First week: DONE

Despite cravings for sandwiches and chocolate, I have made it through the first week of this infernal diet. My outlook for the second week is good because I went to the grocery store today and bought some damn fine hummus.

It's the little things really.

I've also decided I'm going to start eating the dinner meal for lunch and vice versa because I find myself not all that hungry at night, plus...I don't eat dinner until late, and I feel bad eating a big meal at 9 o'clock at night. Today was the trial run of this and I feel like I've made the right choice. A bigger lunch makes me less snack-y right before bed. Not sure how that works.

Today I got into a fight with the faucet on my bathtub. I won. The cheap fixture that probably hasn't been replaced since my parents bought the house crapped out and I replaced it. WD-40 is my new best friend, because there's no way in hell I would've been able to take out the old part without it. Tomorrow Shelby and I are going to replace a toilet. As unhappy as I may be with the prospect of how foul this job could turn out to be, I'm excited to get to work with hands and do some home maintenance. I'm tempted to buy a tool belt (that I'd never use).

Seems like it's been a few days of needing physical strength. Changed the oil on my car the day before yesterday and since that hasn't been done in a year or more due to my car not being on the running side of things, it was particularly difficult to remove the plug on the oil pan, and the filter was so glued on I had to break out an awl and drive it into the filter so I could use it to wrench the silly thing off. Felt good getting my hands dirty, even if I did do the whole thing wearing my new hippie dress. And without chipping my newly-manicured nails.

I got the first book for my dissertation research today too. Exciting stuff. It's massive and reminiscent of a textbook, but seeing as how it's probably going to be the backbone of my research, I am geekily thrilled to dive into it. Unfortunately, before I can do that I have to write the two portfolios that I have to hand in at the end of the month.

I'm going to a Green Day concert this week. I think. With my mom. Cracks me up though... wanted nothing more than to go to one of their shows when I was a teenager and really into pop punk, and now I listen to my old pop punk stuff for a bit of nostalgia and I'm going to a Green Day concert with my mom (who claims to have always been a fan.... though to be fair she's the one that bought Dookie for me, completely unasked, when I was still really into grunge). I've seen them once before, on the second round of their American Idiot tour, and I remember being annoyed at how young the audience was, since it appeared that most of them had been in kindergarten when Dookie was released.

Anyway. I'm excited to go to what will be the last event of what has turned out to be a concert summer. I've seen more this year than any year previous, and they've all been in the course of less than two months. Wacky. And none of the three are new acts. New Kids and Huey Lewis were from my childhood, and Green Day is from my adolescence. Bit of a trip, really.

I couldn't sleep last night so I watched movies. Starting with 17 Again. And lord help me, but Zac Efron is all kinds of crazy hot. Man. I hope he never does anything besides cheesy stuff meant to pack girls into theaters, because if it turns out he can actually act as well. Lordy. Don't know if I could handle having an acting crush on somebody who is also that blisteringly good-looking. Even if he does have narrow shoulders.

But I did enjoy 17 Again. Mainly because Lt. Dangle plays a rich nerd who has a speeder bed and several toy lightsabers. God knows I'm a sucker for Star Wars nerd jokes. And there were Lord of the Rings jokes too. Magnificent.

Then I had to watch Hairspray. Yes. There was a theme developing with my movie choices. For the most part, I did not like Hairspray. The original was okay, but turning it into a musical completely killed it for me. And what the hell? Who decided to turn a John Waters movie into a musical? Although, should they ever decide to do the same for Pecker, I'm there.

But I will say I fell a little in love with James Marsden as Corny Collins. He nailed that role with that fantastic smarmy grin of his. Heart.

Finally, I watched Junebug, which has been sitting on my computer for a while, just hadn't gotten around to watching it. Downloaded it because Amy Adams is in it, and as much as I want to her play something besides a wide-eyed innocent, I can't help but admit she's real damn good at it. And a southern accent suits her just fine. Didn't really like it though due to a weird sex scene, an even weirder masturbation scene, a racist artist who liked painting comical penises on the men in his artwork, and the fact that Natasha from Bridget Jones was the main character. Blech.

Ho-hum. Peanut attacked and killed my fan, so it's hot in my room right now. I can't decide whether to start my R-Patts mini-filmfest or play Total War. Probably R-Patts. Need to see whether or not he can actually act. And I want to see what all the fuss was about with him in that Dali movie.