i'm batman

So I went to Paris (Texas) yesterday and ended up doing some shopping. I bought some new jeans and a few shirts, a new purse (it's purple and spiffy~) and I ended up getting my 2010 calendar. I went with The Beatles over House this time... mostly because I couldn't find a House one at Hastings. It has some nice pictures of the early Beatles with a few from later on for the last couple of months. I just like that it has the spiff umbrella picture for May.

We're going to Texarkana tomorrow to go shoe shopping since the shoe stores in Paris suck.

I only have class three days this week, but I think I'm gonna try and work on Thursday and Friday just for the extra hours on my paycheck.

I've also go to go to Oklahoma City on the 19 and 20 for the state BPA Fall Conference. I'm kind of excited about going since there's going to a kind of small group and I really like just about everyone that's going. Plus it means more shopping~.

I've been trying to work on my Christmas list, but all I have so far is an iPod dock with an alarm clock and The Beatles Remastered Box Set... and that's about it. There's not really anything else I'm dying to have at the moment. Maybe something will strike my fancy before then.

I also got my paid journal back. Finally. I spent part of the morning hunting up icons and I'm up to about 30 I think.

Okay... so... random babble time...

I have a confession to make... I spent roughly the first 24.3 years of my life not being a fan of The Beatles.

I didn't hate them or anything like that. They just weren't my thing. I knew who they were. I knew what they did. I knew what happened to them. I knew why they were important. I could name all four of them. If I were ever randomly called up by a radio station and asked to name a dozen Beatles songs off the top of my head I could probably do it without thinking. I was enough of a passing fan to be interested in the idea of The Beatles: Rock Band. But I just didn't get it.

Then a few days ago VH1 did it's usual Rock Band thing and went into promotion overload. Suddenly it was Beatles songs mixed in with the morning video blocks and VH1 Classic jumped into the arms of Beatlemania by doing "9 Days of The Beatles" where they're showing movies, makings of, concerts, and whatnot.

Last Tuesday they showed Help!. I decided to watch it.

I wasn't expecting to like it. I was just expecting to have something fill my time for two hours while I wait for the fall television season to cure my evening boredom. But somewhere between the scene where Ringo falls out of bed and when they sing "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" I was hooked. I suddenly got "it." I got what everyone else had been getting all these years. I don't know what it was exactly, but I was left with a feeling of completely missing out on something for a very long time.

After that I took to VH1 Classic's Beatlemania like it was my own. I was watching every night. I started listening to the music. It was within record time that I completely and totally fell in love with this band and instantly became heartbroken knowing what happened to them.

And now less than a week (and 300+ plays) into my own personal (and VH1 Classic's) Beatlemaina... I have to say I'm quite enjoying it. I don't know if I have a favorite Beatle yet. Though I do seem to be quite partial to George... and John... and Ringo... and Paul...

So school started on Wednesday. I'm a full time student this year (I was only part time last year.) We finally hammered out exactly what I need to do this year and when it needs to be done so that there are no snafus with financial aid.

Basically I'm finishing out what I'm currently training for (Medical Office Assistant) and I have to be finished with the last two sections before the beginning of December. Then I'll just straight into Administrative Medical Office and pick up medical transcription and coding to finish out the year.

A lot of last year's people came back this year so I already know most of the people in class. We're planning on putting our Administrative Support Team back together and trying state competition again (we all really want to go to Nationals in Anaheim), but one person didn't come back so we'll have to find someone to fill in or try it as a three person team.

In other news... I didn't manage to get caught up on True Blood, but I'll get there eventually. It's not like I get HBO anyway so I can't catch up and then watch it on TV.

I saw 17 Again last night. I was expecting to not really care for it (it's all been done before in various ways), but I was really surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it. Thomas Lennon was just amazing (and fuck you Comedy Central for canceling Reno 911!). I was also surprised by how much I actually liked Zac Efron. He was actually pretty good and quite charming. (And I will admit it... quite attractive.)

So I finished season one of True Blood and I decided to make a list of what I felt was good and bad about it.

Good - Bill. He feels a bit... vanilla in the books (keep in mind I'm still in the midst of the 3rd book), but I feel he comes off a lot better in the series. Or maybe I was just won over by the golf.
Bad - Tara and all her drama. I really hope she comes off better next season because I don't know how much more of that I can take.
Good - Good expansion of existing side characters. Specifically Lafayette and Terry Bellfleur.
Middle - Jessica. I was pretty much expecting to hate her guts based on what I knew about how she came about, but I actually kind of like what little we saw of her. I'll have to wait and see what's in store for her next season.
Middle - Jason's expansion. One the one hand I like some of what they did with him, but on the other I really don't like some of what they did with him. He is still mighty pretty though.
Good - Theme song. It's awesome.
Bad - The part in the opening credits with the dead fox creeps me straight the fuck out.
Good - Eric.
Bad - Giving Eric's one real moment to Bill.
Awesome - Pam. Are there people who don't like Pam? If so, what's their damage?

I feel pretty positive about it over all though. Now on to season two...

So someone posted to ontd_startrek about seeing the film with their dad and both of them tearing up and it really got me thinking and bummed me out a bit.

I am incredibly sad that I cannot see this movie with my mom. And that I can't see anything with her anymore. I can't geek out with her anymore.

I also realized that she had a hand in an insane amount of my fandoms.

She introduced me to pretty much every science fiction/fantasy series/movie I've ever loved. Let's just look at the ones I can remember: Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess... I know there's more. I just can't think of them!

I started rewatching season three of Heroes and while it's better than season two, I'm not enjoying it nearly as much and I've finally figured out the reason. I'm not watching it with her. We watched Heroes together and came up with our theories and tried to figure everything out and snark on Claire and Peter and perv a little over Nathan. Heck that was all the fun of Lost too. Trying to figure out everything together.

Thinking of that reminds me of a summer where we had a shitload of fun with a mystery. There was a soap opera on NBC awhile back called Passions and one summer they had a big overarching mystery plot. I remember both of us trying to figure out who did it. We even had a freaking chart hanging on the wall to mark out suspects. I don't remember who did it, but I remember us debating on suspects.

I've noticed that series like CSI has lost it's spark with me as well... I think part of that is that I've lost the fun it used to have fingering who did it and making fun of all the suspects.

I think she also played a large part in my love of slash (and even if she didn't I'm gonna blame her.) We always had the computer in the living room. I remember her watching Queer as Folk on TV as it was premiering and being really weirded out. I mean what the hell this is my mom watching what is kinda gay porn on TV in the same room with me. That lasted for about a season and then I just gave up and started watching it with her. (She also totally got me into Torchwood by being all "Oh yeah Jack is a little bisexual." I remember her actually cheering when Jack and Ianto kissed for the first time. Geez fangirl much, mom?)

This all also makes me wonder if the reason I latched onto House so hard is because it was something that we didn't share. We never watched House together. Never even thought about watching it. I didn't see my first episode till after I was living with my aunt. I also wonder if it's coincidence that the very first episode of House I ever saw was "Who's Your Daddy?" which had a PotW with her name, Leona.

TL;DR Version: I really miss watching things with my mom. Geeking out over TV and movies with her were really some of my best times.