Procrastinating

It's something I do often. I spend time online, watching youtube videos, reading posts on Entertainment Weekly's website, and pseudo-facebook stalking to avoid doing my homework. Such is the case tonight. (and yes, it has been forever since I've posted, but live with it. I've been either too busy or too lazy to post.)

Anyway, Thanksgiving was this weekend, and it was a fun weekend. Before I share my adventures, though, let me just say that Columbia needs to give us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off. I took the overnight bus home on Wednesday night, arriving on Thanksgiving morning, which was not cool. Now, I picked this particular bus because I thought I would have all my classes that day, and my last class, Biology of AIDS, ends at 6:20, so the 10:30 bus would've been the earliest option for me. As it turns out, we didn't have class that day for Biology, which was probably good, because no one would have wanted to be there. I realize that when I bought my bus ticket I could have just planned on skipping, but that class is not a good one to miss. Anyway, all this mess could've easily been avoided if Columbia would have just given us the day off. Is it really too much to ask? Let's look at how many days we get off. OUt of 30 weeks of class, we get a week for spring break and two days for Thanksgiving. We also have an extra long winter break, but even so, one more day is not going to end the world. Anyway. end of rant.

My long weekend was pretty busy. Obviously I had dinner with my family on Thursday, and it was delicious. I also watched the newest Star Trek movie with my sister, and it made my weekend (more on that in a bit). On Friday I had to go to the travel clinic at Park Nicollet to get shots for my trip to Africa. If you don't already know, me and my sister are going to Botswana in January to go on safari. I am only going because my sister works for a travel agency and we are getting SUPER good deals. Needless to say, I am super-psyched. However, getting five shots and having blood drawn does take its toll. I still have a bruise on my left arm from where they drew blood, and my left arm was so sore on Friday night that it hurt to lift it.

On Saturday I went to ballet, which was both fun and grueling. I loved getting to see everyone that I no longer dance with on a regular basis, but getting up for class at 9:00 in the morning is killer. After class, though, I always feel a great sense of accomplishment.

After ballet, my sister and I went shopping at the Mall of America. It went better than expected. I was nervous, considering we were going to a huge tourist destination, on a Saturday, on Thanksgiving weekend. And while the mall was busy and crowded, it wasn't unbearable, and we got some pretty sweet deals. Example: a buy one get one free deal on sweaters at the Gap. My sister and I were able to get super cute sweaters for twenty bucks a piece, whereas normally it would forty dollars for one. We also got to eat at the crepe place at the mall, which is always good. This place makes both dessert crepes, and crepes that are similar to sandwiches. It had been ages since I'd eaten there, and my pizza crepe did not disappoint.

That was about all I did. I mean, I hung out with my family and ate and watched TV and all (and catsat a super sweet kitty named Emmett, who I love even though he gave me an allergic reaction), but I only went out a few times. I am not the stay out late on a Saturday night kind of girl.

Anyway, going back to Star Trek. I freakin' loved that movie. I will admit, I can be a bit of a geek when it comes to movies. I love superhero movies, and always have. So I wasn't surprised to like Star Trek, but it's become a new favorite of mine. I thought the script was well-written and funny, and all the actors gave excellent performances. It was funny to see Eomer from LOTR (Karl Urban) as McCoy, and Zoe Saldana from Center Stage (and the first Pirates of the Caribbean) as Uhura. And Harold from Harold and Kumar (John Cho, I think is his name) as Sulu (he was also on How I Met Your Mother), although I have a special place in my heart for George Takei. I also thought that the Spock/Kirk relationship was excellent, and seeing Leonard Nimoy was awesome. Simon Pegg and Anton Yelchin were also great (as Scotty and Chekhov, respectively). I was just overall extremely pleased and excited by the movie. I especially loved the fight between Kirk and Spock, after Kirk gets up in Spock's face and Spock totally goes off on him, kicking ass and taking names. Great stuff. The movie also has an excellent blooper reel. I would say it was only pretty funny until I saw the last scene, and then it got amazing. If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

The other movie that I've wanted to see for a while, (and am still waiting to see, in this case) is Nine. Not 9, which is an animated movie about little puppet/doll things. Nine is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which is based on Fellini's film 8 1/2. It's about an Italian film director struggling to make a movie and deal with all the women in his life. I'll spare you the synopsis. I saw the teaser trailer a month or so ago, and have been hooked since. I consider it a good thing that I didn't see the teaser trailer when it originally debuted in May, because a six-month wait would have frustrated me to no end. And, lucky me, I got passes to a free screening next week.

Anyway, I think the main reason I'm excited is that I really like the musical. To be honest, I own the soundtrack (of the revival cast) and love it, and I've seen some videos of some of the performances on youtube, but I haven't actually seen the show. But even so, I think the movie will be excellent. The cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard (who I LOVE), Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Fergie. I'm most excited to see DDL and Marion Cotillard, because Cotillard is playing my favorite character. From all the early clips I've seen she looks amazing. The rest of the cast looks excellent as well.

So, here's hoping that next week I'll be able to say all the reasons I loved Nine.

Kirk out.