Category: Nerd Life

  • In which I get my degree and think, “Well now what?”

    It is officially official, I have earned my bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing. I received my diploma in the mail, framed it, and currently it is hanging on a wall in my living room staring at me and challenging me to think about what comes next. I know I would like to begin looking for a job that is closer to my career field, but what does that look like and how do I begin.

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    Do I want to teach? If so I should probably begin looking at Master’s Degree programs, because that is almost prerequisite nowadays. Would I rather find a job in the “business” world that will utilize my “new” strengths? That is what I have been looking at and applying for, but so far it seems like they want people who have many years of solid writing under their belt, and I am just getting started. I know I could do the job, and successfully, but if I never even make it to the interview stage how can I show that?

    Life is not all gloom and doom, though, yesterday my family surprised me with a graduation party at one of my favorite restaurants, Mi Tradicion. My mom and sister, my husband, my aunt Gayle and uncle Charlie, my aunt Cathy, my cousin Lynsi and her daughter Kynadey, and my cousin Robby and his fiance Sharon all came together to celebrate my graduation. It was a lovely time, and it was nice to get to see everyone and chat. I got some lovely gifts including an amazing laptop that my mom bought me. My family knows me really well, and they gave me gifts that spoke to my soul, like the amazing book based charm bracelet my sister made me.

     

  • Welcome 2019…let’s make this a f@#king amazing year!

    Welcome 2019…let’s make this a f@#king amazing year!

    It is the last day of 2018, and what a wild, crazy year this has been.

    We visited my friends Jen and Chris in Pittsburgh, and they took us to visit the National Aviary. We saw Puddles Pity Party at the Southern Theatre.

    In the Spring my husband and I took a trip to Wisconsin to visit The House on the Rock. I had wanted to see it since the first time I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and we decided to head that way to see it. It was amazing and wonderful, we wondered around for almost four hours and still don’t think we saw everything. We also visited the Cave of the Mounds, Mount Horeb the Troll Capital of the World and the lovely little town of Spring Green.

    I took a trip with The Lady Gang to Put-In-Bay. I saw a whole lot of drag shows including: Stadium Virginium Pop, Wonderful World of Nina, Heroes and Villains, Heels of Horror, and Nina and Virginia’s Christmas Pageant. I went to a bout for Ohio Roller Derby. Walked in a Color Run. Went to the Ohio State Fair with my mom and both of my sisters. Helped to establish an Ohio chapter of the International Wenches Guild. Went to a bunch of brunches. Bought a season pass for the Short North Stage, and have seen a bunch of shows with my friend Susan.

    On top of all this amazing I am officially done with school as of December 23, and will graduate with my Bachelor’s degree in English – Creative Writing in February. That is how you move into 2019 in style.

    Tomorrow I will let you know what my word for 2019 is, and maybe share a peek of my year in review Tarot.

    Goodbye 2018.

    Happy New Year!

    Betsy

  • The Beautiful Batshit of Freeform Christmas Movies

    The Beautiful Batshit of Freeform Christmas Movies

    Playing in the hulu holiday movie queue the other day I was delighted to stumble upon a cache of Freeform Christmas movies. Several years ago I had found what was to become a favorite holiday film, the Freeform presentation The Twelve Dates of Christmas, and since then I am mildly obsessed with the amazing and insane offerings that Freeform creates around the holidays.

    One of my favorites of all time is The Twelve Dates of Christmas starring Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. The movie centers around a woman who enters Christmas Eve hung up on her ex, set up on a blind date by her step mother whom she is resentful of, and being generally a little high strung. She finds herself reliving this day again and again until she gets things right, including falling in love with the blind date Miles. This is essentially Groundhog Day for Christmas, only we know she only has 12 dates to get it right.  Favorite Batshit Moment: Miles’ wife died a year ago by falling off a ladder while cleaning out the gutters.

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    My current favorite which is not new, but is new to me this year, is The Spirit of Christmas starring Thomas Beaudoin and Jen Lilley. Kate is a lawyer specializing in estate issues, and she needs to sell an inn that is supposedly haunted, but can’t get an appraiser to stay long enough to finish the job. She drives to the inn to force the appraisal and instead meets incredibly good looking ghost Daniel who becomes corporeal for 12 days beginning on December 13th but he has no idea why. Kate decides to help him find the answers in the hope of getting him to cross over so she can sell the property. Does she instead fall in love with a ghost? Does he somehow become corporeal for good? You will have to watch to find out. The movie is worth it for Daniel being ridiculously good looking, oh and there is murder and bootlegging, you know typical Christmas fare.

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    Other favorites of mine are :

    Snow: The current Santa comes to California to retrieve a missing reindeer and falls in love with a cute zookeeper.

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    Christmas Cupid: A PR specialist is haunted by the starlet she represented after she dies choking on an olive until she can fix her messy personal life.

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    Santa Baby: Santa’s daughter, a high powered exec, returns to the North Pole after her father suffers a heart attack to help out and to learn how to love again.

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    Holiday in Handcuffs: A harangued artist kidnaps a patron from the restaurant she works at and takes him home for Christmas to play her boyfriend for a weekend in a cabin with her family.

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    These movies defy convention, and provide a much needed distraction from the typical holiday pablum some channels provide. A large portion of these films can be found on Hulu if you are so inclined to sit back, suspend reality, and let the crazy flow.

    Happy Watching!!

    And Merry Christmas!!

     

  • What I am loving: Movies of the 80s edition

    What I am loving: Movies of the 80s edition

    Playing on Amazon Prime one day I found the movie Earth Girls are Easy, a particular favorite of mine from when I was younger. If you are unfamiliar with this particular film it centers around Gina Davis’ character Valerie and what happens when an alien ship crash lands in her pool. The furry aliens are shaved and reveal themselves to be Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans and Jeff Goldblum. Valerie is just trying to keep them “safe” while waiting for her pool to be drained by a surfer dude named Woody, played by Michael McKean. There is sex, weird super feel good touching, dance battles, musical sequences and eventually a happy and slightly bizzare ending.

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    I thoroughly enjoyed my latest watching of this film and was conveying as much to my sister-in-law, Niki, when she mentioned a movie she remembered from the eighties with Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper. I am a movie buff and was shocked that I had no knowledge of this film. Niki recalled that the movie was called Vibes. Well it wasn’t on streaming anywhere, but I found a copy of the dvd for sale on Amazon, so I ordered it.

    Vibes is about a couple of psychics, Goldblum and Lauper, being used to recover some kind of treasure in South America by Peter Falk. Lauper plays a woman who channels a spirit which tells her important things, and Goldblum is a man who can touch an object and tell you where it has been. Overall the movie is an entertaining romp, and Lauper is ADORABLE in it. I wanted 90% of her clothing, and enjoyed her performance so much.

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    Then yesterday I decided to hop into yet another 80s film with Desperately Seeking Susan, a film I know I watched as a kid but that left no impression except that Madonna is cool. Rewatching it I thoroughly enjoyed the punk aesthetic, and the mistaken identity/ amnesia story. Roberta’s husband was appealingly skeezy, Roberta adorably naive, Dez (played by Aiden Quinn much to my delight) charmingly frustrated, and Susan breezily chill and confident. I genuinely enjoyed watching it again for the first time, since I had forgotten everything but the fact that it starred Madonna.

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    More than anything, though, I am in love with the style of the female characters in these films. My freak/punk/goth heart swelled at the fishnet, petticoats, lace, boots, ornate jackets and leather. It sent me down a rabbit hole on Pinterest. Are there any other 80s movies I should revisit? Let me know in the comments.

    Here are some images of amazing styles from the three films.