I'm all alone...

in the office today. So, don't worry it's not as hopeless as it sounds. It' very odd. Oh wait, it's finals week, I forgot. And no, I wasn't trying to set you up, I just figure things out when I start blogging... why no one's here? should I wear white pants in winter? what is my purpose in life? I think I need to blog a lot longer before the answer to that last one epiphanizes. New word - hurray!

Well, now that I have your attention with my introductory random stream of consciousness. I'd like to announce that we may have some new blogging eyes visiting the "Naomi - I know you know me" site. Apparently, my mother has given my blogsite address to many of my elementary and high school teachers. My mother of course did this after I said "Don't handout the blogsite address all around! I don't want to have to censor it!" Being my mother, she chose to do the opposite of my request. I always forget that she likes to do opposite. But, after thinking about it, I decided that that would be okay, since my blog readers already include my parents and I don't think there is anything on here that shouldn't be read by my teachers, especially since my mom tells everyone everything anyway, so I'm sure my whole home community is kept well-informed of my life (probably more than they like). I thought I would just give fair warning to those who like to blog in the comment section of my blog.

So, anyway, welcome to my wonderful teachers, if in fact you do decide to visit my blog.

Anyway, funniest story of the week happened last Friday when Brian and I decided to stop at the Ogden for a little karaoke. I've been on this kick where I only want to sing songs I've never sang before, which of course has resulted in some hits and some terrible mistakes. So, on Friday, I noticed that Scooter (the karaoke DJ) had added some new songs to his karaoke book (many of which were from Musicals). You can imagine my excitement. I, of course, feverishly scribbled down "All That Jazz" from Chicago on a piece of paper and had Brian run it up to Scooter.

I sat there thinking how great this song was going to be. I was going to ham it up. These barflies were going experience Broadway at the Ogden St. South! They would never be the same. At long last, Scooter called my stage name: Naomi W. Marshall, and I walked to the front in anticipation.

I'm not sure when exactly I realized that I had made a horrible error, but it must have been sometime in the 5 minute overture when everyone starred at me, wondering what the hell I was doing while I just stood there in panic. I realize now, that anytime you see the word "overture" on a karaoke screen, you should just bolt for the nearest exit. The song went very slowly and of course had a long interlude. I think that it must have been strangely entertaining for some, because while I stood there praying for everyone to ignore me and to just return to their conversations and drinks, everyone just seemed to stare at me dumbfounded. I believe at one point, I stopped singing and apologized to everyone in the bar for doing this.

At long last, at another pause in the song, I turned to Scooter and asked him to just put me out of my misery, which he did. With my Broadway dream in a shambles, I walked back to my table with everyone still looking confused. Brian then got up and sang "One Night in Bangkok," and was a hit and luckily took everyone's mind off my terrible flop.

I'm not sure why I always want to sing Musicals at karaoke, but I can't help myself. You'd think you could sing "Life is a Cabaret" in a bar, but you just can't and have it work. So, at the end of the night after longingly looking over the song list from Rent in the book, I resolved to stick to Mariah Carey - now, those are hits!

V for Vendetta

Good call, Jeff.

Yesterday as I hastily picked a title for my blog, I was thinking of the new movie coming out where Natalie Portman shaves her head, thinking it was called "The Libertine," and thinking what an appropriate title it was for my blog. Very proud of myself, I went home and was watching TV and the preview for "The Libertine" came on with Johnny Depp. Immediately, I realized my error. Of course the movie, I was thinking of was "V for Vendetta," but that doesn't work with my haircut story anyway. I'm surprised that Mike didn't figure it out, being the self-proclaimed movie god he is.

Speaking of movie expertise, and since we're just past Ocars, I thought I'd do a review of the latest movies I've seen. I'm sure this will bear a great amount of influence on whether or not you see these movies :)

King Arthur (I know it's old, but I just saw it) - Sucked it

Crash - Good

Brokeback Mountain - Great!

Corpse Bride - Sorta sucked it

The Exorcism of Emily Rose - Good

Saw II - Good

Pie - Sucked it

Rent - Pretty good, but the song about rent was really stupid

History of Violence - sucked it

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Great!

That's all I can remember for now.

The Libertine

Well, apparently my blog yesterday wasn't controversial enough for Mike to make a comment. You can imagine his disappointment when my blog didn't attack him. I'll try not to disappoint him in the future.

Anyway, yesterday I cut my hair the shortest I've had it since I was 5. In fact I think this is the haircut I had when I was five. It is now the same length as Brian's, but I flip mine out and the back is a little longer I think. Anyway, I went to Mike and Brian's house sporting my new do. Brian said he thought it was cute, which was an upgrade from last time's no comment. Mike, of course, said I looked like a (and used a derogatory term for a lesbian). Mom, be sure to add this to your list of reasons to lay the smack down on Mike.

Anyway, I feel like cutting my hair this short makes me feel more independent, more liberated. I told my supervisor that I was defying societal hair restraints. I made the mistake of telling Brian that my hair made me feel independent and now everytime he looks at me he tells me how independent I look.

As we discussed hair, I told my supervisor, Peggy, that I would shave my head if it was for a good cause, so now she is on a quest to find a cause for me to shave my head. Hopefully, she doesn't find any...

Mr. Cuddles and Sucka

What up?

So, Mike requested that I blog again, so that he would have an opportunity to leave long Naomi-bashing comments. So, not wanting to disappoint, here we go.

Last week Mike and Brian got a new addition to their family - Mr. Cuddles. Mr. Cuddles is a rather large Piranha. Mike and Brian spent a whole day getting Mr. Cuddles and then standing in front of the tank watching him and waiting for him to eat the gold fish that they had immediately dumped in his tank. The day after Mr. Cuddles moved in, there was a tragedy in the house. Sucka, Mike and Brian's Sucker fish committed suicide, as he was no longer able to stand the lack of attention he was getting with Mr. Cuddles there. Mike and Brian found Sucka on the carpet the next morning. RIP Sucka.

Much to Brian and Mike's dismay, Mr. Cuddles doesn't seem to want to eat when people are watching. So, naturally, they've decided to starve him for a week or so and then feed him so that he eats immediately in front of him. I though that was very nice.

Anyway, in my life, the Winter term is coming to an end, so I'll be a little less busy. I'm not teaching my ESL class for Focus Points anymore, which is a relief, but I think I will be teaching Effective Business Writing for University College this Spring. That should be interesting, as I'll be drawing on my experiences at Marshall and Associates for much of it. With a little less going on, I'll hopefully be able to follow through on my job applications, instead of just sending my cover letters and resumes into the application abyss. - Wish me luck!

In other news, (and yes I do consider my life events news) I think I'm going to be presenting my thesis research at the Rocky Mountain Communication Association Conference. Apparently the professor heading up the conference scheduling was very impressed by my paper submittal, so that's exciting for me.

The end of last week and this weekend were the School of Communication Summit, which I helped to organize and run and the IIC 10-year anniversary events, which I headed up. I'm sooo happy that it's over and everything managed to work out all right. I saw my thesis advisor, who came back from New Mexico University to attend the events and she kept urging me to apply for PhD programs. Apparently, an IIC student applied to the doctoral program and UNM and was one of seven students out of 70 applications offered a full ride to the program, with Mary Jane's (my advisor's) recommendation. So, I started thinking about applying - they have a really great Intercultural Communication program at UNM. Anyway, we'll see. If I'm still working random jobs this Fall, I think I will apply to PhD programs.

All righty, enough random thoughts for today. - peace out