stop the insanity!

this week has been an incredibly exciting one in the world of today's politics. i don't know about you, but the husband and i have greatly enjoyed spending the time listening to the promises made by candidates in what is starting to look like one of the most interesting presidential races i will ever experience in my lifetime. while i have so appreciated the discussion on matters that hit me close to home--the need for affordable healthcare, funding for higher education, and soothing the turbulent economy--i feel that there is one issue that has been largely ignored: the jonas brothers.

i guess i'm just getting really old and cranky, but i don't understand the appeal of the jonas brothers. i wanted to like them based on their name--i feel that my own last name is close enough that we share some kind of bond that only those whose five-letter last names begins with a J and ends with an S can understand, and it certainly doesn't hurt that Weezer has given their last name a certain amount of coolness. yet, i can't see why freckly girls with fresh acne all around the country talk about nothing but the three awkward brothers. they aren't that attractive, they are annoying to listen to when they speak, and that difficulty increases exponentially once they pull out their display instruments and feign music making. i was content to sit by and let them continue to make a mockery of the title of musician, but it seems that my time as an apathetic bystander has passed.

you see, it's not that i feel a need to seek out opportunities to comment on how the upcoming generation is mindless and tasteless (though there is likely a wealth of information to support such arguments--please see katy parry's "i kissed a girl" for one such source of evidence), but i have been assaulted time and again by the horror that is the jonas brothers' cover of the beatles' classic "hello, goodbye" (please see video Exhibit A below). listen, i like target and the "hello, good-buy" mentality within the facility as much as the next gal, but the auditory assault that is the whiny voices of the pre-pubsecent brothers has become too much. while watching my morning episode of what not to wear (an unemployed gal has to fill her time however she can), the target commercial featuring said song played no less than seven times. in response, i make a call to all who read my blog (that's right, all seven of you): STOP THE INSANITY.



while i recognize that the vast number of young girls in the world who dream of the day that one of the jonas brothers will blow into their small town, whisk them right out of their retainer, and love them with a force that not even danielle steele could have foreseen see these over-manufactured attempts at contending with musical greats as a sign of certain musical greatness that the jonas brothers possess, i feel a message needs to be sent. if the beatles classic were intended to be as whiny as performed by aforementioned teen sensations, then John Lennon would have performed it thus himself. and he would have done it much better. for proof, see exhibit B: John Lennon showing the kids how the big boys do things.



i feel much better now that my grievance with a group of young teens is completely off my chest, and i hope to have your support as i seek to fight the influence of terrible music in the lives of america's next generation. i appreciate your support on this urgent issue.

the white coats are coming! the white coats are coming!

excuse the lame title. i am feeling a bit tapped out, creatively speaking.

last night we had jesse's white coat ceremony. basically, this means that he now gets a white coat, and he is officially a pharmacy student. it was so nice to see him recognized for his hard work getting into pharmacy school. plus, he looks really cute in his white coat.

here he is being robed in the white coat of the pharmacy world...

signing the pharmacists' code of ethics...

forced group shot of the class of 2012...
prom photo with the wifey...
and finally, with the proud parents.

congrats, honey! you are the handsomest future pharmacist i know.

i'll spare you the metaphors about being tagged...

do you feel that more insight is totally necessary to understand the inner workings of yours truly? would, oh say, six random facts about myself lighten your spirits? dying to know six completely random items about me? thanks to my cyberfriend diana (not as creepy as it sounds... well, maybe it is) here you have it:

1. i was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at the age of 20. not so juvenile. this disease worried me greatly until my doctor happily informed me that i can still eat whatever i want. and i do. i guess you could call that a score on the chronic disease front.

2. i'm really average, but i like to pretend i'm not. i have an average face and an average name (seriously, i moved from davis to jones. i tell jesse that i hope in the next life we get to be smiths). there's nothing wrong with being average, but i get really sick of hearing "oh my gosh, do you have any sisters that live in des moines, iowa? because you look exactly like..." or "hey, are you related to any macphees? because you look just like a macphee" or, my all-time favorite discussion with a byu-idaho locker room worker, "hey, tiffany, i didn't see you in our class last night. where were you?" "umm... i'm not tiffany. as you can probably see by the student ID card i just handed you that clearly lists my name as rebecca." "are you sure?" i know they all mean well, but it irks.

3. i'm still unemployed. don't let anyone fool you into thinking that a Master's degree somehow increases your chances of getting a job. it's bullocks.

4. my husband and i just moved into a three bedroom house in pocatello--hence my absence from the blogosphere. the house is old but cool. and i found it on craigslist. and i ended up knowing the girl who listed it on craigslist from byu-idaho. and it's only $10 more a month than our previous one bedroom shack in boise. score.

5. i love french fries, but i don't eat any part of a french fry that looks suspect. if it is nasty brown colored, disfigured from burning, or incredibly soggy, i bite around it and throw the unfit remains in the garbage.

6. i have the world's greatest family, particularly my two nieces and seven nephews. yep, seven (well, the seventh will be popping out in december). apparently we can only produce males in our family.

and because i am really bad at including photos for my posts, here is a real-time photo of myself (seriously, i just took it for all of you) in case you forgot what i look like...

alright, i tag... libby, jil, jesse (mostly because your blog is really lame these days, dearest), and diane. cheers!

au revoir, les bois

boise, i already miss you.

the social education of sick boo

so, by now it's no mystery to my large readership that i have, of late, been afflicted with the nastiness of the headcold. in the middle of july. i must admit that it has likely been the worst cold i can recall ever having, but i was in denial. big time.

not only was i unemployed, living in my parents' condo, and dreaming of the day i will have legitimate reason to leave the couch, i now found myself lacking the physical prowess to actually get off the couch. daytime tv became my constant companion (seriously, ask me about any commercial currently on tv, and i'm sure i've seen it. my new favorites: the stride gum commercial where the goat rams the guy walking down the street and one of bitty's old favorites, the "there is such a thing as being a little pregnant." i saw it, and it was everything bitty had promised).

jesse had, however, planned a social outing far in advance: the opening midnight screening of the dark knight. i was eager to go, and despite my inability to keep my mouth closed for more than three seconds, complicating that whole "eating" thing, i convinced everyone i was feeling better.

after all, i wasn't new to the whole going to the movies sick thing. one time when i was dating he-who-shall-not-be-named in college, i had to take a box of tissues with me to the theater. i was told i was an embarrassment blowing my nose every five minutes. undeterred by the social embarrassment of being sick in the movies, jesse and brandon watched as i packed my purse full of alka seltzer, a plastic cup (to make said alka seltzer), cough drops, a box of tissues, the hobbit--for down time, and my slippers (aka my booties). finding myself justified to say, "fashion be damned," i put on my comfiest boise state jacket and confidently left the house.

ten minutes later jesse and i walked into the theater. i panicked. i suppose that my weeks of being alone in the condo and my recent acclimation to the comfort of the couch had not prepared me for the mass number of people swarming around to watch heath ledger's final work. i started to feel dizzy, but i persevered. because we arrived over an hour early for our showing, we had great seats in the theater--the kind of seats where no one can sit in front of you, so you can keep your feet perched selfishly in front of you the entire time.

within minutes i started to feel nauceous. jesse insisted that it was just the chinese food, but i found myself flashing back to another terrible movie instance with he-who-shall-not-be-named that ended with me throwing up in the garbage can in the movie theater lobby. let's just say it was my most attractive moment. i started panicking. what if i threw up in heath ledger's final work? would that be offensive? disgusting? i started crying. i couldn't help myself.

jesse offered to drive me home, but i knew he wanted to see the film, so i convinced him i could drive myself. he walked me out to the car, with me crying the entire way. people stared. i got even more embarrassed so i cried more. to shorten this tragic tale, i made it home safely and immediately fell asleep, only to wake when jesse came home three hours later, raving about the greatness of the movie.

although i'm sad to have missed the movie (i'm promised we can go together in the near future), i feel that i have finally learned that it is socially inappropriate to go to the movies sick. just another great life lesson.

pretty sure being sick in july should be illegal

yet, i still find myself cozying up in front of the tv all day with a wicked sore throat, congestion, and killer headache.

awesome.

there and back again: a hoboo's story

since i don't have a job and jesse had some time off, we decided to go home for the fourth of july. mostly, we spent time ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the cute offspring in both of our families. it was time well spent.


first baby on the list was izzie, our niece on jesse's side of the family. izzie and i bonded quickly (it's amazing how food brings people together, even when the people are only three months old), and i felt it was time to take our relationship to the next level...

tyra banks seems to be a significant force in the lives of hopefuls for america's next top model, so it seemed only natural that i coach izzie through her first photo shoot. i have a feeling she was born to strike a pose.

the rest of the week was spent catering to the needs of all the grandchildren on my side of the family, and it was insane to say the least. jesse had to head back to boise shortly after barbecuing on the fourth, but i stayed behind to help create a pirate birthday party (the cake i made rocked, and if i get a picture of it, i will certainly have to post it) for my oldest nephew, parker, and implement said party for ten kids under the age of eight. it was intense.

going to idaho falls is really a great time, and i definitely needed to recharge my battery, but i was eager to return home to my sweet husband and my lack of job prospects (alright, perhaps i was really only looking forward to the whole great husband bit). i love the babies and all, but it is nice to have a quiet home where we can spend hours lovingly gazing into each other's eyes, discussing all of our admirable qualities (which is obviously what we do in all of our spare time).

my plans for unbridled love were smashed into the rocks of reality when i returned to find jesse united with his new love: his brand new macbook he got for pharmacy school (thanks again debbie and larry!). while i am pleased for him, and recognize that the computer rocks, i can't help but secretly loathe it for its living desire to fulfill his every command and ability to do so much more quickly and efficiently than yours truly.

i left the land of babies to return to jesse focused intently on his own. such is life.

p.s. credit for this post's title can be credited to: my recently renewed love for the hobbit (thereby including bilbo baggins and j.r.r. tolkien) and jesse's brilliant analysis of myself as a "hoboo".