Summer TV

I am so sad that several of my favorite summer TV shows are coming to an end. The first one is 30 Days on FX. This documentary-type show puts people into a lifestyle opposite of their own for 30 days. For those of you who saw Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock does 30 Days. Shawn and I have grown to love this show because it presents some great topics for discussion. My favorite this season was the Minuteman who went to live with an illegal immigrant family in LA for 30 days. It was a touching story to watch, plus Shawn and I had some good discussions based on this show. The episode we watched last night was about a Pro-Choice woman going to live in a nesting house run by a Pro-Life minister and his wife. I love that this show looks at controversial topics from both sides. Spurlock does a good job staying unbiased and giving both sides a chance to present their positions. Season 1 is now on DVD, so I recommend checking it out soon.

The second show that I ABSOLUTELY love that ended on Sunday is The 4400. The premise is that over 60 years 4400 people have been abducted and one day they are all returned at the same place in Washington only to soon find out they have been returned with special powers. One of the reasons Shawn and I love this show is because it has a definite X-Files vibe to it. Tom, the main detective, isn't as cool as Fox Mulder (David Duchovny); however, the story line has gotten super cool. SPOILER ALERT: for those who haven't watched this season yet, skip ahead. This season the evil scientists figured out how to extract promiasin, what gives people their powers, in order to create super soldiers to fight the 4400. Not to be upstaged, Jordan Collier, the messiah of the 4400, decided to start handing out promiasin to anybody who wants it to create more super humans to fight the government. What will this mean for the rest of mankind? Will this lead to a war of devastating proportions? We have to wait for next season to find out.

After watching this show and the X-Men movies, I've often wondered what super power would I like to have. I don't want something like the ability to read the future or the ability to change the weather. I'm thinking the power I'd most like is Sean's from The 4400. He's a healer. I know this means people will never leave me alone, but it seems like it would be the most rewarding power since I could use it to help the sick. I would particularly want to help children with incurable diseases. Yes, that's the mom instinct I guess.

The last show I watch during the summer is my total guilty pleasure. I love watching Rockstar. It's a cheese competition reality show, but I love it. I've never watched American Idol or any of the other hundred copycats. I like Rockstar because they obviously perform rock songs versus Barry Manilow songs on American Idol. Last season INXS found their new lead singer via Rockstar, and as many of you know, I LOVE who they chose: JD Fortune. I love him so much, I've seen INXS live twice now. I've always loved INXS, but they've added a new reason with JD. I also LOVE Dave Navarro, the host. I've had a thing for him the first time I heard Jane's Addiction and was in awe of him when I saw Jane's live for the first time. That boy looks good in leather pants and a pink boa is all I can say. Anyways, this season of Rockstar has been interesting given the new band looking for a lead singer is Supernova, which is Gilby Clarke from Guns and Roses, Jason Newsted from Metallica, and Tommy Lee from Motley Crue. I love Tommy's comments, such as "That was sauteed in wrong sauce." He's so weird, but entertaining to say the least. Unfortunately, the last couple weeks of the show have gotten very stereotypical drama on us. I hate that. Just play music, man. However, the best performances from Ryan Star have been these past two weeks. Ryan is my fave. That boy can sing. Shawn and I love his original song he did last week. We can't stop replaying it on own DVR. I've now decided I don't want him to win though because I'd hate for him to be a front man to Tommy Lee and would rather see him do his own thing. I'd pay to see him perform solo. I doubt I'd pay to see Supernova live though. They're entertaining TV, but the songs they've performed have been less than impressive.

Well, that's it for my Summer TV review. I know you guys were all dying to hear my reviews on something as important as television shows. I promise my next entry will be on something much more enlightening than TV.

I'm going to be published

Well kind of. I was asked by one of the trainers at Los Cab, the gym I go to in Fountain Valley, to write an article on Wellness Coaching for their quarterly newsletter. I've been working with a wellness coach for about 3 months now and it's made a world of difference. With my wellness coach, I have been working out nutrition and eating habits along with getting on a regular workout schedule. So of course, I was honored to write an article, one because I love to write and two because I love working with my wellness coach. I think it's made a tremendous difference primarily in my attitude toward working out and Coach Erin has shown me a ton of great exercises I now love to do. What I think is hilarious about all of this is the fact that I am the Tomlinson writing an article for the gym's newsletter when I know I'm the least fit and athletic of the family. This made me feel good to be asked to do this because it made me feel like I'm making tremendous improvements in my life. Now that I'm well into my 30s I know how important it is to get in shape, exercise, and eat healthy. I want to do whatever I can to avoid any of the health problems I might inherit from my family. Also, I want to make sure I'm in good shape before I get pregnant, so I may stay healthy and not let myself go when I gain weight from the pregnancy. I will post a copy of the article once it's finalized and published.

It's my birthday

Today is my birthday. I'm officially 33. Things have been crazy the past few days actually. Sunday was a lazy day for the most part. Erin and I hung out and watched Titanic on HBO. Well, it was more like it was on and Erin and I dosed in and out of watching it while chatting and reading. The three of us went to Lazy Dog for dinner. Erin and I had one of our usual moments of late wondering how we could bring up Arbonne to our waiter after he told us he was married. "You've got a great personality. Is your wife just as cool? Have you two ever thought of owning your own business? Join our Arbonne team." This is literally what went on in our head the whole time we were there. Too bad we are both chickens and never said anything to him. Drat!

Monday I took my mom to her doctor appointment. He took her first cast off, examined her hand and the titanium pins holding it together, said it looked good, and re-casted it. She will have this cast on for 3 weeks, then the pins come out. I know she was in a lot of pain Monday, which totally sucked. I wish I could have done something and I know she hates having the cast on, but I just know this time everything is going to heal and she's going to be a new woman.

Tuesday I went to lunch with Elizabeth (EJB) and her co-worker Katie, who was totally cool. She's super friendly and funny. I can see why she and EJB are friends. I also got to see where EJB works and met the guys she works with. Her cube is so small. Not much room to display pics on the walls of the cube. Good thing she can decorate with wallpaper on her monitor, which brings me to my next story.

Last night, I went to a show at the Troubadour with Elizabeth, Sierra and her fam. God I love live rock shows. Why didn't I become a rock journalist or something involved in music? I would seriously go to a good rock show once a week if I could. There's nothing better than seeing a band go off and rock the house down old school. Last night's show did a pretty good job actually. The first band, Delta Spirit, started off shaky but ended up being really good. I bought their CD in case anybody wants to hear them. One thing I can say about the band though is they definitely need some help with fashion. They so don't look like rock stars yet. One thing I totally dug about the band though is how much passion the lead singer has. I could tell the guy was singing with every inch of his body. I mean even his feet were on fire. I totally respect when an artist puts that much soul and passion into something he/she does. I think that's one of the coolest things in the world actually, even if it's not my type of music. I totally respect that. The second band was The Shys. (One thing I have come to hate about music lately is the trendy 2-word names starting with The: The Killers, The Shins, The Donnas, etc. etc. Be more original is what I say.) The Shys weren't too bad. EJB said she bought their CD the last time she saw them, so I'll have to listen to them again to decide how much I like them. They definitely had a great vibe about them as well. The lead singer looked super young, especially compared to the Adam Goldberg-looking guitarist with the white boy afro. (I'm so over the white boy afro. Too overplayed lately.) The headliner was The Colour, Sierra's cousin's band. Now to preface, I have heard their CD in the past and honestly wasn't wow'd by it simply because I wasn't in love with the singer's voice. After seeing him perform live though, I've gotta say, cocky and all, that boy can work a stage. I was impressed with his stage performance last night. However, I wasn't wow'd like I thought I would be with the guitarist. He was decent but not spectacular. On the flip, I totally dig Derek's bass playing. I'm not just saying this because Derek is Sierra's cousin. That boy can play and what's impressive is he's only been playing bass for a couple of years now. He definitely has the whole rock star look and stage presence going for him too. That boy will be a star, guaranteed. I did buy their CD last night as well, which I listened to today and I'm happy to say it's growing on me. I really like Save Yourself. A solid hit!! I'm still not digging the Zep rip-off lyric on Devil's Got a Holda Me, but I'm working on looking past that. Hey, you don't see my ass up there performing, so who am I to judge?

So here we are at today. I went golfing, which was fun considering who much I suck. I seriously need more practice. I can't remember all the steps needed to swing a friggin' club: knees bent, strong grip, elbows bent, head down, solid swing, full follow-through, etc. Why can't I just go up to the ball and smack the shit out of it and have the ball go straight? Is that too much to ask? Anyways, hung out at home for awhile, watched Tuesday's ep of Rock Star (more on that later in tomorrow's post), decided to go bowling, then went to dinner with mom and pop. All in all, it's been a chill kind of day, which is never a bad way to spend your birthday. Thanks to everyone who called to wish me a happy birthday. I even got sung to twice by Kristi and my brother. Today was a great day!! Love to all ya'all!!

My new picture

So what do you think of my new picture? I want to give a shout out to Jason for designing the logo for my blog. I LOVE IT!!! I think it even looks like me. Yay Jason! Thanks so much for my birthday present. It rocks!

Margaritas make me a better bowler

Last night a group of friends helped me celebrate my birthday at Lucky Strike Lanes. I had a blast! My first game wasn't so hot, but I'm happy to say after I had downed 2 margaritas, I did much better the second game. Unfortunately, I didn't meet my goal, which was to beat Shawn's score. He was en fuego the first game. I found out he has the opposite effect that I do: he bowled worse as he drank. Next time I'll have to give him a shot or two before we start. It was a fun night overall. I was just happy to get the gang together. I mean even Sierra's husband Mike came out to play. You don't know how special that made me feel. Greg and Tracy made me feel like a pretty pretty princess by buying me a birthday crown and wand. Ahhh how sweet. They also got me crazy straw glasses, which Jason had fun drinking his margarita with. Speaking of Jason, and Toby of course, I just adore these guys. They have designed me a logo for my blog. It's so special!! I can't wait to figure out how to put it on here now. Plus, they are designing me a Fantasy Sports Widow t-shirt. (For those of you who don't know, I sometimes feel like I'm single when it comes to all of Shawn's fantasy sports teams. I'm grateful he's not into basketball. Otherwise, I'd never see the guy. Baseball and football are bad enough.) Elizabeth and Sierra got me Arbonne blushers and eyeshadows for my pallet. Mike and Nina got me a new workout outfit in hopes that this time I catch the eye of a younger guy versus Grandpa Stalker. One of my favorite gifts though came from Tony. He gave me 3 movies: Showgirls, Heartbreakers, and Bring it On. The funny part of the gift is Tony took these movies from Jason's DVD collect. Jason thought there was something funny going on. Good one, Tony. I've got a bunch of pictures from last night (half are of Greg who tends to play with people's cameras if they leave them lying around), so I'll post some once I figure out how to do that. Thank you to everybody who came out last night and helped me celebrate my 33rd birthday. I LOVE ALL OF YOU GUYS!!! I'm so very lucky to have the best friends in the world!!!

Wicked

It's late and I'm tired, but I must write about my wonderful night. My awesome brother surprised me today with tickets to go see Wicked, the musical for those of you unfamiliar with it. I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see it again, get the soundtrack so I can start memorizing the songs, and read the book. The story is so unique. I love how they explain the back story to Glinda and the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz. It was perfect! I couldn't help but feel sad for Elphaba, the green witch. I don't want to call her the bad or wicked witch because she's really not bad at all. Glinda is a great character as well because she's ditzy and goofy, but Elphie is by far the main character and well deserving. She's simply just a misunderstood witch. I can't thank Michael enough for taking me to see Wicked for my birthday. It's the perfect birthday present Mikey. I love you!! Now I can't wait to see Sweet Charity next.

You Tube

Yes. I've finally checked out You Tube. I know I hear a lot of people talking about it, but I'm generally pretty slow on the uptake with tech kind of stuff. So thank you to Blanca for sending me a funny video on You Tube today. (I recommend checking out Rat Monster.) While I was there, I found these hilarious videos by Ryan Wieber. I highly recommend that you check them out. He has a series of lightsaber duels that are pretty cool in my opinion and I wonder if Lucas could learn a few things from him. What I like is that the acting is definitely in sync with the acting we have come to expect from a Lucas original. This is where I am in total awe of the internet. People are genius when they put their creativity to something like Wieber's videos. Man, I wish I was a kid now so my friends and I could nerd out and make home videos like this. I know many of you out there are very skilled when it comes to technology, but I'm totally impressed with kids like Wieber.

I don't like Mondays. I want to shoot...

I used to love that song. Too bad I can't remember who sings it. Anyways, it's Monday and a new week has begun. Fun stuff to be had lately. Yesterday started with my morning workout. Shawn and I changed it up a bit and took a walk on the beach, dog beach to be exact. Too bad we don't have a dog. Plus, we ended up getting pounded by waves, but it was all good. Then we had a chill fam day at my mom and pop's place. Thane, Kristi, Avery, Lisa, Kylie, Shawn and I hung out by the pool with mom who was styling with her new purple cast. Pop ended up grilling burgers for us. He spoils all his kids. I worry though that he's going to think we only come over to mooch off him. It's true, but it's nice to visit with him too. Then Avery and Pop entertained us. For those of you who haven't seen my dad play with Avery, it is a sight to be seen. He loves teasing the baby girls. And the girls just love Poppa Mike, as I have taken to calling him. By the time I got home last night, I was exhausted. I read the 3rd Hellboy book and was crashed on the bed by 9. (BTW, I finished The Watchmen. I now love that series. I had no idea where it was going to end and I was shocked but excited by the story. Definitely recommend it.)

So this morning I watched the Rockstar webisode (found at www.rockstar.msn.com). I'm a total Rockstar junkie now. I can't get enough, even though nobody this season compares to JD Fortune from last season, but then again who can compare to JD. I was good and went to the gym. I've noticed something about myself lately, and I'm not sure what to make of it. I got hit on at the gym today...by a 70 year old man. Yes, you heard me right. For some reason, I've been hit on recently by old men. Seriously, the man this morning was all chatty and complimented me several times. Then as I was leaving, he came over to say it was nice meeting me and wondered if he could buy me a cup of coffee. I gracefully declined. He then said he's never seen me before. I said I'm there quite often. He followed by asking me when I'm there so he can make sure he comes at the same time. Yikes! So on my way home, I called Shawn and said he better watch out cuz I might end up with a sugar daddy here soon. Ha! Well, off to get started working today on Arbonne stuff and laundry. Have a great week!

Doctoring the photo

Time for a serious post. I just watched a clip on CNN.com regarding a Reuter's photographer who was caught doctoring a photo of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. This is a topic I frequently discussed with my students given the ease of doctoring/manipulating photos today. It disturbs me that photographers and editors even consider this as an ethical practice. What should be presented to the public is what was captured on film, not what they WISH had been captured. Hence, why I tried to teach my students to never rely on photo alone, but to always read more about a story from various sources before arriving at a conclusion. Here's a link to the picture Click Here

My first lesson of blogging

So I believe I have learned my first lesson of blogging this evening: my life is pretty boring. It is Friday night and I am sitting at home posting on my blog. I just finished dinner, which was leftovers, and am watching The Princess Diaries. (It was either that or the preseason Patriots game.) Wow. I am so cool right now. I am thinking, "Hmm. What can I do this evening? I can clean the bathroom or cut coupons." Again, another wow moment. I'm a sad 30-something now aren't I? However, I had a pretty fun day babysitting Kylie. She took two naps, ate her food without getting it all over me, and we had a very pleasant hour walk. I guess I can't complain much since my day went well. It's just my night that sucks. Actually, my day went weird at one point when there were 5 cop cars parked in front of my house, a crowd gathering in front of the neighboring apartments, and a shirtless man practically sitting on my step. He was so close to my window I could see some serious butt crack. (Thanks April for pointing that out.) Yes, I live in the hood of HB. I've decided to make my night better I'm going to finish reading The Watchmen, the comic series I borrowed from Jason only a year ago. I'm loving this series and am now looking forward to starting Hellboy, again courtesy of Jason. My life is now complete: I'm home alone on a Friday night reading comic books. Yes!!! I rule!!!

This is only the beginning

So I'm finally biting the bullet and starting my own blog. I was waiting for Shawn to re-build our website and add a blog to it, but I think I'll be too old to type by the time he finishes the website. I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts, interests, dreams, hopes, and fears with you. Now that I'm not teaching I feel like I need an outlet for topics that interest me. Aren't you all lucky? You will now know what my students had to put up with.