being wretched sick.

Fun Time Waster

Especially if you're sick.

The Rules.

Click on the Yeti to make the penguin jump.
Click on him again to swing the bat.
See how far you can get the penguin to fly. 8)

Its awesome.

My best is 316.

Bleh.

I've been sick for 3 weeks, so I finally broke down and saw a doctor.

I have a sinus infection. I feel like my nose weighs 20 pounds.

Odd Cold Remedy

I'm still sick, even though it feels like I've been sick forever. Tomorrow we're having our team Christmas party, so I had to go shopping to get the stuff for funeral potatoes (they're a work favorite). Since I was there, I ended up buying a little tub of 6 layer dip, because it looked good and I was sick and grumpy that I had to be at the store instead of at home. Anyway, I was eating the dip and hit a jalapeno. Through the pain in my mouth I realized that I could feel the heat in my sinus and my congestion actually started feeling better. Weird huh?

Monday Music Video

A hospital dances for breast cancer awareness.

Muppet Bohemian Rhaposdy

Momma?

Monday AMV

We need a Zuko tribute I think.



Sorry I haven't been posting lately. Work's been insane.

Seriously?

Images of Prince Zuko and his infamous scar from the live action Last Airbender movie.



I mean, its barely there! Come on makeup people, I know you can do better burn scars than that.

Monday AMV

This was the amv that got me hooked on Soul Eater.

Within Temptation - The Last Time

Another Good Song!!

Within Temptation - Utopia (feat. Chris Jones) Official Music Video

New song from one of my favorite bands. Enjoy!! Everyone have a good friday.

A little Tuesday Fun

Although I have to admit, I love this stupid song.

Monday AMV

I just started watching Death Note, which is good, but disturbing.



I saw this AMV at Otakon, and it got me interested in Death Note in the first place.

Falstaff and Scare Force One

Friday I saw Falstaff at the Kennedy center, and on Sat I saw the DC roller derby at the National Armory. Between the two, I covered the entire spectrum of cultural events this weekend.

Falstaff was very well done, although some unexpected construction slowed us up and we got there just as it was starting. We had to sit in back of house, but it was better than cooling our heels in the lobby until intermission. The music was beautiful, and I especially enjoyed the quartets and octets. Amazing. My favorite part though, occurred in the final act.
Its set in a wood, during a masquerade, and the fairy queen enters with her attendants, all dressed in fluffy white dresses with veils. Its the ballet corps! They walk out slowly, strike a graceful pose, and then lifted their veils to reveal that all the dancers (except the queen) were men. One of them had a beard. They then proceeded to attempt ballet through out the act, including a dramatic run behind the cast as all 30 of them sang together in one final song. It was hysterical.

On Sat we (my roommates and some friends from work) went to check out the DC Rollerderby. We discovered rollerderby after watching "Whip It" and wanted to see the real thing. It was pretty awesome. Not nearly as violent as the movie makes it out to be, although the women take some really hard spills. There was one jam where my favorite jammer "Lenore Gore" from Scare Force One got taken out three times. It looked like it hurt.

I was cheering for Scare Force One, and everyone else cheered for the Cherry Blossom Bombshells because they were wearing pink. My team triumphed with a final score of 143-46. Those girls can skate. Of course, the best part are the names. I liked Condileeze Slice, Splatsy Kline, Skid Ho, and Guantanamo Bay.

After the bouts were over, we went out for burgers. It was fun to drive through DC and see all the parents walking their kids around the neighborhoods. It was a good Halloween

Monday AMV

I've started watching an anime called Vampire Princess Miyu. Miyu's job is to use her vampire powers to defend the earth from demons, monsters, enormous lizards and such. In actuality, she spends most her time posing dramatically, playing her own theme music while her flunkies do most of the work.

This cracks me up every time it happens.

Shaolin Monks

Last night I went with my friend Yoosh to see the Shaolin Monks perform at George Mason. It was awesome. There were about 20 monks, including two little boys who couldn't have been more than 9. They performed their martial art to a soundtrack of chanting and drums, hitting, kicking, and spinning incredibly fast. The two little boys each did a series of front flips, like 6 in a row, without using their hands. They also had a part which in my mind I call the Frogger Dance. The entire thing was done while the monks where on their hands and feet, and then they'd crawl, run, and jump amazing heights from that awkward crouched position. Those guys have to have thigh muscles the size of cannonballs. At one point, they went out into the audience and brought up about 30 kids, ranging from college age to a 5 year old boy that was adorable. They put them in rows, smallest to tallest, and tried to teach them a series of Shaolin moves. Hilarity ensued. My favorite were some of the little kids, who were trying so hard to kick their hands that they fell over. UPDATE: I mean, look at these dudes!

Much Ado About Nothing

Last night we went to the Folger to catch their first play of the season, Much Ado About Nothing. It was set in a Caribbean neighborhood in DC, so not only where the actors performing Shakespeare, they were doing it with Jamaican accents. It was cool and very impressive. I enjoyed it very much. Afterwards we went to Good Stuff, the restaurant owned by Spike from Top Chef for burger sand fries. The best thing there? The mango mayonnaise. The fries are cooked with salt and rosemary, and then you dip them in a variety of sauces. Mango mayonnaise is my favorite though.

Deep Fried Oreos and Crunches

On Sat I went to the Maryland Ren Faire, an enormous affair of shops, shows and food on a stick. They offer Chicken on stick, Beef on a stick, sausage on a stick, Mac n' cheese on a stick (its deep fried in triangles, then put on a stick) and cheesecake on a stick. I had ribs, fried potatoes, mac n' cheese on a stick, part of a turkey leg, deep fried oreos, and cheesecake on a stick. (The cheesecake isn't fried, its frozen and then dipped in chocolate. It was delicious) I felt everyone of those delactible items tonight in Krav. Especially when we did ab exercises. I chanted "Bye bye Oreos" in my head once the flutterkicks started getting really painful. We also did shopping, saw some shows, and the joust. They also had a booth where you could throw 7 chinese stars for 2 bucks. If you got four in the heart you got a free drink. It was more difficult than I thought. Its a weird cross between throwing a baseball and skipping a rock. By the time I managed to get the knack of it, I had a nice little cluster going. One board over from the painted heart. Never could get them to curve left. However, of all the people up there, I was the only one who managed to throw all 7 stars to the target wall. My friends told me someone in the audience said, "That girl's got a good arm!"

Oh no...

This is horrible.

Only in DC

On my way home I passed a church sign that read "God is our Chief Justice."

Monday AMV

I've been watching Card Captor Sakura for months now (its looong) which is adorable, and as I near the end, I feel like soon I will be investing some serious time in Tsubasa. What can I say, Clamp puts out good stories.

This is Cool

Yet also insane.

The Human Jumbotron.

Monday Night Awesomeness

On Monday night I went to Krav. There were only four of us there, so the instructor participated in the mass attacker drill.

You had to start in the center of the circle, sitting down with eyes closed and then when it started you had to jump up and fight your way out of the circle. Meanwhile, the attackers tried to keep you on the ground, knocking you over and then put you in a choke. (We'd been practicing the defense all class).

So when I started I jumped up just as the instructor barreled into me. He tried to take me to the ground but I managed to flip him and put him into the choke. I was so stunned at my own success that I actually stopped, looked down at him, and said "Now what do I do?" He was too busy laughing in delight to answer, so one of the other students yelled out "Punch him in the face!"

I felt very proud of myself.

While I was grappling with the instructor, I felt him graze my face. It didn't hurt so I didn't think anything about it.

Until I went home, and noticed that I had a swollen spot of purple and blue right at the corner of my eye.

I have the world's smallest black eye.

Monday AMV

I finished Soul Eater this weekend. That makes me kind of sad.

Monday-Video Clip

I'm totally hooked on TNT's show Leverage. Especially since Netflix has past seasons available to watch instantly.

Art and Soul

I don't know if any of you watched Top Chef Masters, but one of their contestants owns a restaurant in DC. Wednesday we went there to celebrate The Starving Artist's birthday. We all ordered different things and then shared. I got an Oyster Po boy Hoe Cake. The Hoe cake is a flat, grilled piece of corn bread, and then it had the po boy on top of it. It was amazing. Their fried oysters were really well done, and I liked their spicy remoulade sauce. Then it was served with some romaine lettuce. They had another one that had carmelized onions, apples, lettuce and goat cheese that was also really good. I ordered the roast chicken which was tender and juicy, and it came with a goat cheese biscuit which I didn't care for. It was just sooo dry. We also got various sides. We ordered roast vegetables, buttermilk mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and fried green tomatoes. The mashed potatoes were awesome and, has one of our friends put it, the mac and cheese was "literally the stuff that dreams are made from." They came in their own little skillets, and the macroni was thicker and more twisty than your average mac n' cheese. The mac was in a really creamy white sauce, and there was toasted cheddar all across the top. It was gooey. It was creamy. It was amazing. Yes, yes, I went to a gourmet restaurant and my favorite dish was the 6 dollar mac n' cheese side.

Monday AMV

I tried to watch Blue Gender last week, but couldn't make it through the first episode. I'm just not in the mood for giant scary robots.



So instead we grilled on the community grills, nestled in a copse of dead pines, adding the thrill of forest fire to the traditional back yard grill experience.

This is the first time I stood by a grill with a fire extinguisher. Just in case.

Cool video

Krav Report

On Monday, we used dizzy bats to simulate fighting drunk.

I was horrible at it. Fortunately my sparring partner was a big, tall guy, so I didn't have to aim so much as just stagger in his general direction.

Monday AMV

In honor of my skydiving adventure:

Skydiving

Corbeau in her Ronald McDonald Skydiving Suit of Awesomeness

Saturday we drove out to the middle of nowhere, east of Richmond, and went skydiving. Unfortunately, they only had three tandem instructors, and were running behind, so we spent some quality time hanging out in the hanger on a hot August day.

But at last, it was our turn to go up. Since there were four of us, they split us into two flights. My roommate, The Starving Artist and I went on the first flight, and I jumped with Instructor Dave. The rest of the plane was filled with a group of formation jumpers.

Dave and I were the last to jump out of the plane, and after being hooked up to him, I would say the most difficult part was walking up to the door. I had to drop my weight and then we sort of waddled.

There was a bar, but I was worried I'd forget to cross my arms over my chest so I just started that way. Dave said "1..2.." and then we were out. He said I gave an impressive scream. Between the adrenaline and trying to remember all the things I was supposed to do with my body, I don't even remember screaming.

He flipped us so we were free falling backwards, and we could watch the plane flying away from us. That was cool.

Then we were free falling, which was a lot of fun. Dave took us through some spins, and then he had me watch the altimeter so I could pull the cord at 5,500 ft. I was trying to be exact though, and I must have waited too long and Dave pulled the cord.

Going from 120 mph to the slow glide of the parachute is quite the sensation. This morning, I can feel where every harness was around my body.

As we glided, Dave showed me how to control the chute, and we did some turns and spins, and he took me through a cloud, which was really cool.
See the speck below the blue canopy? That's me.

It was a beautiful day and we jumped over some really pretty country. The other cool thing was feeling the temperature change, growing warmer and more humid the closer you came to the ground.

We landed and made a perfect landing.

It was a lot of fun.

Ground Defense

This week is ground fighting in Krav Maga. Ground fighting always leaves me black and blue, since it requires all kinds of force pushing you in all kinds of places.

Today we learned how to defend a headlock while mounted, and my sparring partner was a man who was at least twice my weight.

At least. I mean, when I was the attacker, straddling his stomach, my knees didn't quite touch the ground.

I didn't mind too much though, since ground fighting is the one instance where the instructors like you to practice with someone who is bigger than you, since another name for "ground defense" could be "rape defense."

It was much more difficult to flip him though. Possible, but much more difficult. It required explosive bursts and twists off the ground, plus quick recovery and attack in order to make it work. It was good experience though, since I learned some physics tricks to help in that situation. But I am black and blue all over.

I was going to stay an extra hour today and take the Level 1 class, but my right leg (which took the brunt of the class) informed me that it was a bad idea.

So now I'm home, with a bowl of cereal and ice pack. Life is good.

Monday AMV Late

Ugh, sorry things have been slow. Work's been insane.

Science!

I really need to find a way to incorporate zombies into my research.

Krav Maga Hybrid

There were only 3 of us that attended the fit class Sat morning, so the instructor had us finish up with something new. Something he called, "The Krav Maga Hybrid."

The three of us ran behind his car, pushing it around the building.

Twice.

Why does any building need three speed bumps anyway?

Monday AMV

I finished XXXholic over the weekend. I'm sad there's only one season, I was starting to really like it. I have a friend that's going to let me borrow the manga though.

Krav Report

Last night, we learned how to head butt.

Head freaking butt.

It was fun, but if its done properly and full force, you can only rep 4 or 5 of them before you start getting loopy.

I have to admit that the streak of mad scientist in me finds the thought of breaking someone's nose with my massive cranium very satisfying. In fact, I think this calls for some evil laughter.

Mwa ha ha ha.

We also learned a defense to being grabbed from behind. In an effort to make it more realistic, we had to stand with our eyes closed and wait for random attacks, because the defense is meant to work when you are off balance. If you're anticipating the attack, you don't get off balance.

Well, I definitely wasn't anticipating because I got pulled to the ground and found myself fighting from an awkward kneeling position. But the instructor was pleased, since a mess up showed that I was training properly.

When it was my turn to be a roving attacker, I actually managed to take a big guy to the ground.
I had to jump to even reach his neck, and figured he would probably just shake me off but what figured, "Why not?"

I jumped, grabbed and next thing I know he was on his butt on the ground.

Usually the attacker grabs the neck and pulls back, but since I jumped all the pull went straight down and he lost his balance.

Judging by the amount of times he came to thank me for giving him "good training" I'm guessing he doesn't get taken down very often. But he was grateful because he never thought about dealing with a jumper and, quite frankly, that's about how 80% of people would have to attack him.

Monday AMV

I'm totally enjoying Soul Eater.

GI Joe

Not as bad as Batman and Robin. But its pretty bad. Some of the dialogue is laugh out loud awful, and most of the time the story line is pretty silly, but the action scenes are cool if you don't think about them too much (how are they screaming under water? And, for that matter, how are so many things burning? Under water? Don't think about it. Just don't think about it.) Anytime the ninjas were on screen it was cool. Snake eyes was awesome, and his fight scenes with Storm Shadow were intense. The rest...well, try not to think about it too much, or you'll find yourself wondering just how someone becomes a low level maintenance tech on a sonic pulse cannon hidden on a secret evil base deep in the arctic ocean. Seriously, did they place a want ad? Craig's list? Evil Merchant Marine? Also, if you eject while the plane is currently out of the atmosphere don't you just...die? Float and die? These are just some of the questions I pondered during the course of the movie, despite my attempts at trying not to think about it. Also, that whole, "I was forced to do it by the millions of tiny, evil, nano machines in my brain" is like the oldest line in the book. Its up there with the twinkie defense.

SYTYCD Finale

I've been trying not to write too much about television, but tonight is the big finale!! I want anyone who's not Evan to win. I like Evan, he's cute and all, but the other three are all better dancers than he.

I loved the Matrix Paso Doble.

Workplace Fun

I got into a Sound of Music lyric quoting contest with a friend at work.

Unfortunately, I lost when I couldn't remember the stinking line that ends in "Schnitzels with Noodles."

Sad, I know.

WARNING: Extended focus and concentration on Sound of Music lyrics will create a brainworm that only Britney Spears can kill.