Always Anna

And I’m back.

I know you all missed me terribly on my long weekend away from blogging - you can blame my ridiculously busy days at work last Friday and yesterday for my absence. But, now I’m back, so you can dry your tears.

For the past couple of months, all I can think about are puppies. I have become obsessed with dogs - I stare at them on the street, smiling when they do something adorable… like pull on the leash. I stalk PetFinder, and dream of rescuing a puppy. I keep trying to buy dog toys and dishes and leashes whenever I see them, justifying the purchases by claiming that I’m going to give them to someone with a dog.

I have puppy fever.

I’m obsessed with Bailey, my god-dog (I bribed Nicole into naming me godmother by buying Bailey toys and clothes):

I stalk Alexis’ Mimosa, oohing and ahhing over the pictures she posts on her site:

And I miss my boy Ace, at home in California:


Sigh. I need to move to an apartment that allows dogs.

[Thomas] Lambert and co-defendant Sanford Wasserman were charged last spring with violating federal obscenity statutes. In pleading guilty, they joined a growing number of purveyors of pornography whom the Bush administration has pursued…. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, like his immediate predecessor, John Ashcroft, has pledged to make obscenity prosecutions a priority. The department is expected to announce soon the creation of a special unit within its criminal division to focus on adult obscenity cases. “Enforcement is absolutely necessary if we are going to protect citizens from unwanted exposure to obscene materials,” Gonzales recently told federal prosecutors. He directed U.S. attorneys to report back by late July on effective ways to crack down on obscenity and what tools the prosecutors might need…. The Justice Department’s approach has been to identify videos that even some in the pornography business find unappealing and to bring charges in more socially conservatives places, where possible. Read the full story…

So, apparently adults that choose to buy or rent a porn video are being exposed to obscene materials against their will. At first I was confused - usually when I buy something, it’s something I want. But then I realized… pornographers are using the Jedi mind trick to make unsuspecting people purchase porn! Crazy, but it must be true… the Bush administration would never do something that wasted our money and time, right?

I’m into the environment. I’m concerned about endangered species, drilling in Alaska, gas-guzzling cars, and the continued use of styrofoam. And on and on and on… I don’t need to bore you with my laundry list of issues, and my fear that Dubya is killing all chances of saving this world.

But I did find this interesting, from Grist (who gives me environmental news without making me cry), so I’m sharing with you:

Overwhelming Scientific Consensus Grows Overwhelminger
Climate really changing, oceans reveal to researchers

Hey, did you know that the globe is warming? Really and for true! A new study by researchers at NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Columbia University, published in the journal Science this week, concludes that global warming is real. Really. Lead scientist James Hansen calls the new data a “smoking gun” that confirms the earth’s “energy imbalance” — the difference between the amount of heat the earth absorbs and what it radiates into space. Seems the oceans are a key piece of the puzzle, acting as a repository for much of the heat trapped by the greenhouse effect. Using diving robots (ooh!), the team demonstrated a rise in temperature that matches the predictions of computer models. Meanwhile, the ocean is slowly releasing stored heat, in itself enough to raise the global temp yet another degree Fahrenheit over the next century. “There can no longer be substantial doubt that human-made gases are the cause of most observed warming,” Hansen said, demonstrating a rather hopeful view of human nature.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times
straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle
straight to the source: The Washington Times

I have no idea what to do about this - stop polluting maybe? Stop creating gas? Hahahaha. Oh, sorry.

It’s weird… at the same time that I don’t really feel like I’m an adult, I am SO tired of being a grown-up.

I hate paying rent and utilities and credit card bills and student loans, watching my bank account balance dwindle. I’m tired of waking up every morning at 6:45, and then having to go to work for eight hours. I’m sick of my slowing-down metabolism, that requires me to actually work out if I want to fit into my clothes. I’m fed up with saying, “No, I can’t go out tonight. I have to work tomorrow,” and being tired on Friday nights when I should want to party. I can’t stand the voice in my head that asks me if I’ve had enough fruit or vegetables today.

Sigh. I need a nap.

Yesterday I watched a Brat Pack movie marathon on TV, and between that and Alexis’ post on Garbage Pail Kids, now I’m longing for the 80s.

Sixteen Candles is still one of the best teen love movies ever - it perfectly portrays that unattainable crush that (almost) everyone had in high school, and gives you hope that you could win over your love too. Plus, Jake Ryan is hot hot hot, even today.

The Breakfast club was my all time FAVORITE movie for a long time - it’s depth still amazes me. However, yesterday I realized that Claire (Molly Ringwald’s character) was a humongous bee-otch. I don’t think she had any redeeming qualities, other than her cool 80s dancing.

I think I should, at this point in my life, relate the most to St. Elmo’s Fire - a group of friends, just out of college, struggling to find their place. However, while I love this movie, every single character in this movie is horrifyingly crazy, with the possible exception of Ally Sheedy’s character, Leslie. I can’t relate to any of them. But the movie still rocks.

Sigh.

I should have been a teenager in the 80s.