1. I’m addicted to this song, thanks (and no thanks) to Reagan. I play it often. And on repeat. It’s so soothing, so melancholy. 
2. It’s Thursday. Just to let you know in case this week’s disappeared as quickly for you as it has for me.
3. I started the 30 Day Shred this week. Except I had to skip today already (so maybe it’ll be a 29 Day Shred for me) because I can barely move my legs and shoulders. I didn’t expect it to make me so sore considering I work out 7-8 miles at least 4 days a week, but it did. And I’m on the easiest level. I like it though. The set up keeps you on your toes so you don’t get too bored or have enough time to remember to pass out from exhaustion. 
4. My sister saw Sean Penn at work today and didn’t even realize it was him past thinking, “He looks like Sean Penn,” until she heard later that he was on campus. If she had realized sooner, she could’ve pissed him off and taken video of him losing his temper so she could make big bucks like the paps.
5. I’ve been riding the fence about how I feel about same-sex marriage for many, many years. I made up my mind today about what I believe.
6. I got heckled by an Aggie for wearing an Ohio State hoodie tonight when I was at the hospital with Justin. It’s funny because when I was at Ohio State, I would get heckled for wearing a McKinney hoodie that looked like a Michigan hoodie. Finally, after getting a hoodie that would help me blend in in Ohio, it makes me stand out back in Texas. Huh.
7. I love cheese.
8. And Diet Coke.

This weekend, I took my mom and my 6-year-old nephew to the Texas state fair. I kept seeing my friends’ blog posts about state fairs and since I have never been to one, it made me want to go. Plus, my stepdad was throwing my mom a surprise birthday party that night and I thought it would be helpful to keep her away from the house. I had two goals in going: see animals, eat fried s’mores. I love anything s’mores related, so the prospect of eating one fried was too much for my easily intrigued curiosity.

On the train ride in from our parking spot to the fair, I was trying to get a decent picture of me and Conner after I had tormented him by telling him we were just going to the state fair to buy fresh vegetables and that there weren’t any rides there. Here’s the best one we got:

The others were more forced:

As soon as we stepped off the train, we knew we were near the livestock. We looked around at horses and goats and then saw this 1,200 pound pig, whose genitalia drew more attention than his weight.

See?

Directly across from the giant pig balls was a Pee Wee Stampede that was just about to begin. Not having any idea what it was, we told Conner to go get in line, and he is such a happy-go-lucky kid he didn’t ask any questions, but just went right over where he was told and stood in line for this kid mock rodeo.

They divided the kids into different age ranges and gave them different events: barrel racing, roping, etc. Conner’s was bull riding, so they put some chaps on him and gave him a stick bull. He didn’t seem to need any direction as to what to do. He was riding that buckin’ bronco all over the place. All the other kids were walking calmly in the line, while he bounced his way around. He’s the one in the green hopping away.

When it was his turn, he put his heart and soul into the bull riding, and when he didn’t get first place, Mom and I were stunned. He was robbed, and the rodeo was totally fixed! He was the best one out there! You can even hear the guy next to us asking if he was ours and then he says, “He really is getting into it!”

We were laughing hysterically. He was such a good sport about humoring us and going in there. To repay him, we walked to the other side of the fair to let him ride some rides.

I was surprised how much fun it was to watch him going on the rides.

After that, we went and caught a Birds of the World show, where they have trained birds fly around. In order to get comfortable seats up front, we had to get there early and gave Conner some cotton candy to keep him entertained in the meantime. I think this is where we all really got some sun.

Doesn’t he look like he’s having a good time at the fair with his Aunt Shannon?

At this point we were all really winding down and started the search for the fried s’mores.

On the way, we saw Big Tex (aka Creepiest Giant Inflated Man Ever):

We finally found them, and it was sooo not worth the money we paid for it, but I am going to pretend it was because of how much we spent.

Last item on the agenda was letting Connor play in the fountain, and you can see how he enjoyed that:

On the way out the state fair gates, I saw me in another life:

It’s the same life where I’m not terrified of giant country spiders.

Re: JackP’s invite to join in, and to fill the time until I can get back to my laptop and put together a nice Texas State Fair post for you…

Have you ever…

Gone on a blind date?
Not exactly that I can remember at least, depending on how you define a date. Um, I’ll just go with ‘no’ on this one.

Skipped school?
Oh yes, especially high school. I had skipping my junior/senior year of high school down to an art, and by that I mean that I would keep a running tally in my head of how many times I missed each class so that I would be able to graduate that year. When I would skip class I’d go do exciting things like take a nap on my couch at home or catch up on more studying.

Been on the opposite side of your country?
I live in the south, but I’ve also lived at both ends, east and west, and also northern territory. So I’ve been all over.

Swam in the ocean?
Yep, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf was warm but scattered with jellyfish and stinking seaweed and very brown. The Pacific was way too cold (by San Diego), or at least it was when Justin and I were honeymooning there a couple years ago. I remember playing in it quite enjoyably as a kid, but even just walking through it as adult I was losing feeling in my feet.

Had your booze taken away by the cops?
Can’t say that I have.

Lettered in a high school sport?
No, although thanks to my brother’s ex-girlfriend, I do have a high school soccer hoodie that has become infamous across the country.

Cried yourself to sleep?
Yes, but not in a very long time. My most memorable moments of crying myself to sleep were nights I got dumped by boyfriends.

Played a musical instrument?
I played the clarinet in 6th and 7th grade and took piano lessons for 6 years.

Sung karaoke?
Yes, once I sang “If You See Jordan” by Something Corporate in a karaoke bar to my boyfriend and substituted his name for Jordan’s. It was all in good humor, and he loved it. No one suspected it, so it got a decent laugh from my little group. The lyrics go something like this, “If you see Jordan, if you see Jordan, he makes me sick, he makes me sick.” I was sober by the way.

Cheated on an exam?
Once I was taking a make-up exam in a physics class in high school, and the girl next to me who was checking out my test wrote me a couple of equations on the table that she saw I was getting wrong. I accepted the help. The same boyfriend from the karaoke story also took a lot of geology quizzes for me online in college. There was a reason the quizzes were all 90% or above and tests were always B averages.

Played spin-the-bottle?
Nah, not that I wouldn’t have. It just never came up.

Laughed until some sort of beverage came out of your nose?
I would have to say yes, although I can’t think of any exact circumstance where the story was more than, “I laughed so hard that _____ came out of my nose.”

Watched the sun rise with someone you care about?
Yes. Good times.

Been arrested?
Not even close.

Gone Ice Skating?
Sure, but ever since one of my friends said her uncle had his fingers cut off by the blades of an ice skate after he fell down, the experience never held the same innocent happiness. Also, skating around in a circle isn’t as fun for more than ten minutes as it was when I was a kid, especially not for the prices.

Been skinny dipping?
Nope. I’m too modest with too many body-image issues for this to seem fun.

Been on television?
Not that I know of.

Thrown up in front of a date?
Sadly, yes. I was nursed back to health for a day and a half by a date once. That man was a saint.

My dog officially gets car sick. He used to do great in the car, but the last three trips to or from Dallas, he’s gotten sick at the tail end of the ride and puked in his kennel. I was hoping it was just a fluke, but this third time made me realize it’s not.

And every time he does so, I pull over, grab him out of his kennel so he doesn’t roll around in his own vomit the rest of the ride and put him in the front seat where he is very well behaved. He’s weird and doesn’t like to be pet, so he’s not one of those dogs who gets on your lap and tries to get attention. He just sits or lies down on his seat. I’m debating whether I should try this for an entire trip. Maybe he gets car sick from being in the back.

When we got to Dallas, I told my mom who’s Turk’s “rope buddy” that he destroyed his last rope and left most of it on the lawn (if you know what I mean). Instead of buying another one, I thought I’d try homemaking one to save money. So we got out a couple pairs of jeans and I sewed him a new tug/chew toy. (I say “I” but I still needed some instruction from my mother on how to tie thread knots and what to do when I reach the end of the thread. I don’t sew, okay?! Never! Give me a break!)

It turned out very well, despite the difficulty in stabbing a needle through all those layers of denim. As my first sewing project, I’d say it went very well indeed, and if you zoom in and look at those edges, you’ll see that my stitches are small, dainty, straight, and ladylike. (No they’re not.) I don’t think Turk’s too picky though.

I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but for a free dog toy (they run about $10 at the pet store), I’m really happy with it regardless. Plus he’s always eyeing my jeans like they’re pig ears dipped in chicken broth, so I’m sure he’s glad to be allowed to dig his teeth into the sweet taste of human pants.

Now if only I can find a way to turn all carpet everywhere into a chew toy so he’ll be content and won’t pull half-dollar sized chunks out of my floor anymore (oh yes he did).

We all have our biases. Although many people (like news stations or documentary filmmakers for example) claim to be able to put their biases aside when they’re making a 60 minute film about healthcare IN THE ENTIRE WORLD without leaning in either direction, I don’t believe it is possible for people to truly set aside their biases, especially in cases such as this where hundreds of hours worth of viewpoints and footage have to be edited down to one hour by people with opinions, and probably strong ones. I think it’s possible to see someone else’s point of view (and I wish people worked harder to do so on a more regular and less hypocritical basis, i.e., to expect everyone to see their point of view while refusing to do the same), but is it really possible to eliminate personal bias altogether? I think not.

I am a person who has strong biases and am extremely loyal to them, holding them close to my heart — closer and closer the more others try to pull them away. Like when everyone was telling me what a horrible, no account, good-for-nothing Reagan was… did I listen? No, of course not! Because I was a loyal and biased friend who preferred to have blinders on rather than ‘fess up to the truth. 

I’m just kidding… I just had to get him back. Plus I always believed them when they said those things about him. (You probably thought this post was going in the direction of politics, but boy were you wrong!)

I’m much the same way when it comes to preferred bands, movies, books, and above all, actors. Anyone who knows me at all is well aware of this endearing quality about me. I’m probably the last person people want opinions from when they’re looking for unbiased straightforward critiques of movies and music because I find it very difficult to separate how I already feel about some musician/actor/what-have-you and view or listen to the new artforms as if I’m an unbiased participant. I just can’t do it. (Well, there are a couple exceptions which I’ll get into later, but for the most part, I can’t do it.)

So it should come to no surprise to any of you that even before I bought the newest Ben Folds album, I already knew I was going to like it. It could’ve had nothing but Ben Folds giggling into the microphone and I still would’ve swooned and sighed and listened to it on repeat for months and months, heralding him as a musical genius. I still make sure that I have Songs For Silverman within arms’ reach in the car just in case I get a spontaneous urge to listen to it right that second.

So I got Way to Normal the other day, and I love it of course. I mean, it’s Ben Folds. Funny, often juvenile and vulgar lyrics — I have a juvenile sense of humor so it works for me, great music, interesting insights, touching narratives. Love him. I think I prefer Songs For Silverman though because I tend to like his slower ballads that are more prevalent on that album than this one: Bastard, Landed, pretty much everything on Silverman, and then the older ones like Fred Jones Part 2 and Still Fighting It. Of course I love his more “rock” songs as well, but I tend to really fall in love with his sentimental pieces. Way To Normal has songs like You Don’t Know Me and Kylie From Connecticut which I absolutely adore, but I love all of his styles depending on mood. Three more weeks until we see him in Dallas, and as I put the CD in my car today, I said to Justin, “We have 3 weeks to learn all the lyrics!” because there’s nothing like going to a concert of someone you’re a fan of while having to sit there silent like an idiot while everyone else is singing along. 

Other bands I have undying love for: Bright Eyes (although I’m behind on his music), The Vandals, Jewel, and Blink-182. Am currently trying to branch out though…

Anyway, my unwavering bias clearly applies to musicians. Since this is long enough, I’ll move on to segment numero dos mañana and detail movies and actors. 

Celebrity gossip is one of those pasttimes I participate in with guilty pleasure. Usually I just skim my favorite website when it comes up on my google reader and only go to the site for stories I’m oddly interested in — which explains the weird dream I had the other night about Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, or as the author of the site calls them, HoHan and SamRo — but there was that short period of time in Columbus when Ted and I would exchange Us Weekly’s and act surprised that celebrities actually walk on sidewalks JUST LIKE US. It was shocking every time!

While morally I can’t necessarily feel great about celebrity gossip since it’s still critical and shallow rumors about people who, while famous, are also real people out there somewhere, I completely understand why it’s so popular: because of its universality. And there have been many times I’ve actually been relieved that I keep up with it, especially since I’m not typically up to the minute with TV shows which supply most people with small talk material, except for The Soup which we watch every week and is also about celebrity gossip come to think of it. Gotta love Joel McHale though. And Spaghetti Cat. 

Anyway, I am convinced that the sole reason people follow celebrity gossip alone at their computers at night is so that when they are sitting in the hair salon for two hours while someone they have absolutely nothing in common with is standing behind them expecting to talk, they have something to discuss to pass the time. Every other hair stylist I’ve had for the past five years have been friends first who I started going to for my hair. This time that’s not the case, and we don’t really have any local gossip or common acquaintances to talk about, plus my stylist seems to be interested in nothing besides metal music and concerts, which I’m not really into.

We’ve finally settled on two and half topics to stick to: celebrities, movies, and some TV shows (although we haven’t found common ground on love of The Hills… horrible, just horrible, but she does watch Curb Your Enthusiasm, so points there). Oh, and she also likes to trash talk her co-workers and get her assistant to spy on other stylists which I find really tacky, but a few awkward silences later we’re back to criticizing people we don’t know which I feel much better about, like girls who go into hair salons asking for Jessica Simpson hair or saying they want Posh hair, except longer… making it not Posh hair. I think that was the first moment we really bonded; that, and when she learned that one of my favorite shows is South Park. 

But, on more than one occassion, it’s been celebrity gossip awareness, as shallow and unsophisticated as it may be, that has saved me from sitting there in the salon chair feeling the weight of long awkward silences on my shoulders pressuring me to have something to talk about that we can both relate to. And celebrities provide that common bond to someone I don’t necessarily have anything to say to otherwise.

Okay, decision made! Let’s go with The Count of Monte Cristo unabridged, if you can handle it. I hear that this is a book worth reading unabridged (which I totally believe now being 1/3 of the way through), and honestly it reads fast. Go to your library, bookstore, or online vendor to get your copy! I have a personal unexplainable preference for Penguin editions, so that’s what I’m reading, if you want to have similar page numbers to reference. I strongly urge people to read this book, even if you’re not a “reader” usually (like I think my fellow middle child sibling would really like this book). If you’re going to read one book, this is a good one to make the effort with; and from my experience it hasn’t been much of an effort. I have only been reading it in bed before going to sleep and the pages fly by, especially because the story just sucks you in.

Okay, good luck! Keep me updated with your progress.