Friday Four (unfashionably late)

I was tagged by Pastor Mom but unfortunately didn't know about it until today. Better late than never, right??

Four jobs I've had:

-Receptionist at a tanning salon
-Bouncer at a bar in Greencastle, IN
-Graduate research assistant in a biology lab (in other words, grad student)
-Medical writer

Four movies I can watch over and over and over:

-Monty Python's Holy Grail
-Monty Python's Life of Brian
-The Princess Bride
-This is Spinal Tap

Four places I've lived:

-Greencastle, Indiana
-Urbana, Illinois
-Paris, France
-Connecticut (small enough that it doesn't matter what city!)

Four places I've vacationed:

-Belize
-Hawaii
-Maine
-Italy

Four of my favorite dishes:

-Stuffed spinach pizza (from Chicago)
-Cheese enchiladas
-Stuffed shells made by my mom
-General Tso's chicken

Four sites I visit daily:

-PerezHilton.com
-Go Fug Yourself
-Blogger
-comcast.net

Four places I would rather be right now:

-Belize
-in the forest, anywhere
-on an African safari
-on a secluded tropical island

I'm not going to tag anybody seeing as it's no longer Friday :)

alarming finding

The mullet seems to be making a comeback among the Spanish youth. Only it tends to be of the mini-mullet variety, typically curly, and often with the sides shaved. So, basically a broad faux-hawk/curly mini-mullet combo.

Folks, it wasn't pretty.

adios amigos

They're shipping me off to Barcelona for a few days to attend a conference, so I'll be MIA for the rest of the week, as I have this silly policy of not logging into blogger from my work computer...

So wish me sun, tapas, and sangria, and I will promise not to wet my pants in the street like the last time I visited Barcelona.

Hasta luego!

and you thought you were weird?

My mother-in-law, never having had any daughters until I came along, is fond of picking up little trinkets here and there for me. Things not appropriate for sons, like jewelry and flip flops and scented hand lotion. Recently, I was the lucky recipient of this handy gadget:
Yes, I'll admit it, I like to tweeze, and these tweezers actually have a little built-in LED light so you can locate each and every stray hair.

But I never should have stuck those things into my belly button, as it resulted in a half-hour ordeal of viewing things I never knew were in there, and then attempting to find the proper implements to remove them while still managing to keep the lighted tweezers in place to pry open and illuminate my little belly cavern. I finally gave up when I realized I was at risk for hurting myself, and besides, who's ever going to rate the area one inch into my belly button for cleanliness? Besides me, that is.

Last night I saw Ween in concert. They played a ton of stuff, including "Piss Up a Rope", "Voodoo Lady," "Spinal Meningitis," "Waving My Dick in the Wind" and "The HIV Song" (to which the only lyrics are: HIV! AIDS!). Needless to say, it was awesome.

And this afternoon? At the moment I am watching "Krush Groove", the days-in-the-lives dramatization of the early days of rap, featuring Shiela E, LL Kool J, and Run DMC and produced by Russell Simmons. This movie has some of the best outfits ever (and just now as the credits roll I see that the Beastie Boys were in there somewhere?? My god, I will have to watch this again sometime). And up next? "Breakin' 2, Electric Boogaloo." It's gonna take a lot to get me out of the house.

At least no one can ever accuse me of not enjoying a little variety.

I will randomly click on BlogHer links more often

Have you heard of the BlogHer network? I don't know a ton about it, but I think I'll find out. Today I had one of those random clicks...you know the ones...those times you're done checking your email and your regular blogs and you just want that one more blurb to read before you log off and actually get any work done? And anyway, it led me to this nice, interesting little post about arranged marriages and then I was, of course, reading the comments and in one of the comments the author of the original blurb wrote:

I want to mention here that I am neutral to the system, as long as I have a choice. Arranged marriage doesn't feel alien even to many of us who haven't played by its rules. If I hadn't found my husband when I did, I may have agreed to go through the process, as long as I had a say in it.

It's similar to choosing the clothes I wear. I love wearing saris and other Indian dresses. I don't think wearing jeans is liberating simply because that's what my sisters in the West wear. But the sari will start feeling oppressive if I don't have the freedom to wear jeans.

And wow. I just really liked that last part.

Go here to read the whole thing.
And here to get to the author's entire blog page.

a propos

I can't wait to see this movie. I had to post this clip after my experience yesterday. Seeing as we just moved to the area, I hadn't yet found a primary care doctor. So when the fourth day of high fever rolled around, I ended up at the only local walk-in clinic available, which happens to technically be an emergency department. They submitted to our insurance, but I am just waiting to find out how much we will owe when they deny the claim. All I wanted to do was see a doctor because I was sick. I shouldn't have had to spend an hour on the internet trying to figure out which provider was in-network or how to find out before the visit whether or not the insurance company was going to pay.

Anyway, Michael Moore's 'Sicko' comes out June 29th and has earned a lot of praise already, from both sides of the aisle. I hope you'll go see it.