This weekend we covered a lot of ground.

On Friday for the short day, I went to get a haircut. It looked good for about 2 hours. It looks fine now, but I just can't get my hair to do what I want it to do. I went shopping for makeup supplies, got some tofu sukiyaki, and watched soccer with Pip all afternoon. I can't remember what we did that night. Probably shopping or eating out.

Saturday I worked out with Ruth, went back to bed, got up around noon, and worked on cleaning the house for company. Becky was visiting from AZ, so we had her and Kristen over to chat. My sister came over too, and we all watched soccer and the season finale of The Office. For dinner, we went to the Olive Garden with Josh and Wendy and Connor, then we went to the Neal's house to hang out a while. After THAT, we went to Brendan's housewarming party in Anaheim. It was a fun night out. Brendan and his friends have a sweet place, but I guess some friends of their friends aren't so cool, because it turned out someone stole some of Gron's stuff. Not cool.

Sunday we went to church where we met up with Judi and Ralph. Then we did some shopping, had some KFC, and came home to veg. I watched a bunch of soccer, and then we went out to see The Inconvenient Truth (review to come).

Lots of stuff. Lots of good stuff. Anyway. That's the wrap-up. Good times.

Some you'll care about, and some you won't, but I've added tons of photos from May and a couple from June to the gallery. May includes my hairdresser's bridal shower, work birthday and graduation celebrations, a tea lunch at work, mother's day, Jon's birthday, Meat Day, the Mini, Pip, and our entire set of photos from Camp Nelson.. Phew! Loads of stuff.

Wildstorm has announced the release of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier. This time around Alan Moore is has foregone the single issue installments and is instead releasing the comic as an original graphic novel. According to the release information, the volume reveals a lot about the history of the League, and includes:

A "Tijuana Bible" insert and a 3-D section complete with custom glasses, as well as additional text pieces, maps, and a stunning cutaway double-page spread of Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine by Kevin O'Neill.

This one sounds like a lot of fun. I can’t wait until it comes out!

Last Thursday night the Fox Fullerton had another Movies at the Fox event, where the audience sets up in the parking lot behind the theater and they project a movie on the back wall of the theater. This month's selection was Jaws. This experience wasn't as good as the last couple I had going to this event because the fundraising staff just wastes way too much time. First of all, they said the show started at 8. Actually, they chose to do this on the second longest day of the year, so they had to wait for the sun to go down before they even began the pre-movie entertainment.

They started around 8:30 and showed us a documentary short on Fullerton women who went to work during WWII. Touching, yes, but a time killer since they were already half an hour behind. Then they had a raffle giveaway. Then they asked everyone to donate money. Then they babbled a bit. (By the way, a professional emcee would be a good idea for next time.) FINALLY the show was starting around 9, an hour behind schedule, and it began with a Baby Huey cartoon that was a lot funnier when I was younger. I never realized how annoying he was. It was already getting cold at nine, and those of us who came early for decent seats had already been sitting there for over an hour and a half. MEH!

On to the show. I had actually never seen Jaws, so this was a perfect way to see it, in the summer, on the "big screen", and with a responsive audience.

I really liked the movie. What really attracted me to it was the sense of humor that showed up in the middle of such a weird situation. Sometimes all people can do is laugh when faced with the absurd, the humor seemed right at home, and it also provided a lot of tension relief that made the scary moments even more effective. The only thing I thought a bit weird were the moments of unrealistic long laughs, especially from Richard Dreyfuss.

Jaws is very well paced. It doesn't hurry to give us the sensational moments, but provides us with just enough scare to keep us going all throughout. Spielberg keeps a very even flow, always quite calm, and I liked that. The famous scene where Schneider says "We're gonna need a bigger boat" is a great example of that - this massive shark rears its ugly head right at him, but the scene remains relatively quiet, and he merely backs into the cabin to tell the others. I loved that.

The movie succeeds in freaking us out by the end. The final battle with the shark was able to make me react with a few "ewwww!"s. It's impressive to me that the movie can provide that scare/grossout effect for a new audience, even 30 years after it was first released.

I did get a little bit confused with the Dreyfuss cage scene. With the blood in the water around the cage, I assumed he was wounded, so I was surprised to see him without a scratch at the end of the movie.

All in all, very entertaining and well-made, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it!

So, our bad luck summer continues. Let's recap:

• no internship for Lucas
• digital camera stolen
• Kelly's continued battle with her teeth is dealt a crushing blow and the dentist goes to town in her mouth
• $500 car repair only to discover another $1300 is needed (the car is far from worth it)

Yesterday, we went to get an oil change and tire rotation for the other car. It turns out that two tires were on their last legs, so they were replaced. Expected expense for oil change and tire rotation: $40. Actual cost when all was said and done: $240. Eek.

Also, if you'll remember, Kelly went to Omaha two weeks ago, a couple of days before I headed out there. We have been going to the gym everyday, so I went by myself on that Thursday and played basketball instead of lifting weights. In pick-up game #2, my knee decided that it would retire after a scant 25 years on the job. I crashed to the ground after a rebound. There was a bit of yelling, paramedics came, and the knee ballooned up good. I saw a doctor the next day who gave me crutches, a brace, and crazy huge ibuprofren pills. I checked back in a week after some swelling had gone down and there was no new news. On Monday I saw an orthopedist at the university. The verdict? Torn ACL, sprained MCL, undecided on if there was any meniscus injury. Physical therapy begins tomorrow and I will hopefully get the full range of motion back so that I don't wince every time my leg bends too far. Surgery looks likely, but it doesn't look fun. What was fun, aside from the underarm chafing, was crutches (which I'm off of now). Because of them I was able to rock the electric cart at the airport and had an excuse to not move from the couch during the World Cup.

So, we are hoping that to trade in Bad Luck June 2006 (BLJ06) for an awesome June in 2007, seeing as how I will be needing a job and such.

Here's to a better July!



P.S. If there is one sport I feel that I could truly excel at, it's kickball. Yet, because of the knee, I've been placed on the DL for the remainder of our summer league season. Instead, I've taken on the task of training Kelly, who will undoubtedly emerge as a star.

So OSU won the Baseball National championship. It was awesome.

The end.