My little brother

Can I just say how proud I am of my little brother?

See, Bryan is this big hulk of a man. His calves are as big around as my head. He's three years my junior, and for awhile, I beat him daily. He was a squirrelly kid with buck teeth and a buzz cut. He is still EIGHT in my mind, and I can't get my brain around him being grownup, with a home and a wife and a kickass job. I mean, eight year olds don't have sex or mow the lawn. Not.Okay.

But my Beezer Man wasn't always sucessful. He had a string of jobs that always seemed beneath him, following his few failed attempts at college. He's been through the illegal pleasures in life and managed to come out relatively unscathed. He and I never really connected as young people. After our parents' divorce, he withdrew to the basement and played D&D with friends, I acted out. I was the "smart one", he was the "funny one". He has this amazing charm that will get him out of any predicament that I always envied. And if nothing else, he's a bit of mom's favorite and can still get money if he needs it.

But after all that teasing...I mean a grown man who goes to Gaming Conventions? He's now the MASTAH of these conventions. He sits behind the booth and signs autograps. Because he is now a writer for this company and gets paid a good lot to do what he loves. He's a writer. And he's freaking good at it. He can't tell you who was president when America went to which war, but ask him about the Earth/Minbari war from Babylon 5, and he can tell you history in such detail you'll feel like sticking an eight sided die in each ear until his lips stop moving.

But damn, good for him. I'm an artist too, and don't get paid squat. I get to do it twice a year if I'm lucky, he gets to do it every day. And his company just sent him on a three month trip to Oslo, Norway. To write dialog for a VIDEO GAME. Dude. How freaking cool is that? Don't tell him I think so, though. Because heaven forbid I might actually go buy and play said game. Or even know what an eight sided die looks like, as referenced above. Or that I sometimes enjoy a quiet game of Puerto Rico or Settlers of Catan with neighbors on a Saturday night. Don't tell.

He's done all of this, but I can't get right with him being grown. He's still EIGHT, you know? He's still running around our house in frozen underwear, knocking on doors and pleading to be let in. I am not sure which evil big sister tricked him into putting them on and then pushed him outside, but damn, she was a b-i-t-c-h. He's still bugging me and my friends with his crazy faces and goony jokes. He's still going through his "I'm a scary Goth" phase, with his Jesus hair and his long black trench. He's still living in a flop house at Purdue, with freakish friends who have no jobs crash on his floor.

Who am I kidding? He's a grownup man now. One that I am immensely proud of. One I wish I could be closer with. You need to understan that The Little Prince? Is.my.brother.reincarnated. The same charm, the same devilish twinkle in his eye, and always the comedian. BryGuy doesn't have children yet...I pray he will, just because how much FUN are those kids going to have with my brother for a dad? And now I know how my little man might turn out. I will still give him hell if he plays dorky role playing games, but quietly I'll know it just may lead to something good.

And Bryan? After his final visit to my home before leaving for Norway, I discovered he'd left me a gift: that Big Bastard froze one of my bras and draped it across the freezer door.

Damn I love that guy. Cheers to you, BrubbaMan. You done good.

Who else would this blog be about?

That's right. HG tagged me again, but I am taking a similar meme from SJ the Mom and making it mine. Because I can't think of anything else to write about.

Four jobs you have had in your life:

~Bar wench
~Academic Advisor
~Actor
~Esthetician (squee!)

Four reasons you've given for missing or being late for work:

~If I don't take a day off I might kill someone
~If I don't take a day off I might kill myself
~If you don't let me take a day off I'm going to hunt YOU down
~I have pinkeye.

Four movies you could watch over and over (and do):

~Forty Year Old Virgin
~Mean Girls
~Breakfast Club
~Heathers

Four places you've lived:

Damn, I only have three: Here in Indy, Up north in Indiana, and London.

Four TV shows you love to watch (currently, like last week):

~Survivor (February second, baby!)
~Buffy or Angel on DVD
~Bones
~Anything on FoodTV except Mario and that Giana chick

Four TV shows you hate to admit you watch on occasion:

~Any reality show on music tv: Made, Celebrity Fit Club, Pimp my Ride
~America's Next Top Model
~Babylon 5 on DVD
~Breakfast with Bear

Four movies you've never understood the hype about:

~Casablanca. I am just not feeling this movie.
~Anything to do with boxers or the sport of boxing
~Anything with Renee Zellweger in it. Except Jerry Maguire, because that was back in the day before her eyeballs did a great disappearing act along with her body fat.
~Godfather Trilogy. I quote it, I enjoy it, but a masterpiece? Meh.

Four (kind of obscure) lines from movies you quote often for no apparent reason:
(props to those knowing one or more of the movies)

~"Sorry I blew up your mom, Ricky"
~"I live a very fulfilling life!"
~"I could have been the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people."
~"Run away!!!"

Four people you could live happily without ever hearing from again:

~Paris Hilton
~Brangelina. Or TomKat. Or any other media dubbed siamese partnership.
~George W. Bush. Or any other dimwits in his administration. Including Pat Robertson.
~Did I already mention Renee Zellweger?

Four of your favorite foods:

~Pastries. Any kind, really, but if it has fruit and cream cheese on it, I'm all over it. Donuts are included in this category.
~Pizza. Thin crust, cheese and mushrooms please.
~A big fat green salad with pecans and berries and some kind of crumbly cheese on it.
~Ice Cream.

Four things you don't apologize for:

~My naive liberalism
~My love of Buffy and all things Joss Whedon
~My incredibly closeknit group of internet friends
~Being frugal and not understanding how people spend so much damn money on stupid shit.

Four sites you visit daily:

~This one...checking for your comments...so be a doll and indulge me.
~Delphiforums
~Yahoo (that's my email WITHOUT the spam)
~Hotmail (that's my email WITH the spam)

Do these things get a time stamp?

Because mine should read about three in the morning. I've been rolling around up there in the bed for an hour, next to the skinniest man alive who can still manage to take up more than 3/4 of a full bed.

I'm having all kinds of weird dreams about terrorism, classical music, and protecting my kids all the while discussing with Kendra the pros and cons of visiting Ireland next year. WTF did all of that come from? And how did it all fit logically into one dream? No clue. I just need to stop my brain for a bit.

I'm obsessing about my new job. I'm obsessing about graduating from school. I'm obsessing about little stupid shit that means nothing to anyone but me. Stuff that can't be changed/fixed/whathaveyou for several years. My family back home is having some difficulties now and I can't be there for them. And it won't get better until I can move closer to them. That may or may never happen. I'm obsessing about a book full of Aveda product I need to learn and start using on complete strangers in three days.

With a brain that full of boring stupid shit, I'm wondering why I don't put *myself* to sleep. Instead, I'm headed over to the living room now to watch some fascinating informercials about some products I can obsess about having.

Freaking MeMes

The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits I have" and people who get tagged then write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says you have been tagged? (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

1. I have to touch everything with both hands. Everything, even if just feeling a pretty scarf or something in the store. BOTH hands.

2. I give my foods a personality and assign them before I eat. I always eat the most popular or prettiest food last.

3. I obsessively bite the inside of my cheek and tounge until they are raw. This WILL give me mouth cancer one day.

4. I can't take a bath or sit down to breakfast for more than five minutes without something to read. Therefore I eat breakfast in front of the computer every weekday and compulsively read cereal boxes if at the table.

5. I am obsessive about my eyebrows. You would be hard pressed to see me with any ungroomed strands of hair out of place. Go figure I'm the waxing queen. :)

I'm tagging five people, but am really dumb at html and don't have the ten minutes it'd take to figure it out. So here: Mr. Antrobus, Mich, Rainbow Fish, Lis and Ash.

Doing the "Happy Happy I Got a Job Dance"

Because I did. Yay!

I'd post the website, but internet stalkers are everywhere, yo.

But it's an Aveda salon. I will be one of two estheticians, and they have been around more than twenty years, so there is a clientele there. I hope to build a business quickly and be rolling in the dough in no time.

Well, at least start paying off that student loan.

Backdoor Cowboys

As my friend affectionately refers to it. Or, as it's actually titled: Brokeback Mountain. Dear God was this an amazing, amazing film. Beautifully acted, directed, written.

I actually got excited watching Jake Gyllenhal have hot monkey man love.

It's only showing at ONE theater here. In the eleventh largest city in the country and the capital of Indiana. We actually had to come back the next day, since the shows we wanted to see were sold out on Sunday. Because if you want to see it, you can only see it at this theater. In the CAPITOL of Indiana. How very sad for people who live in say, Rural Tennessee? No Gay Cowboy love for you, my friends. And that is just sad. This movie is about two people in love, who HAPPEN to both be men.

Also? I may have been one of four or five heteros in the sold-out theater. Which made for a great movie experience. No nervous tittering at the love scenes, and cheering when there was a big victory for the boys.

Today I simultaneously loved and hated my fellow man.