between cotton balls and xylophones

So, I'm sure you've all heard the news by now...yes, it's true. My hard drive is d-e-d.

Obtaining a new one is in the works, but I'm not sure how long it will take, considering HP is completely useless, and I still need to get some recovery discs to restore my wonderful Vista Home Premium. :|

Luckily, I have an elvin friend in the company's IT department, who probably doesn't know that I just referred to her as an elf. She usually goes by the name Vilera! (i know, crazy, right?!) She said she'd help me install the hard drive once it arrives, and will attempt to help me obtain the recovery discs I'll need to get mah windows back, y'all. When you see her, thank her!

And once all that is done, I'll have to reinstall everthaang, including WoW and all of it's many, many patches.

So, I'm thinking it's going to be at least a week and a half before I can get mah shizat together and be back up and running. :/ Possibly longer. :'(

Luckily, after the last crash, and recovery, I backed everything important up on my external hard drive, so all of my music and pictures are safe and sound! I mean, I wouldn't want to lose that priceless video of Brandon rolling around on the floor in broken glass while drunk and laughing hysterically! PRICELESS. :D

So, wish me luck, mi compadres...and a speedy recovery for my poor youthful pc. *sob*

http://www.juneteenth.com/

Here's my official review of Tori's new album! Because I know you all are soooo curious as to what I think! :D

I have to say, I was expecting a little more from Tori on this album. I'm a bit disappointed by AATS's lack of "umph", for lack of a better word. The thing that has always attracted me to Tori is her creativity with her piano and lyrics, and the fact that she has always been far off from sounding anything near mainstream. Her lyrics have always been provocative and heartfelt. They've always seemed like they meant something, whether I understood the meaning or not. I have always been able to see my own version in her words and music. And that's what the great artists can always do. Make their music relatable to their listeners.

However, with Abnormally Attracted to Sin, I felt let down. I don't see any kind of provocativeness in the lyrics, or the music. Not one single song instantly grabbed my attention and said "hey, you, I rock." or "love me, i'm a beautifully crafted piano ballad." In fact, I don't really get anything out of the entire album. I do have a few songs that I like, but don't quite love, and a couple that I absolutely loathed from the first notes. And the rest are pretty much just "eh." So, I'm disappointed that her new take on her music, while interesting, in and of itself for her as an artist, really just fell flat for me as a fairly loyal Toriphile.

I do like that some of the songs have a more SINsual feel to them, but mostly I wish the lyrics were more compelling and that you could actually hear her beautiful piano talents over the rest of the band.

I give AATS a B+.

Song breakdown: my likes, dislikes, and I dunnos

The songs I like a lot, but don't quite love:

Strong Black Vine
Fast Horse
Give
Abnormally Attracted to Sin
Flavor
Welcome to England
Starling

Songs that are okay, but more than likely would skip if they came up on my iPod:

Curtain Call
Maybe California
That Guy
Fire to Your Plain
Ophelia

Songs that I'm torn/ambivalent about:

Not Dying Today (this song has aspects that sometimes remind me of a Paula Abdul song)
Police Me
Lady In Blue (the only thing that saved this song from the "loathe" list is the awesome band jam at the end)

Songs that I loathed instantly:

500 Miles
Mary Jane

So, all in all, I like more songs than I dislike, which is great, but I'm left feeling a bit unsatisfied by Abnormally Attracted to Sin.

Tell me what you think!

Bri wants you to read this: http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=34&topessays=25&&start=

Created by Recipe Star

Happy Spring! I hope everyone enjoys the blooming of the earth anew...

plus, a bigger and better post this weekend! (hopefully)

Happy Birthday Patty Griffin and Alan Tudyk. :)

i'm not sorry i met you.
i'm not sorry it's over.
i'm not sorry there's nothing to say...

Why do unpleasant people from my past that I've mostly put out of my mind for months, even years, keep suddenly popping up like little ghosts and try to contact me?

Why does this keep happening, when the only people I want to hear from are the only ones that I NEVER hear from?!

If I haven't talked to you in almost 10 years because you were a FUCKING BITCH who betrayed me and punched me in the face and tried to take my money and steal things from me, WHY THE FUCK WOULD I WANT TO TALK TO YOU NOW?!

You're right. I don't. I don't care that you're all reminiscent and depressed because you turned 30. You're still a horrible person, I'm sure.

Ugh.

because i can't seem to ever hold on to any extra money i get, this year, i decided to buy a wii with my christmas bonus money from work.

and my body hates me for it. after actually having the wii and playing it for one night, for a couple of hours, i've spent all day moaning and groaning about my aching arm/shoulder/back muscles. :D

tennis is my favorite thing to play out of my 14 games (5 from wii sports and 9 from wii play), and i've discovered that i should never attempt to play either baseball or golf, real or virtual. :|

i'm waiting for a wii fit to be available for less than $150 again so i can get one, but they seem to be permanently out of stock for the christmas season.

speaking of christmas, i'm excited for our personal family christmas here in my house, but i absolutely detest public displays of christmas celebration...mainly, i speak of our annual christmas luncheon and program at work. if i hear the word "celebrate the birth of jesus christ, our lord" one more time, i'm going to punch someone. i'm so serious, y'all.

anyway, i know it's been a while since any update from me, so i hope you all are doing well and having a happy holiday season. :)

Apparently, because I and another co-worker (and probably others) emailed the higher-up political guy in the building, our case was taken to the company attorney to determine what is legal and what isn't.

Our company attorney is the one who basically writes our Employee Handbook, which has a section about this very situation. In the handbook, it says that we get the 2 hours.

As of right now, they're going by the handbook and allowing us time to leave early for voting, if we ask our immediate supervisor, while they figure out the exact details of the law and their responsibility as an employer.

So, after hearing this, I immediately went to my supervisor and requested to leave 45 minutes early for voting, so I will be leaving at 3:30 p.m. today to go BARACK THE VOTE, Y'ALL!!!

Bri: 1
Big Company: 0

So here I am, sitting at work instead of voting because of fear of repercussion. Sounds like voter intimidation to me. :|

I came in to work early so I can leave as early as possible just so I don't get in trouble for exercising my right to vote.

I've tried contacting my HR department about the company's infringement upon my civil rights according to the state constitution, but so far, they've been unresponsive. I'm emailing the "political guy", as a co-worker told me to see what he has to say about it. We'll see.

Because today is such a crazy day for the State Election Board, I'll be giving them a ring tomorrow to find out how to file a formal complaint against the company.

In the meantime, wish me luck in making it to the polls on time, since I have to drive almost an hour from work to get there, and still have to stop on my errands I promised to do after work today (before i knew my rights would be violated).

So,here it is, the day before the biggest and supposedly most important election of my life...I've been so excited to vote this year.

I've been watching both campaigns, reviewing the policies of each candidate carefully, keeping up with what's going on with the state of the nation and world, and sitting through mostly boring presidential and vice presidential debates, just so I will be an informed, and responsible U.S. citizen, helping to shape the future of our country tomorrow, by voting.

It's great right?!

Well, because I'm a bit nervous about Election Day, I've done my research on Oklahoma state laws concerning my voting rights, and how it all works. I'm very informed and up to date about exactly what my rights are and aren't.

I can't campaign within 300 feet of the voting booths, I have from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to vote, and if I'm in line, waiting when the polls close, I still have the right to cast my ballot.

Also, in Oklahoma, there is a law, State Statute Title 26, Section 7-101 that says that employers must give all employees 2 hours of paid leave on Election day to go vote, and extra time if the employee works a good distance from their polling place, given the right circumstances.

If the polls are open 3 hours or more before your regular workday begins or closes 3 hours after your regular work day ends, you waive your 2 hour right. You also must give notice either written or orally to your supervisor the day before that you're going to vote.

But, the polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. and according to our HR department, our regular workday goes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Well, that's not 3 hours before...and not 3 hours after...so by all rights, and this statute, we're allowed 2 hours of paid leave for voting.

However, my employer doesn't believe that they are subject to this law. According to an email sent to my department by my supervisor, "if you go vote in the morning and its make you late getting to work you will need to use vacation time or no pay or make it up by Friday. Company will not pay since the poles are opened from 7:00 a.m to 7:00 p.m."

According to the state statute, this is completely illegal. My rights are being infringed upon, and I'm REALLY upset. It seems like they want to discourage people from going to vote!

However, this has not deterred me. I will go vote in the morning, and I will probably be late. I will not use vacation, and if they don't pay me for the time missed for voting, I will file a complaint with the state, and may consult an attorney, if I have to.

Of course, the fine for it is a mere slap on the wrist...only a fine of $50 to $100, but it will be worth it for me if it gets the company policy changed on this.

It is completely illegal for them to not pay us or force us to use our hard earned vacation time to do something that is a basic right as a U.S. citizen.

I'm so aghast at it, that it's hard to really not laugh at the audacity of it.

So, as soon as I get home tonight, I have more research to do on how I can go about filing a complaint with the state about this agregious policy.

Today, I've decided to make a random musical recommendation to all my frien's! :D

Bri's song of the day: December Baby by NYC indie-pop artist, Ingrid Michaelson from her sophomore(i believe) album, Girls and Boys.

Sure, everyone is all "ooo The Way I Am is SOOOOO good cause it was on that Gap commercial!!!1!11!" but I'm all about December Baby, so go d/l it from somewhere and listen to it!! :D

kthxbye

So with all the hype surrounding the new series Fringe, I thought "hey, why not?" It's been touted as the new take on the X-Files, and even been compared to Buffy, but there's nothing so great going on with this series...so far...

After two episodes, I'm left thinking that it's another show that has so much potential, but not enough passion, or humor or wit, or good writing to pull it through. Can we say Bionic Woman? :/

The basic premise is that an FBI agent, Olivia Dunham, played by Anna Torv, is pushed into a top secret division of the FBI that investigates strange and abnormal happenings. In the pilot, she enlists the help of mad scientist, Walter Bishop, who has been incarcerated in a mental institution for 17 years and his son, Peter Bishop (oh, Pacey), played by Joshua Jackson, and the only person who can get his father out of the institution. It's revealed early on that Walter, before his incarceration worked for the government on top secret research into "fringe" sciences including, mind reading, invisibility, levitation and even reanimation of the dead.

It's a good premise, definitely, but the writing is not good, the wit is non-existent, you don't care about any of the characters, and the chemistry between the actors is like watching a bunch of rocks talk to each other. The only truly likeable character that I've had any kind of feeling towards is Walter because he is still trying to cope with being out of the mental ward and back into his Frankenstein lab, and he's not doing so well, so the watcher feels sympathy for his plight. His son Peter is a crass, bad boy genius skeptic who only has mean quips for his dad and nothing nice to say to anyone. He's not even likeable as the "in it for himself" type. As for Agent Olivia Dunham, she's too intense, the writing for her character is horrible and she has no sense of humour whatsoever about anything. I don't even think I've seen her crack a smile! She's no Scully, and Peter is no Mulder, though in Fringe, the genders would be reversed...

I had high hopes for this show, being created by JJ Abrams of Lost fame, but so far there's intense action for the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes, but absolutely nothing but slow moving technical science talk that means nothing to anyone watching for the 35 minutes in between.

I give it a D+, 2 stars.

Check out the series info here or here.

OMG. So, the new cycle of America's Next Top Model premiered last night, and with it came the first transgendered contestant!!

Her name is Isis, and she's amazing. :| <--serious face

At the first elimination, she was called 2nd for having the 2nd best photo out of the 14 of them, and I was amazed because she was the only one who had to be in a shot with other girls in it, though you couldn't really see them, but during the shoot, the other girls were saying things like "Isis, you need to shave" and other snarky comments. Isis handled it very well, and was just like "come on..i wouldn't do that you y'all."

At one point during the episode, one girl actually called her a "he-she". That bitch needs to suck it. :|

All of the girls were making a big deal that she's pre-op and still allowed to be in the competition, and most of them are from small towns or whatever excuse they had to be close-minded and were all "i'm not comfortable with her being in the house" and the suck-it-bitch was all "it freaks me out to know that she doesn't have the same down there as me!" ugh.

But, yay for Tyra's progressive mind and the show, and all the people involved who are treating her like she deserves to be treated....like everyone else. :D

It's another mostly boring day here in the AFR building...so, here's a blog for your entertainment! (and my own.)

I've discovered that there is a long list of things that I'm addicted to. Myspace, Facebook, COLOURlovers, text messaging, instant messaging, Grey's Anatomy, jeremycole, travel kleenex, Carter Sampson, chocolate, macaroni and cheese, Bright Eyes and many, many other things that I can't think of right now.

I don't think it's unhealthy...is it? Sure, spending 40+ hours a week on the internet might border on...socially inclement...but, really...I still do stuff.

We went to the Girlie Show on Saturday! It was uber fun. Local female artists, and designers and musicians all gathered together and put their talents on display and sale. I discoverd that I enjoy rockabilly a little more when there are two hot chicks as the frontwomen. Meaning, rock on, The Oh Johnnie Girls! We missed seeing Carter Sampson play because she was the first act on, but I bought her CD anyway. I'm in love with "Fly Over the Moon." If you want to hear it, just ask and I'll give, give, give.

There was lots of fun and neat art, and jewelry, and some of the best people watching I've done in a while. Brandon and I favorited "Perpetually Sad-faced Hunchbacked Cold Girl" and "Bored Girl Who Keeps Changing Her Outfit and Chewing Her Nails and Looks like a Blood Elf from WoW". And we decided to make a new dance style big in all the clubs across the country. Robot Flamenco. You'll love it. I promise. Brandon will be doing demonstrations in dance schools across the nation.

In other news...

Brandon, Vilera, Sarah and I will be sojourning to the big D (that's Dallas for those not in the oh-so-important know) on November 9th to see the fabulous twin lesbian sister Canadian duo, Tegan & Sara! They're playing at the House of Blues and it's going to be...awesome. Two weeks after that, Brandon, Vilera and I will be making our own journey back to the Big D (see above) and Houston to see the fabulously talented songstress Tori Amos twice. VAAACCAAATIOONNN!! woot. I can't wait to get away from this cold building for nearly a week! It's gonna be hot, y'all.

In less important news, my hamster, Pip, is still alive and kicking even though sometimes I forget to feed her. :| She's a resourceful little rodent! I still love her though! I just...forget sometimes. Don't hate me or call DHS (the Department of Hamster Services) on me...

In summation:

-yay addiction! K's Choice had it right all along...
-boredom = great blogs!
-concerts are expensive, but sooo worth it.
-Pip can survive 1.5 weeks with no food...maybe longer.
-making up names for strange people you see at art shows is the best way to pass the time while Simulated Dawn is on the stage "performing".
-Robot Flamenco.

- Pip, the hamster, is doing great!
- My strep throat came and went and only left me slightly miserable during it's stay.
- Thank you to Bret who has hunged out with me a lot and brought me ice cream-y goodness while I was miserable and contagious!
- I'm dating someone. Seriously. No, really.
- I'm not bisexual. Why do I have to label myself so you feel comfortable? :D I'm sooo Post Modern. lolz.
- Bret's Birthday Bash was so. much. fun.
- November will be a busy month! Tegan & Sara in Dallas on the 9th, Architecture in Helsinki in Norman on the 12th, Tori Amos in Dallas and Houston on the 24 and 25th!
- There is absolutely nothing else going on in my life whatsoever.
- I miss Rue, and Quentin, and Vee, and Tony, and Casey and everyone else in the world who I've considered a friend.