I'm all over the place, bear with me

DH
I don't think I mentioned that the daehee was planning on a trip to Vegas with his friends the weekend after his 21st birthday. I'd heard from James something about it and of course my curiosity was piqued. I couldn't imagine why he'd want to go to Vegas or that he'd get much out of it. He doesn't drink or smoke, he's frugal with his money so he doesn't gamble and wouldn't be inclined to spend hundreds of dollars on shows. So what would draw him and his buddies to Vegas? I went to the daehee directly who explained it all in one word. Gaming Convention (okay, two words). He intended to go to the video game convention. He planned to play a particular game (I forget which) and hopefully not embarass himself was his modest claim. I had lunch with James today and got the update. Turns out that the daehee won THIRD PLACE! That he threw the game intentionally because he felt like the third place prize was better than first place (two nights stay at some fancy hotel) or second place (tickets to a Las Vegas show) but he totally could have swept if he'd felt like it. Whoo-hah! Nerdfighters!

I forgot to mention that the third place prize was a game console. PS3 I think.

Speaking of Nerdfighers
I'm so sad that I watched the last daily video over the weekend. My weekend was totally unhealthy sitting around moping, eating bad food and spending way too much time on the computer. So it didn't help any to be done with the brotherhood 2.0 videos. I"m still feeling a little lost, like after you're done with a really good book. It's those Green brothers. They're so funny and charming. What nice boys. If you have a few free days, I recommend you check out their site. They decided to give up textual communication for all of 2007 and communicate with each other through daily videos (they took turns Monday through Friday) and occasional phone calls. What started out as a personal project between two brothers turned into a community of fans and supporters who unite under the name Nerdfighters. Like freedom fighters, except nerdfighters fight suck. The videos are highly entertaining. Even M got into them (we usually don't have the same internet tastes). They got so much attention on YouTube and eventually were also mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, the BBC I think and also npr's All Things Considered. I thought what John said was so interesting about sibling relationships and how after you leave the nest, most people don't get a chance get to know their siblings as adults. Most of the time if you talk to your siblings as adults it's to discuss family matters and there just aren't as many opportunities to share in a mutual interest or project to draw you together. So true, so true.

Mr. Darcy vs. Mr. Knightly
I finished Emma. Somewhere around the middle of the book I fell in love with it. I think it's when I first started to suspect that Mr. Knightly might have a crush on Emma. M asked me what the book was about and observed from my summary of it that it reads a lot like a high school soap opera. Which I would agree that it sort of does. But isn't that Mr. Knightly dreamy? I love that he wants Emma to be the best person that she can be. And that he challenges her to do so and gently chides her when she falls short. It sort of reminds me of my husband. He's my Mr. Knightly. So I have to ask, what's the deal with Mr. Darcy? Jane Austen fans, what's the deal? Why is Mr. Darcy so famous? Why does everyone talk about him? Swoon over him? He seems to be the more famous of Jane Austen's male characters. Why? He just lurks at all the social gatherings brooding and judging. Even at the end when he's decided to give Jane Bennet another chance for his friends sake ~ and that totally bugs, by the way. Who the hell is he to decide whether or not someone is good enough for his friend? It's not like he's Mr. Personality. He condemns everyone around him, is sort of an ass at the parties, says insulting things to people below him (hardly a sign of nobility if you ask me), breaks up the blush of a romance, holes himself up in his mansion and then at the very end shows up with his pal to hang out make the Bennet girls all nervous and pass judgement on the sisters, et cetera, et cetera. Puh-lease. I'll take Mr. Knightly over Mr. Darcy any day. Granted, Mr. Knightly has his goods and bads (goods: strong moral character, loyal friend, all around gentlemanly behavior, Red Sox fan. Bads: Sometimes leaves his dirty socks around) but overall I think Mr. Knightly should be the one with the fanclub, not Mr. Darcy.

Books
I'm in a little over my head with my reading list. My book clubs meet monthly and I'm usually done with them in the first week or so. So I usually pick up another book to tide me over in between the assignments. I have to pick up Jim Shepard's Like you'd understand, anyway for my internet book club. And my classic lit book club has assigned Nabokov's Lolita both for the first of next month. And the tide-me-over-book that I got for this month is Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma mentioned my many and recommended to me by my buddy Nathan. I'm just in the beginning and it is Very Interesting. I read the first bits to Mr. Knightly as we drove down to San Diego last weekend and now he's freaked out by corn. He scoured the market the other day trying to find lunch meats that weren't from corn-fed livestock. Well, this is probably a good thing.

And speaking of cute things that kids say
My awesome mother-in-law Marcia and sister-in-law Kay are coming to visit over Labor Day weekend! They are bringing with them my two nieces little A (age 8) and little M (age 6). Little A was a little uncertain about this cross-country trip without her parents. Little M was totally jazzed. She has plans, you see. She put in requests that we go to Hollywood and watch (god help us) a taping of the Hannah Montana show, drive by Miley Cyrus's house (because everyone knows where she lives and she must live in Hollywood, right?) and also ride in a limo. I wonder where she gets this information from. Mom-in-law Marcia assured us that we could just drive past any big house somewhere and tell little M that it was Miley Cyrus's house and she wouldn't be the wiser. Meanwhile I must redecorate my home between now and the 28th. And clean up a storm. And Mr. Knightly will just have to use the bathroom at the gym because once I scrub that room, no one will be allowed to use it until the guests arrive.

And really quick because Mr. Knightly is yelling at me to come to bed and I haven't even showered yet from the gym:

I'm taking a cabinet and furniture making class!
I'm so freaking stoked I can't even tell you!! It starts this weekend. It's every Saturday morning for a few hours until the first week of December. An hour of lecture and then a few hours of "lab" where we get to play with lumber and power tools. I have my list of stuff that I want to make all ready. I can't wait!