Lightning Bolt!

LARP, LARPing, LARPer...I really had no clue what these terms meant before last week.

Live

Action

Role

Play(ing)(er)

That's right...now I'm sure we've all heard of people playing Dungeons and Dragons and such, but I hadn't truly appreciated the 'Live Action' part of the whole ordeal until I saw this video (via YouTube):

...watch it again....and again...and again (like I have)

Oh 

My

Goodness

!!!

Now, are there rules to this type of thing? I mean can you just be like --"Invisibility Shield!"--and then just be immune to everything?

According to wikipedia:

A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world, while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules, or determined by consensus among players.

So, I guess if there are 'pre-determined' rules and outcomes then--"Invisibility Shield!"-- is out of the question.

And so I leave you with this:

"Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!"

New arrivals...really?

Inspired by Rachel's post on geezer trends for teens, I decided to share some fabulous* finds from payless.com

Ok, I know the whole gladiator look is in, but really Gladiator + 2nd grade easter shoes do not a fine pair make!

Polka dots? Awesome! Polka dots and Platform? Alliteration is not always your friend...and neither are these shoes.

I feel like this shoe is the rejected parts from other shoes. A braided band here, a striped cuff there, mix in cross straps and a stiletto and you get this terribly ugly, do not even think about wearing after or before labor day, horror of a shoe.

I feel like this shoe is what a peep-toe/kitten heel/nurse shoe would look like and I don't think they will be making an appearance in your local hospital anytime soon (or ever).

So what's up with the patent white leather-ish shoes? Am I totally missing something here?!?

 

I have nothing against Payless, I definitely enjoy the occasional trip, and its probably good it is occasional because I always walk away with something, including the time I bought 2 pairs of the exact same shoes in 2 different colors for $4 each...

*Fabulous: Fab-u-lous |ˈfabyələs| -- adjective, extraordinary, amazingly good.  A word that should NEVER be used to describe the shoes featured above. 

TV season has ended....so what's on?!?

Season finales have come and gone which leaves me with one question:

What's on TV?

(I know some [or all] of you might be thinking, its summer, shouldn't you be doing something outside instead of watching TV? And yes I should, but TV is my weakness, I love it, I love it, I love it!!!!)

So, now the answer to the question.

For Tuesday May 26, 2009 (according to EW.com) here is what America Watched:

Time	Show	Viewers (in Millions)
8 p.m.	NCIS (CBS) TV's 50 Funniest Phrases (NBC) House (Fox) According to Jim (ABC) Reaper (The CW)	12.2 (repeat) 6.6 4.2 (repeat) 3.9 2.2
8:30 p.m.	According to Jim (ABC)	3.6
9 p.m.	The Mentalist (CBS) Mental (Fox) Diamonds (ABC) Hitched or Ditched (The CW)	12.3 (repeat) 5.8 3.1 1.5
10 p.m.	Without a Trace (CBS) Law & Order: SVU (NBC)	9.6 (repeat) 6.4 (repeat)

What do I see here? Repeat, repeat, repeat.... BORING! (but mad props to CBS for pulling in 12.2 and 12.3 million people for repeats of both NCIS and The Mentalist.)

 I do have a theory though: Fox, NBC, and ABC all put shows online and CBS does not. I have cursed them many, many times for not doing so, but I guess if you can show repeats of shows and still pull in more viewers than the other networks combined, you are probably doing something right. 

So, what am I watching this summer?

The Bachelorette -- I think Jillian is wayyyy cute, however these guys are wayyyy weird, what is up with that?!?

So You Think You Can Dance -- (Its actually on right now as I type) I really enjoy this show, and if I remember correctly I tried doing pirouettes in my mom's living room  when the show premeired in 2005 and ended up twisting my ankle. [Have I mentioned that I took Ballet for a grade in college and got a B? I did, it was wayyy fun, but I think I was in it more for the legwarmers, which I sported daily]. Anyways, as much as I love the show, I HATE the beginning auditions, get to the choreographed routines already!!!!!

Wipeout -- So technically it is on right now as well, but I had a decision to make and SYTYCD ended up getting my vote. What can I say about this show? Giant Red Balls, that's it. Its hilarious, watch it when you need to laugh.

...and I'm thinking about checking out Fox's Mental. (I mean it only drew in 5.8 million on Tuesday, but hey, I like me some TV!)

Did I really just list 3 reality competitions? Yes, yes I did. That's how I roll in the summer. If evil Dick didn't win Big Brother 2 years ago, you can bet I would be DVR'ing it (if I owned  a DVR that is), but he did win  and I completely lost my faith in the show...but honestly, its Big Brother, its reality TV, its on 3 times a week, and you can watch 24/7, which is just way creepy so I think its ok that I'm not going to be tuning in this summer season. (unless they bring the guy back from Urbana, OH [close enough to my hometown], then I'd totally be down.)

And a special shout-out to my great friend Kris! Happy 24th, I know you'll always hold it against me that I'm 6 months older than you!!!

Now I'm off to drink some Oolong tea, my favorite! :)

Angels and Demons... x 2

So,

I know we (meaning I) have already discussed how my personal views of movies don't really carry any weight, however, I saw Angels and Demons not once, but twice this weekend.

(Image source)

It wasn't one of those, 'OMG, that movie was amazing, let's see it again!' type of deals but rather I went on Friday with my friends and then my mom came to visit (more on that tomorrow hopefully) and she had been dying to see it so we went to the cinema.

I like movies, I just do, however, Angels and Demons underwhelmed. I felt like you couldn't be part of the mystery because it all went too fast. 

It was definitely one of those times where I should have read the book before seeing the movie. Now, don't get me wrong, I liked it, I just think I would have liked it more if I have read a little Dan Brown before hand...and I really wanted to like it because I really, really enjoyed the Da Vinci Code.

This my friends is what you call a very pathetic movie review (get used to it)! :)

And you can bet I won't be doing that with 'My Sister's Keeper', I already have it on my library queue. 

The 'Why' Behind The Buckeye State Visit: A Visual Journey

Yes yes, I know, you were all eagerly awaiting this post: The reason behind my visit to Ohio, and really do I need a reason to visit my hometown? ....I think not! 

However, I've never gone home (from Grad. School to Ohio) without some reason:

November = My birthday and Thanksgiving

December/January = Christmas/New Years

May = 

1) Mother's Day

2) Sister's Birthday

3) Niece's Birthday

4) Garage Sale Day

(and obviously to spend as much time with my family and hometown friends as possible!!!!)

Hmmm...I hadn't really realized that before. I never go home 'just because', but really if I did go home some random weekend in say...September, my family would have to work, my friends in school (undergrad., grad., Law), or teaching school, would all have...well...school. So I guess its o.k. that I go home for reasons, because when I'm there....my people are there. Simple as that!

So without further ado I give you: Ohio In Pictures (with captions of course!)

So this picture would fall under the 'mother's day' realm. It was actually taken on Friday and not Sunday, but it was at the mother-daughter banquet hosted by my Mom's Church. Now this could be another post entirely, but the women always make/prepare food for the men on Father's day...however, a few WOMEN in the church make the food for the mother-daughter banquet and then the men just serve it. How this is fair, I haven't a clue, but I think that if they can't make the food they should at least have it catered! (And I'm pretty sure my mama would agree with me on that one!)

This is my sister (Emily) and my only Niece (Myla). Her birthday (my sister, not my niece) just happened to fall ON Mother's day this year and so it worked out quite well to be home! She is 2.5 years older than me, and while we are best friends, we are extreme opposites in many, many ways. (However, pop-culture is one passion we both share!)  [She was also featured 2 days ago in my 'why I love my hometown' post]. Happy Birthday sister...can you believe you are almost 30? You are getting so old! :)

Both of the above pictures were taken at the Columbus Zoo!  Part of my birthday gift to my niece was a family pass to the zoo! I figured that its probably going to be about the last time I could do something like that and she would be none the wiser. We had a BLAST! It was threatening to rain the ENTIRE time, but it only started down-pouring when we were headed for the exit. A baby elephant (Beco) was born about 2 months ago and so we got to see him with his mama as well!

Can you guess the theme of Myla's 2nd Birthday party?!?

...That's right, cupcakes! We had cupcakes, cupcake cones, and a giant cupcake cake! (I can only take responsibility for the cupcake cones, and though they are quite tasty, they are unbelievably easy to make!)

Here is the birthday girl (and my sister)! She was allowed to pick out which shoes she wanted to wear and she picked her blue rainboots which was actually genius for two reasons: 1) They totally matched her dress and 2) It was raining cats-and-dogs outside. Unfortunately, Aunt Laura was in charge of putting them on and 1) Forgot socks and 2) Put them on the wrong feet at first :( Oops!

Here I am with the Birthday girl! (Ignore the massive amounts of BBQ potato chip remnants one her face...SHE LOVED THEM). I cannot believe she is 2!!! She was born on May 16, 2007 which was a Wednesday and my finals week for my last quarter in college! Yes a lot has happened in my life in the last two years, but it is crazy to look at her and see all the milestones she has made (and continues to make) in her little life! :)

Here she is demonstrating her 'pretty smile' which basically consists of a huge cheesy grin and squinty eyes. I do love this picture though...you can see her new Little People farm and  her super-cool Bert and Ernie themed New Balance Tennis Shoes! Way too cute!

Her birthday just happened to fall Garage Sale day in West Liberty. Garage Sale day, say what?!?? Yes yes folks, there are 3ish events that people come to West Liberty, OH for:

1) Labor Day festival 

2) Christmas parade [which is actually held the day after Thanksgiving for some reason] 

3) Garage Sale day. 

According to the West Liberty historical website (Which I may add, I didn't even know existed) on  Thursday, May 13, 1880 the majority of the downtown business district [**Can I say, what downtown business district?!?!?**] you see today was lost to what will long be remembered as "the day of the fire". The blaze began in the stable of Mrs. Lyman Cook and soon spread to the main part of town [**Which is a grand total of 3 blocks**]. This event is remembered in May in West Liberty with a village wide garage sale and sidewalk sale, known as "The Annual Fire Sale".

Since it was raining, I didn't grab my camera...but let me tell you, I will totally bring it next year!!! ....there were many a sites to be seen:

a) lawn mowers with trailers attached hauling the owner's garage sale finds 

b) 4-wheelers doing the same thing [on the streets!!!], 

c) FAR FAR too many people with less than appropriate clothes on (or no clothes as was the case for some...).  

I was with my sister in the morning, and while she spent $27.00 and got a whole winter wardrobe for Myla (including an adorable unicorn Halloween costume with wings!) I got a Bratwurst and soda for a total of $2.50. 

Later in the day I met up with Ryan (one of my best friends from High school who just completed his 1st year of Law School!!) and ended up buying a hotdog and soda for a total of $2.50.

Yeah, I totally sucked at Garage Sale Day this year, but since my suitcase was already at 40 of the 50 lbs. weight limit, I wasn't really looking too hard!

Star Trek

So I know I promised a post on the why I was visiting Ohio, but I just had to say that while I was home, I had the immense pleasure of seeing the new Star Trek movie with two of my very best friends.

I.

LOVED.

IT.

J.J. Abrams, you continue to do right by me. I am by no means a trekkie (I did however used to watch Next Generation religiously) and you don't have to be to enjoy this movie. Sci-Fi, action, romance, good looking actors...it's all there.

Wow, when Leonard Nemoy appeared my little heart almost burst with joy. There is even a little chemistry in the beginning during the Vulcan school-session-thingy (I'm sure that is the correct title of it too).

...and can we talk about Chris Pine for a second? Ooh baby, he is good looking, he could save me from the Romulans anytime. 

(image source)

[*Disclaimer*]: I LOVE movies. I love to go to the movies, I love to watch movies at home, I just flat out love movies, old ones, new ones, bad ones....you name it. If I haven't heard that its awful, chances are I'll be down for seeing it. My opinion on them probably isn't the greatest. I don't have any great insight into the character development or internal struggles or such, but man I sure do love to watch them.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder <3

So, sorry for the long-period-of-no-posting:

I was on vacay in the wonderful state of Ohio (I will do another post on why I was visiting tomorrow)! Specifically, Logan County, Ohio, which lays claim to my hometown which is actually a village, the village of  West Liberty (population = 1738 [as of July 2007]).

Let me just say that, I LOOOOVEEE my hometown, our relationship has never faltered, ever.

Why is West Liberty such an amazing homevillage?

1) 1st and foremost, Marie's Candies. Best Candy Ever.

(and my sister has worked there for ~9 years)

www.mariescandies.com

Go there, check it out. Some of my favorites include peanutbutter fancies, dutch treats, chocolate-covered rice krispy treats, and chocolate-covered strawberries.

That is my sister in the middle, some hard candy (I think) making on the left, and yummy chocolate covered oreos on the right.

2) The LGP (Liberty Gathering Place)

A hometown farmers diner with hearty meals for local people. 

I worked here for 8 years, yes yes that is right 8 years. I started when I was a freshman in highschool and then worked some weekends throughout college. 

They serve a mean hamloaf, tenderloin sandwich (grilled or fried) and some of the best homefries you've ever had!

I would have to say the rest of my list would go something like this:

3) West Liberty-Salem highschool, home of the tigers, my graduating class = 70ish. It is literally in the middle of a cornfield, and you know EVERYONE'S business which can be bad, but sometimes very, very juicy!

4) The Ice Cream Parlor, literally, that is its name! And...it was my first job the summer before my freshman year of highschool at the ripe age of 14 and a half (I had to get a work permit). I don't think I have ever eaten so much ice cream, but it was good because I discovered some flavors that I probably wouldn't have liked/tried other wise such as Butter Pecan (which is what ALL OF THE OLD PEOPLE CHOSE) and Blueberry cheesecake wafflecone. My all time favorite though  was (and still is) Peanut butter cup!!!

5) and 6) The Ohio Caverns and Piatt Castles. They are landmarks just outside of town (still within West Liberty limits however). I haven't been to either of them in a very, very long time, but 2 of my BEST BEST BEST friends live within half a mile of the castles and so whenever I'm home I get to drive by.

I think that is my 'Top 6' places to see in West Liberty (with an alternate being the former Tastee-Freeze now called Good-Eats 'N Treats).

Oh West Liberty, how I would like to grow old within your city limits, but alas, there is no need for a chemist within Logan County, therefore I will rely on my family and friends to STAY-PUT so I can always visit.

Home definitely is where the heart is!

:)

In other news.

ALL OF MY SHOWS HAVE ENDED FOR THE SEASON AND I'M FREAKING OUT (whew, glad I got that one out). Literally though, what is there to watch?!? 

Today is Wednesday which normally means LOST, LOST, LOST, but NOOoooOOO,  no LOST tonight :(

Good thing reality summer programming is setting in this week:

The Bachelorette (That Jillian, she sure is cute...but what is with all the weirdos? I mean seriously a break-dance instructor and a guy with a wee bit of a foot fetish?!?

So You Think You Can Dance premieres THIS WEEK!!!! I looove this show, however, multiple nights of programming a week  is not conducive to Laura getting to watch all of it (HINT HINT Fox, put it online!)

...and a show that is always good for a laugh: WipeOut, yes yes, it can be ridiculously stupid, but it is so funny and I almost pee my pants watching it, almost

I think that is all!

Have a great Wednesday!

Science Consultant? [CHECK] yes please!!!

So people ask me (especially when I'm home in Ohio) what I want to do with my life once I'm done with graduate school. I always give the same type of response "Well...Idk, not teach right away" and then go onto say something about industry and possibly the government, but I had an epiphany today:

I want to be a Science Consultant for television/film

(How one goes about doing this, I have not a clue...but I am willing to learn)

Now you might ask yourself, how is she qualified? And I would have to say that, maybe I'm not quite qualified yet, but I could give a pointer or two:

Case in point my newest addiction: Fringe (Fox, Tuesdays @ 9 pm)

For any non-chemistry people out there (my mom), this is a rotary evaporator, but this is not how you use it.  (See this is where I could help).

Google tells me the science consultants are Rob Chiapetta and Glen Whitman and let me tell these two do a fine job, but if anyone knows how to contact them comment away (below). I am close to Boston (where I believe filming takes place) and would be so excited I'd probably pee my pants (which probably won't go over too well)

25 years....that's like a 1/4 of a century!

Kris's parents had their 25th anniversary celebration not too long ago...and it was AWESOME! Kris did an AMAZING job planning it and making sure everything went smooth, smooth, smooth. 

• The food? Fabulous
• The wedding video? Flashback to 1984 complete with purple poofy bridesmaid dresses
• The weather? GORGEOUS

It really couldn't have been better!  

Since 25 is the "silver" anniversary Kris and I silvered some bottles a couple of weeks before with Tollen's silvering reagent (they turned out so cool!)

The venue:

The food (some of it):

A shot with the amazing hostess:

And the best of all...A still from the wedding video:

 

An Ode to Sheena...

Our beloved undergrad Sheena is graduating in a few weeks, and so this post is dedicated to her. 

Oh Sheena, how two people could ever have the EXACT same taste in TV/Movies is beyond me, but I will certainly miss you coming into lab saying "Did you watch ____ last night?" with ____ being filled in with LOST, Fringe, DWTS, or AI (and "High School Musical: Get in the Picture", yes, we both watched it!) 

I'm glad you took my (and others) advice to read Twilight and then fearing the movie would be all out at Blockbuster renting it on demand, watching it twice, and then buying it for real the same week. 

What other college senior throws an HSM3 sing-a-long to commemerate the video release? Yes, that would be Sheena.

Congratulations on your Graduation!!!!

Sheena getting ready for her presentation

Opening her HSM card with Dharma logo drawn on that sang "You are the Music in Me"

(perfect for gradation?...not so much, but those cards were boring)

Champagne to celebrate!

And after the celebration (complete with ice-cream cake) we talked about new LOST theories,  looked up Dharma patches and jumpsuits ($7 and $90 respectively), followed by DWTS and SYTYCD videos on YouTube.

Needless to say it was a fun day, and I'm totally going to miss you!

*PS, for anyone who is wondering, she did real lab work too, we didn't just talk about TV all the time*