The finds I'm most proud of, though, are both of the Ewok movies. EWOKS. I love the Ewoks. I grew up watching Battle for Endor and had absolutely no idea it was even remotely related to Star Wars until I was in the eighth grade. I understand that hardcore fans of Star Wars are probably booing me right now and I get that, I do, but I still like the Ewoks. And Teek. And Wilford Brimley as Noa.

I also bought Chicken Run, Monsters, Inc., and Where the Heart Is, as well as Willow and Labyrinth. All in all it was a very productive evening.

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This is how the 7th book and movie will ( or should ) end: There is a huge fire at the Dursley's House ( the "muggles" that hate magic ), and, when the firemen hear a noise from under the stairs, they break through and find Harry, at 21 years old, talking to himself, and because he says stuff about magic and wizards, etc. he gets sent to a mental institute, IE, the whole story, all 7 books/movies turn out to be Harry's imagination while going batty locked under the stairs, his scar being from brain damage.
Dave Morganton, North Carolina (Sent Friday, June 01, 2007 1:24 AM)

From Harry Potter Predictions.

I can't get over how many people think a) Dumbledore is not dead, and b) Harry is a Horcrux. Personally, I think both ideas are rubbish but I suppose we will have to wait and see. Also, just for the record, I still think R.A.B. is Regulus Black.

Experienced a bout of word vomit on the phone with my mom yesterday and blurted out that we are refusing to have a religious wedding ceremony. Hoping I do not get any weird calls from relatives trying to guilt me otherwise.

Callie's hard drive in her computer died, two weeks before graduation. This was after the business card fiasco in which she had her cards printed and then received a call from her mom saying that her phone number was going to be changed, like, NOW. Business cards had to be reprinted with the new number and re-payed for, and then now there is the hard drive death. Please send good wishes Callie's way, and please for the love of all things sacred back up your computer.

I put some clothes in bags to give away. I didn't even know I owned a pair of khaki pants, much less several, so I think it's fitting that they should be given away.

Discovered the Citysearch reviews page for aforementioned current property management company. Considering roughly 17 out of 19 reviews were horrible, I'm kind of glad I discovered it now and not right before we moved in. Based on their disorganization, I'm actually rather nervous about the referral they're going to give to the background check people. And if they give a negative one and we're declined, they've already made us give our notice on this place. ARGH.

I don't even know if I mentioned this but Heidi came down last weekend and we had a glorious time with the nail painting and wedding talk and girly movies like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. (I heart America Fererra, btw.)

Um, that might be it.

We went to look at a place last Wednesday. It was 875 square feet (our current place is 525) and was a top-floor apartment in a four-plex. Rent is just under $800 (very reasonably priced for a huge 1-bed in this neighborhood), and the apartment had hardwood floors, lots of light, a good bathroom and kitchen, and a little nook-type thing for a dining table. There is a porch out back and an assigned parking spot, should we need it.

When we went to see the place, it was an open showing so there were about six other people milling about checking it out. The lady showing it went through all the details and then mentioned she would take the applications first-come first-served basis. I have never filled out an application so fast in my life.

Problem was, neither Daniel or I thought to bring any cash for the application fee. The lady said she'd take the first app that had money with it, so while we did finish our applications and turn them in first, Daniel still had to run out to find an ATM and another girl turned in her application with her money while he was gone. Apartment Lady kept mumbling "Ooh, this is hard... That was in first, but without money, but the other was in afterward with money... Hmm... This is difficult." I casually mentioned that we had rented with this particular company before, and wondered if that would make any difference. After I said that, the lady got this huge smile and was like, "Ohhh... FABULOUS. We may not even need your application fee, since we've already done a background check on you." Sweet.

She still seemed a bit wishy-washy even after that, so when most everyone else was leaving, Daniel and I stuck around and chatted with her a bit in hopes that she'd decide she liked us more. We were instructed to call the office before 5pm on Friday to see whose application they ran and if we'd need to bring in our money. After our call on Friday, Daniel and I were still no clearer on whether we were going to get the place or not. From what I understood (since Daniel was the one who called) they mentioned something about running the other girl's application first but they weren't sure and we could call again later. It infuriates me that they'd run the other girl's app first, since we got ours in before she did and they weren't going to need our money anyhow.

At any rate, I was remaining cautiously optimistic and Daniel was refusing to get his hopes up. After the Friday call, I think we both just wrote off the apartment, figuring they had run the other girl's application and she had gotten it. I even called another place on Friday to try to set up an appointment. (They didn't call back.)

Cut to today, noon-ish: I got a call on my phone from a number I didn't recognize. I typed the number into Google just to see what it'd come up with, and right as the phone finished ringing I realized it was the rental company. I quickly called back, and managed to talk to the Apartment Lady. They did run the other application first (*shakes fist*) but IT GOT DECLINED. I didn't even consider that a possibility. I know it happens, but I just assume that most people have clear histories.

So! The apartment is not yet ours. After work today we have to take a bus to the rental company and give them some money for the background check (turns out they need it, initial check was over a year ago) and then they will run our application first thing in the morning, and then I think we have 24-48 hours to give them the deposit money and then I think it is ours.

Very long-winded way of saying hurray, we might have a new apartment.

Did you know that between inviting only immediate family, plus aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, we are already pushing 75 guests? That is a lot of people. I honestly have no idea how big this shindig will end up being. We'd like a small-ish wedding, but one that includes our closest family and friends. I'd really rather not invite those people my parents have known forever but with whom I'm not especially close to, but inevitably they will have invited my parents to their kids' weddings and I know I'm going to feel obligated. Argh. Will do my best to avoid that.

The one thing neither of us is willing to budge on is having a non-religious ceremony. I am not going to stand in front of hundreds of people and lie to all of them. Not going to do it. I would much rather have a Justice of the Peace officiate the ceremony and be able to be perfectly honest in front of everyone I love. That's probably hard for some people to deal with (namely my grandparents, who are all good, church-going people), and I know I will catch a lot of flak from my family about it, but I can't do it. I'm not willing to compromise on that.

As far as other details, for colors I'm thinking a nice, springy green would be just lovely. Actually, I saw these decorations somewhere (can't for the life of me think of where, but I'm pretty sure it was a wedding website) and I FELL IN LOVE WITH THEM and I think I might insist on having something like this:

They're just so... fresh! And natural! I love that the two middle ones look suspiciously like broccoli. Hee. I figure by going this route, we'll probably save money on flowers too - how expensive can broccoli be? Just kidding. But I do think these sorts of foliage would be cheaper than importing some rare, exotic orchid from Hawaii. Also? My family is incredibly handy and I am sure they have a birch tree lying about the place somewhere that we could repurpose for decorations.

Are books helpful in planning weddings? I am feeling a bit lost at the moment. I don't have opinions about much of anything yet, especially anything involving dresses. I just know that I don't want something skanky or partially see-through (YES I HAVE SEEN THEM and they are BAD) and I don't understand why all dresses are strapless. I love strapless dresses, personally, and I think they look very nice, but I am afraid I will look like I am made entirely of boobs and also? Can you imagine trying to find a dress that will fit me? I nearly have nightmares about it. My mom made her own wedding dress and I am seriously considering having her make mine as well just to avoid the horrors of trying on mass-produced dresses that will inevitably be three feet too long.

GAH. Thank you for indulging me. I haven't really talked to anybody about my plans because 1) I don't want to be THAT GIRL who thinks everyone is just dying to hear about her wedding plans when really, no one is; and 2) I feel pretentious. Of course, I also feel pretentious saying "fianc]]> Wed, 23 May 2007 01:29:21 -0700 http://virb.com/meggan/posts/text/49958 http://virb.com/meggan/posts/text/39644 What kind of music gets you totally pumped up? I'm talking about the kind of songs where, when you put them on, you totally can't help but dance around your living room because they are so rockingly awesome.

Very near the top of my list would be "Birdhouse In Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants. I don't know what it is about that song, but I put it on and I then I end up looking like an absolute fool in my living room. Also very high on the list is TMBG's version of "Istanbul, Not Constantinople." It is just so catchy!

Also on my list would be:

• almost anything from Fear Factory, but especially Dog Day Sunrise and Archetype
• WWIII by KMFDM
• The Good Ship Lifestyle by Chumbawamba
• a lot of Marilyn Manson songs but titles aren't coming to me right now
• Open Road Song by Eve 6
• (I can't believe I am admitting this) anything off of Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World
• Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland by The B-52's
• Jolene by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
• (before I forget, because I know Callie will mention it) The Faint
• Video Killed the Radio Star by The Presidents of the USA

I could probably spend all night coming up with songs that make me want to get up and move, but what are yours?

One place was nearly perfect. It had a huge kitchen, giant windows (light!), a dining room, a living room, and a bedroom; the bathroom was appropriately modern and we could afford rent. Problem was, we were the second people to be shown that particular apartment, and the first people had already submitted their application for it. I'm actually pretty disappointed we didn't get it. The price was a bit more than we wanted to pay, but we could have made do and it would have been worth it.

None of the other apartments have really measured up to that one. The first one we viewed would have been like living in some mobster's flat in the 40's. The bathroom was old and stained, with one of those pressure-flush toilets like public restrooms have - the ones without a tank. Just... weird.

One was kind of nice, but I hated the floor plan. I never thought I'd be someone with an opinion about a floor plan, but here I am. You walked in and were standing in a hallway that went to the left and right, and RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU was the bedroom door. You would be able to open the door to the apartment, take three steps in and be standing in the bedroom.

At the end of the hallway to the left was the living room. It was an okay size, but it was a giant box because it bordered the bedroom. At the end of the hallway to the right was the kitchen. It was on the "pro" list for the apartment because it was big, tiled, had built-in china hutches (which I love), lots of storage, and a huge window. In between the kitchen and the bedroom was the bathroom, which wasn't bad but wasn't anything special. It just seemed weird to me that the floor plan was this stupid hallway with four rooms off the far side of it. It was the antithesis of an "open floor plan" and it irked me.

We looked at two 1-bed places that were located a bit farther away than we'd have liked, and I think I could have been convinced to rent them if we were getting more value while being that far away. For instance, if we could get a 2-bed for the same price, or if it had a bigger kitchen, or something really awesome that made it worth being so far out. The on-site manager was this wonderfully nice lady with an extraordinarily well-behaved baby that she wore in a baby-backpack while showing us around. I really liked her. The apartments were new, or new-ish, at least, and it was close to a big park, but I just couldn't justify being that far away when it was still expensive and there wasn't anything spectacular about the apartment.

Daniel looked at a great place without me (he had to - I was at work) and he absolutely loved it so we put in an application - sight-unseen on my part - but the guy didn't call us back. I think there was another lady looking at it and they wanted to get it rented as fast as possible so I'm not surprised it's gone. That one had a giant shared deck and a big backyard, too.

Oh, and to add insult to injury? Our rent is going up. It's only $25, which we can more than afford, but this apartment is not worth a penny more than what we are already paying for it. I have honestly been considering writing a nice letter to the management company that says "Please do not try to charge more for this apartment, because it is not worth it." and then detail the reasons why. (Most of which are complaints about the poor construction quality. You'll recall the mouse incident and the fact that we have pipes running across the ceiling in the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. It's not awful - it's laid out very well for the space - but... agghgh.) I'd been considering writing this letter before we got the rent change notice, and now I'm thinking I totally should have done it.

I'm hoping we find a place soon. I'm just sick of people not calling us back, not emailing us back, taking applications but not responding, and renting places to other people once we've seen them. Frustrating!

All of the details are still a bit fuzzy. We're thinking the date is going to be May 24th of next year, but aside from that everything is hazy. We're not sure if it will be in Portland or in Idaho, or how big/small it will be, or the colors, or anything. I am apparently not one of those girls who planned out their wedding when they were five, because I have only a very vague idea of what I want.

Once again, thank you all for your well-wishes and I will keep you posted!

I am so unbelieveably happy.

Hi Meggan, my name is [blank] and I have a Honda CRX that needs to be serviced and I know you serviced it last time and I'm in Salmon, Idaho but I'm going to be in Idaho Falls tomorrow and I wanted to know if you could work on the car tomorrow morning? Please call me back to let me know if you can fit me in. Thanks!

She was obviously on a tight timeframe, and I felt really bad just ignoring her so I called her back. The conversation went something like this:

MEGGAN: Hi, I'm Meggan, you just called me about your Honda?
LADY: Oh, yes!
MEGGAN: Um, so you definitely have the wrong number - I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about.
LADY: Oh… So you're not an autoshop then?
MEGGAN: Er, no. I just wanted to call you back so you could get your car taken care of.
LADY: Okay, well, thank you!

It was only kind of awkward.

-----

My mom's pet goat had a baby yesterday! Mom text-messaged me (she's getting all super high-tech with her new phone) to say she thought her goat was in labor, and would I like pictures? I told her I'd like pictures of the babies, not so much the birth. Heh. Later that day she messaged me a photo of new baby Gretl.

I've never really been a huge fan of goats, but baby animals are always cute.

How can you resist that adorable face?

The fabric I used was a thrift-store find, so Im not sure what exactly it is, but it appears to be some sort of upholstery-type stuff. It ravels very, very easily. This means that in order to get things to stay together without the seams popping open, I did three runs through the sewing machine on three different stitches for each seam. Total pain in the ass. The first was a big zig-zag stitch, the second was a smaller zig-zag over the top of the first one, and the third was the normal seam, inside of the first two.

Im really happy with how the face and ears turned out. I took chances on both of those, and I feel they paid off. For the ears, I did that same triple-seaming business, turned it right side out, and then stitched very close to the edge to finish it. That way, I didnt have to stuff the ears but theyd have some substance. For the face, I ironed the outer edge under and then stitched on top of it. Some of the corners are starting to poke out, but maybe itll add to the aesthetic? I like the way I did the nose/mouth and cheeks too.

Now all I need to do is figure out what Im going to do with all these animals&

damn
can`t belive i tryed remove at end empy lines in configuration.php and is started workin

I suppose it comes as no surprise that his username was "HigH."

Without further ado, here are some books I've read recently and would like to recommend:

A Handmaid's Tale
I'd only heard about this book, but never talked to anyone who had read it and hadn't ever had it recommended to me. The subject matter seemed interesting and I'd heard it was somewhat of a classic, so I got it.

If you have any interest in books about future societies (e.g. George Orwell's 1984), women's rights, or just well-written books, you should totally read this. I think it's especially appropriate given our administration at the moment.

The Leap
This is by Jonathan Stroud, the same guy that wrote the Bartimaeus Trilogy that I liked a lot. The story follows a girl who is recovering from nearly dying trying to save her best friend. Nobody believes her story that he's not dead, and her family constantly tries to take her mind off of the situation. Then she starts having weird dreams where she gets hurt and wakes up with real wounds. She just knows her friend is still alive, and she's determined to save him. It's a young-adult book, but very, very good.

The Notebook
I rented the movie The Notebook on a whim because 1) I heard it was good, and 2) I heard people kiss in the rain. Really, how could you go wrong? I ended up loving the movie and when I found the book at a thrift store, I picked it up. It's very short, but it's absolutely beautiful. Both the book and the movie make me cry - in a good way - because you can just feel the love that these people have for each other. Sappy but true. It's a wonderful book.

Blink
This talks about your gut reactions to people, places or things and how they can actually be beneficial to you. Malcom Gladwell, the author, contests that your instincts are not often wrong, and this book talks about the times they do go wrong and what you can do to avoid that. It's thought-provoking and interesting.

Edited to add:
Eats, shoots  leaves
A must for anyone who likes grammar and spelling. I bought this on a whim because I heard good things about it, and it's seriously so great. If you see signs like, "All patient's welcome" and cringe because you know they've misused an apostrophe, this book is for you. I love it.

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