Ghouls

Halloween is coming up, so here are some scary movies to watch out for:

The Uninvited

I like her and all, but Elizabeth Banks is in EVERYTHING. David Strathairn is my best friend, though. AND, we've got a GG alum in this flick (Gilmore Girls, for those of you reading this who aren't Kate)--Arielle Kebbel, aka "Lindsay" the girl who married Dean after Rory dumped him for Jess...and who Dean later divorced after having cheated on her with Rory.

Friday the 13th

Finally, a remake of this! Let's hope it's good. Jared Padelecki as the main star in this makes me a bit nervous. I mean, I love you Dean, but the last horror movie you did was House of Wax. Friday the 13th is beloved, so let's not mess it up!

The Haunting in Connecticut

This horror movie has it all--the unassuming "innocent" family who "doesn't deserve this," a fridge full of rotten food, scary birds, a hatchet, ghosts, seances (what do you MEAN they had SEANCES in this house?! We're MOVING!), girls getting caught in the shower curtain, and Elias Koteas. What more could we want?

Rumors

Something that I have learned about people: they like to say things.

It doesn't matter if what they're saying is correct, just so long as they get a chance to say it.

The accelerated 2nd degree BSN (bachelor of science, nursing) program that I am attempting to get into is very competitive. They only let in 50 kids per semester. And, it is merit-based, meaning that if you finish the prerequisite classes, but only with the bare minimum GPA that you need in order to be eligible for acceptance, you are not guaranteed a spot in the program. This makes kids very cutthroat. It also makes them say things. For example:

"I heard they've already filled the year 2009, and now they're admitting kids to Fall of 2010."

"Well I heard they've already filled 2010, and now they're admitting for 2011."

"I heard you get in right away if you're double-jointed."

"I heard they only admit vegetarians."

These rumors extend way beyond just the likelihood of getting into the accelerated BSN program. People also like to say things about our teachers and the classes we're required to take. For example:

"I know for a fact that she puts trick questions on the tests."

"I heard he grades his tests at the bar."

"I heard you only get an A if you go to office hours every day."

"Well I heard only redheads get As, and then only if they know how to ride a unicycle."

Today in Chemistry, the shit hit the fan. Turns out there was some kind of technical malfunction that happened when our scantrons from the first exam were fed into the machine. The answer key was incorrect or something. So, kids ended up getting lower grades than they should've. We knew how many questions we'd gotten wrong, because our teacher had gone over the answers with us in class prior to feeding our scantrons in the machine. SO, when the scantrons came back all messed up, our teacher said he'd figured out a way to ensure everyone got the scored they deserved (if not an even better score than they deserved). He would add 10 points to each person's score, since 3 questions were off on the answer key given to the scantron machine (the scantron machine had different answers than the correct answers for those 3 questions, so everyone who actually answered them correctly got them wrong). So if you got 100% it would say on your scantron that you got a 91% (33 questions on the test, 3 pts per question, and 1 bonus point). BUT, some overachiever girl raised her hand and complained that "people who had actually gotten 91% originally would now have 100% with the added 10 points," and she "didn't think that was fair." Her 100% would be in-tact, but she didn't like the fact that maybe people who had legitimately answered incorrectly one or all of the 3 questions "in question" were now getting a free ride. The teacher told her to be nice and get over it.

BUT, rumor has it:

"Now he's not giving anyone those 10 points, because of that one girl!"

"He's just going to throw out the first exam entirely and our grades will be averaged from the next 3 exams!"

"He's just counting those 3 problems as wrong, even if you got them right."

Ugh. I can hardly stand it. I should've had a 98% on the test. I only got one wrong. But if I have to take a 90 or 91% at this point, I will. Hey, an A is an A. I can't help but think a lot of these problems could be avoided if people would just resist the urge to "say things."

Creepy Fingers

I am ashamed of myself. I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I'm about to cry. But maybe I'm just feeling melancholy because I'm listening to instrumental folk music on Pandora right now. I can't think well enough to put my thoughts into sentences, so I'm just going to make a list:

1. The new Dane Cook movie is good. I don't care if you don't like him. He's special, and this is my blog and I can say what I want. And I love him.

2. Ricky Gervais is my hero. His new movie Ghost Town is a gem.

3. Beverly Hills Chihuahua comes out this weekend! Lets just be thankful that in these trying economic times we have a movie about talking dogs to go blow 10 or 20 bucks on.

4. I would rather eat vulture vomit than watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua

5. But that is a funny title. You can use it from now on when you're trying to describe the worst night ever, as in: "He made me eat sauerkraut and then we watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

6. I just sneezed twice. If you'd seen Ghost Town, you'd get it.

7. I taught myself how to knit, but now I am struggling with the notion that it is an "old person's hobby."

8. If you're not watching the New Adventure's of Old Christine, you should be.

9. If you're not listening to the This American Life or the Creative Screenwriting Magazine podcast, you should be.

10. I desperately want to go to Scotland...or Ireland....or somewhere with "land" in the title. Because when you end a word with "land," it automatically sounds magical...like a place where I might be able to meet a half-man-half-fawn, like Mr. Tumnus. Don't you think Americaland sounds better than America? In America we've got high gas prices and school shootings. But in Americaland, we have princesses and horses with rainbow manes and sidewalks made of marshmallow peeps.

11. Christmas is coming.

12. When someone fast-forwards too fast (or too slow), they've got "creepy fingers"