The thing that scared me the most were her eyebrows

In October I abandon my regular queue of movies and TV shows on Netflix and move all of the horror films I haven't seen yet to the top. I just finished one last night, a 1977 Italian film called Suspiria. I learned about it through Apartment Therapy, when they were commenting on the vivid interiors displayed in the film.

It looked pretty freaky, and seems to rank favorably on the scariest films lists I've read, so I took it to Fresno last weekend so I wouldn't have to watch it alone. Adam didn't particularly want to see it, and as if in protective defiance, his computer wouldn't read the disc to save him from having nightmares. So I took it home and watched it over the week, falling asleep twice, but not failing to be at least marginally creeped out.

The plot follows a weird American dancer going to a prestigious dance school in Germany that turns out to be run by a coven of witches. There are some brutal murders set to an even more brutal soundtrack by an Italian rock band named Goblin. According to wiki, the soundtrack is considered a "masterpiece", has been used in a number of Hoong Kong films, and has been sampled by the likes of Ghostface Killah. It sounds like people that want to scare and murder you screaming over throbbing, thrashing background music.

The thing that stands out the most besides the soundtrack was the creepy seventies actors and the gross-out killings, which looked pretty fake, especially with the technicolor blood. It was still a pretty fun watch for anyone who likes scary movies. I'm not so into the gory ones, but this being way old school made it more camp than sick.

What I did on my day off

Well, I started writing this post and found it really boring, so I deleted four paragraphs of snoose-worthy details about refrigerator contents and sore-ish leg muscles. The short version is I did chores and cleaning, ran errands on foot, and then went to (our new!) Whole Foods for lunch.

Later that night I went to pub quiz and we sucked it up pretty bad, but I did get one guess right and that's always cool.

I probably shouldn't let my self esteem get tied up in this

But I have played over 10 games of Spider Solitaire, and haven't gotten close to winning one.

Ugh!

It would be way funnier as Thaco Thursday

Tonight some friends and I went to a new place downtown called Chino's Rock & Tacos, or something like that. Downtown is notorious for restaurant turnover since the rents are so high and it's usually only the long-established places that can stay in business for a substantial period of time.

So, this new place has weeknight deals like tonight's taco Tuesday, which was offering $1 tacos (chicken and beef - or beans for the veggies) and $2 bottles of beer. I got one taco of each meat substance, a side of sour cream, and a Corona for $4.84 (or something under $5, I can't actually remember the total). This was before I got my second beer. They also gave your table a basket of chips with salsa. Not bad for dinner out with drinks on State Street.

The tacos were pretty good - all crispy shelled, which I like, and juicy, flavorful meat. The beef was shredded, not ground, which is a bonus if you ask me. There was lots of lettuce and cheese, and bottles of Tapatio on the table to boot. I found the salsa to be too mild for my liking, and don't particularly care for Tapatio - too vinegary. I wanted hotter salsa, or maybe a salsa bar, and different hot sauce.

One of my friends got there late, and as a vegetarian, ordered the bean, rice, and cheese burrito, not knowing she could get bean tacos. They made it wet style, with a healthy pour of enchilada sauce and melted cheese on top. It looked really delicious, and I probably could have eaten it after my two tacos and chips (but didn't) and - happy story - they have a special on Wednesdays for $2 bean, cheese and rice burritos and $1 drafts. Woo-ee.

Maybe I secretly want to get it

My roommate went home this past weekend for some fundraising following a horrific death in her extended family, and came back lat Sunday night. I hung out with her for some of the evening last night, watching TV and catching up on our weekends. Today she woke up with a sore throat and found out her brother, who had also been there last weekend, now has swine flu. Oh. Shit.

I sneezed twice today and remember doing it at least once last night. I feel light headed and tired. Am I getting it too, or having hypochondriac reactions to the swine flu hysteria? Or am I really experiencing these symptoms and wrongfully subscribing it to the flu when really, it's stress?

Is it strange that I think puking for a couple of days will help me get back on track with eating before the holiday season starts? Because I really don't want to have to buy new fat girl pants before the eating actually begins. Instead I'll tell people it's because I want to get the antibodies before this thing mutates.

Blegh

Exhausted, confused, intimidated, overwhelmed, freaked-out...these are the things I am feeling right now.

I feel like I need help, but I don't know if this is something I can ask for help on. Here's hoping I can figure this shit out. Scary.

This is what it looks like most days. Thank you Kate Moss.

Today I took special pains to do my hair in a style that would look like I rolled out of bed, took a shower, air-dried my hair, and didn't brush it. Looks pretty realistic, I think. The way I did it was, roll out of bed, washed my hair, and let it air dry without brushing it.

Also, here is a funny picture I took of the Beepsman with my phone last night, mid yawn.

Look at those little white rabbit feet! I just want to chop them off and put them on my key chain!

Best Passive Agressive Note ever

Pbbtttthhhh, brain fart!

Today I had a grad student in my office asking about a reimbursement I processed for him that should have been delivered by now. He said he does not receive direct deposit, so the check would have been mailed to him, but hasn't been in his mail box. I asked if that was how he received his paychecks, but it is not - he picks them up from a lady in the office. I decide to call the lady to see if by chance the reimbursement check went to her.

She has the same first name and same last initial as another woman who works on campus, and just recently moved to our dept. I couldn't find her name on the list of staff, and thought it would be easy to call the woman who sits across the hall from her, who is my friend (in work terms at least), and see if she knows the extension.

She repeats the name to me, with a hint of something I couldn't determine in her voice. "Yeah", I say, and listen as she seems to take a while. "Oh my god", I say, "Are you looking it up on the computer?" Feeling like an asshole, like why didn't I just do that? And she giggles in good humor and says she is, and then repeats the name and lists the department which is not ours. And I am confused for a second and say, "No... In our department", which is where I realized I just called my coworker and asked her to be my 411 bitch AND gave her the wrong name of the person I was looking for.

And it turns out, the person was on our list the whole time, I was just looking for the wrong last name. So I repeatedly apologized and called myself stupid for the next few minutes for being dumb, AND an asshole.

Guilty Confession

I love the Road Rules/Real World challenges on MTV. Love them! I love seeing the crazy challenges they are forced to do, and especially love when the girls get scared of heights or water and start crying and pissing off their team mates. I hate how stupid and mean and out of control a lot of the participants are, and love it when they eventually get their due.

I remember a few years back, when Veronica and Rachel were the unstoppable duo, I hated their mean girl guts vehemently. There seemed to be no way around their cunning and scheming, and besides which, they were good competitors. It's hilarious to me that now Veronica is back, with no evil schemer to side with her, and grasping at straws (and ball sacks) to get on the good side of the pack leaders. So long Veronica, I had not a trace of pity for you when you felt "left out" and expendable. You've had that coming for a while now. Funny too that she was ousted by the same person who ousted her former bosom buddy Rachel in the last Challenge, Kelly Anne. Pretty, funny, little-bucket-of-hay-for-brains Kelly Anne. And oh my god, you have the worst boob job ever.

The best moment so far was when skinny country boy Cohutta ousted big bad Wes from the ruins, he being Kelly-Anne's new boyfriend (Cohutta being her ex), and more testament to her dumbness. Wes slayed through a slew of ruins competitions that he was mercilessly thrown into by his teammates, and this time, it was he who chose Cohutta, his girlfriend's skinny, countrified ex ("Baby, wouldn't you rather it be me who sends him home over any one else?" As if it was a magnanimous mercy killing). Oh man, it was priceless. Because Wes, he's a dick. There's nothing worse than a self-important tool who preaches morality and is himself a big ol' pork chop -o-meanness.

Good stuff, and makes the next-day viewing of Top Chef on the divo that much more delicious. Yay, no commercials!

How I was in a bad mood and in no mood for stupid

Today on my lunch walk two girls were sitting on the landing of the stairs that lead from the bluff down to the beach. They are the only such stairs down from the bluff to the beach, the only other options are walking down the slopes a quarter mile in either direction to reach it. Still, they seemed incredibly surprised that someone might be coming down those steps at ten minutes after noon, the lunch hour, and both jumped to hide the pipe they had just toked up on.

Come on, bitches. You hid that thing as I got to the bottom - you don't think I saw the lighting of the pipe and the passing of the bud from the top of the staircases? Never mind the big cloud of smoke I breathed as I passed through their little smoke bubble. Then the one who had been tossed the pipe dropped it onto the wooden platform, making a loud "donk" as it hit, and hid the pipe under her legs, pretending to inspect her phone. You might be high, but are you that stupid?

I don't give a shit about you smoking, but if you're going to be so jumpy about it, why do it in such a public and accessible place at a time of day when most people are going to be away from their desks or classrooms? Go around the bluff and smoke on the beach, under the cliffs. Morons.

Thinking my next post will be a list of restaurants I want to go to before I die or leave town

A few weeks ago my friend Jenny took us out to dinner at a new place in town that she got a GC for from her boss. I was surprised and delighted, thinking she'd take her boyfriend, and excited since it was a place we both had been wanting to try.

The restaurant is called Jane, and sits in one of the beautiful two-story older stone buildings along State Street. This particular one has a balcony overlooking the street with little balconettes (assuming that's not just a name for a Victoria's Secret bra) in which you can sit and enjoy your meal and view below.

We asked to sit upstairs, and were obliged - though in the back of the building and not with a window or view, but overlooking the bottom stairs of the restaurant. The restaurant theme is a kind of California fusion, and the decor was French vintage with contemporary touches.

With $75 to blow, we ordered an appetizer to split, one main course each, and a glass of wine each. This put us slightly over, by 4 cents plus the tip. Here are some lovely food-porny pictures I took:

This is the appetizer we shared, goat cheese pancake with smoked salmon, creme fresh and caviar. This was quite good, even though sometimes smoked salmon is a little too fishy for me.

My main course was a spicy clam linguine. I have been craving this for a while since I got it at a Christmas dinner party at an Italian restaurant a few years back. I never think I like white wine sauces, but the red pepper flakes really kick up the flavor, and I like everything that is spicy. For me, this dish was too salty. And I love me some salt. I was disappointed in that I didn't even want to dip my bread into the leftover sauce at the bottom of the noodles. If you're going to eat a saucy pasta dish, the best part is sopping it up with your bread at the end.

Jenny got the pork tenderloin meal and seemed to enjoy it a great deal. I think we both wished we had gone with their gourmet burgers though - they looked delicious and huge, and at a lower price than the other main courses, we probably could have afforded dessert too. But who wants a burger when there are other fancy things to try?!

Here are my discarded clam shells.

All in all, it was fun to go try a new restaurant, and Santa Barbara always has new independently owned places popping up that I am dying to try and either can't afford it when I think of it, or don't think of it when I can. I would definitely go back to this restaurant to try something new, but I probably wouldn't chose it over similarly themed/priced restaurants (such as Opal - yum).

As it stands, my favorite thing was the bread and butter, which is often my favorite part of a meal, and one of my most favorite things to eat in the world.