MissErma

Chuck Norris...

is living proof that angels do fall from heaven.

I'm probably the last to hear about Chuck Norris Facts, but apparently there's a ton of them out there. Watch Chuck read his top ten facts.

Wow, so much effort put into Chuch Norris.

Where would people never notice a town full of robots? Connecticut.

Congratulations to all 2006 college graduates! I'm happy for you!

I'm taking suggestions as to what I should do in order to have the best summer backyard barbeque at my house this summer. I've got a large backyard and a grill. I heard that if I build it, they will come. I hope that statement is true. So what will it take for you to burn a quarter tank of gas just to get to my house? I'm feeling nerdy by making my party user-defined but I really want my guests to feel welcome and obligated to stay more than an hour. Be careful with your requests though, if I can't afford to cater to you then I'll make it a pot luck and force you to BYOB.

I have so many photos from the last few weeks that I need to upload. I even have pictures stored in my digital camera from January that I just got prints of. Someone's getting lazy!

I'm really glad my summer is already off to a great start. I've got graduation parties, birthday parties, and concerts to look forward to over the next few months so I have no reason to be upset this summer. I may have parted ways with my girlfriends after the SCSU commencement ceremony on friday but I fully intend to see them as much as I can before summer is over. That's the honest to goodness truth or you can cut me if I don't keep that promise!

One goal I have for the summer is to keep reading books. I decided to have a great american summer by reading novels written by all the great american authors. Apparently I've also decided to become a nerd. I started with Jack Kerouac's On the Road and only a few chapters into the book I now feel like going on a road trip. I can't believe Truman Capote dissed Kerouac for writing this in a matter of a few weeks. Talk about drama! Where's the love?

I've also continued my "movie a day or every other day" regimen. Since the completion of finals I have seen the following movies: The Stepford Wives, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, De-Lovely, and wow I forgot the others. I'll let you know as soon as I remember the rest.

I recently saw part of a program called Surviving Motherhood that airs on TLC daytime. I guess it's some kind of mommy discussion group that takes place in a coffee shop. I thought that was so awesome. I didn't think children were allowed into such establishments. I'm now crossing my fingers that my girlfriends and I give birth around the same time as each other so we can continue to hang out in coffee shops with our kids in tow. A latte for mommy and a carton of milk for the little one!

Oh, a story to further confirm my nerdiness. I recently had a conversation with Joan about Google search techniques and it went something like this:
Joan: I'm the best Googler at work. My coworkers can never find what they're looking for and when they ask for my help I find lots of pages in no time. I usually find what I need in the first couple pages of results.
Erma: Ooh, me too. Do you use any special search strings with quotation marks, ANDs, and minus signs to narrow your search?
Joan: We're such nerds; we're having a conversation about search engines. I like to use the minus sign. It filters out the pages that I definitely don't want. For example, if search for Old Navy I can use it to exclude pages relating to the military.
Erma: Yeah, it's a good feature. You can avoid all the stuff that has nothing to do with your search in the first place.

And, scene.

So now you know my secret of how I Google.

Since I no longer have 24 hour internet access, I don't know when I will talk to you again. So until then, goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow!

Pays the Same

It's almost sad that the only way to motivate myself to go to work is by setting goals. Okay, the next weekend and half will get me a new digital camera. Overtime will help me save for a Jason Mraz concert ticket. Tips will treat me and Joan to frappucinos.

Every psychology major knows it's all about the incentives to condition yourself to doing a task.

Besides having to spend more hours at my job than at home this weekend, I have decided to devote the weekend to X-Men. I'm not sure I'll be as big of a fan as my friends are after I watch 1 and 2, but should I be tempted to see X-3 when it comes to theaters, I want to be ready. I'm not a big comic book fan, nor have I seen a lot of the films adapted from Marvel and DC comic characters. I saw Sin City and it was okay. It confused me because I wasn't previously acquainted with the characters so I was confused with the plot throughout, but I praise the filmmakers for the good cinematography and presentation. Other than that, my super heros only include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Hulk.

And then if I have time after watching the X-Men movies I will move on to conquering the Gilmore Girls 5th season on DVD. Thanks for letting me borrow it Danielle. You're awesome!

Have a good weekend! If you get sun, enjoy it for me!

One More Day

Ask your Senators to stop billions of dollars in development assistance from being cut from the President's request by signing on to an important letter to Senate Appropriators. We have just one day before the deadline. We want 6 more Senators to sign before the letter is sent.

Send your Senators a quick note asking them to join the urgent effort to stop cuts to the President's request for life-saving development assistance: Click here.

Old Navy needs a new mascot

Does your dog have that Old Navy magic?

Where's your old Police t-shirt?

Tease, a new book by Sarah Sockit takes the basic tee & reinvents it 50 different ways! Learn how to make cool fashion, accessories and home items out of this cotton staple w/ the help of supertalents like Todd Oldham, Amy Sedaris, Debbie Stoller, Pat Field, fredflare.com’s own Chris & Keith and lots more! Super easy to follow instructions and illustrations. 166 pgs! On sale for $9.99!

New London Food Stroll

New London Main Street is holding their Spring Food Stroll next wednesday evening, May 17 from 5:30 to 9:00PM.

For a $25 admission button ($30 on the day of the event) you can sample food and drink from over 30 venues in the downtown area within the 3.5 hour time.

For more information, visit the NLMS website or call 444-2489.

[via The Day]

Sun is in the sky, oh why would I wanna be anywhere else?

If you haven't already heard the hubbub of Lily Allen from across the pond over there in the U.K., get with the times! If you like the lyrics of M.I.A. and the sweet voice of Jem, you'll love Lily. Honestly.

I just found out about Lily through Jinra and eventually found her MySpace page with some songs that should be included in her debut album. This is the most perfect time for her to release an album because all of her songs have a summery feeling to them. I just want to wear a sundress and skip down the street while rocking to LDN.

I'm crossing my fingers that Lily becomes extremely popular in the U.S. just like M.I.A. was last summer.

Hey, I just realized that I mentioned all Brit musicians. I guess I support the import of British musicians because they seem to make good music over there. So thank you U.K.! Thank you for M.I.A., Jem, and Lily (and Luella Bartley for Target)!

I had a dream

...that I was getting cozy with a young Val Kilmer on someone's couch.

I just had to tell you.

"We're Not Going to Name Names... but When Erma Didn't Come In This Morning..."

I guess I forgot to check my calendar. I wasn't prepared for Everyone make fun of Erma because she was two hours late for her first day back at work day! My dear coworkers better be glad I love them so much that I can laugh with you about this morning's mishap.

And hi again to you guys and my bosses and managers who love me so much!

This summer should be fun because you're all stuck with me from now on.

One Experience I Missed in High School

I didn't realize that sitting in a parked car with friends late at night would be very entertaining.

I never hung out with my high school friends to the extent of having nothing else to do but sit in a McDonald's parking lot late at night. That's probably a result of one or more people in the car smoked something that invoked hunger, therefore, what's better than using the dollar menu at your local McD's for cheap eats and a spot to chill? I didn't do that. Instead I spent the time at home practicing what I do best: being socially inept, watching tv, and going to bed because I had school in the morning.

After I went to dinner with my girlfriends (Olive Garden; I killed those free breadsticks) last night we grabbed drinks at Koffee Too? (they have good house coffee, BTW) in downtown New Haven and sat in my friend Danielle's car to chill and drink. Her car wasn't parked in a very busy area within Yale's campus but apparently we saw enough passerbys to people-watch and laugh at. We witnessed an illegal narcotic transaction, a man peeing behind a tree while his female companion checked herself out under her skirt, a few drunk people, a girl that tripped walking up stairs;you know, typical New Haven activity.

There's one more week that I get to spend with my girlfriends before we all part ways for the rest of our lives so I'm enjoying every minute I have with them. I've invited all my friends to go out for karaoke and salsa dancing next week and the four of us are planning our next daytrip to the city and the option to visit Pam on weekends in Harlem is not out of the question. Right Pam?!

I'm afraid to admit and I quote the great Joni Mitchell, You don't know what you've got till it's gone and half of my life will be gone (physically) as I begin to live the rest of my life come June. It's a scary thought when you've gone a few years creating a comfort zone and being in a habit and then there comes a time when things have to change again and I'm back to square one on building a new comfort zone and going into a new habit of living. But I've been told the very essence of not knowing what's going to happen next is a good feeling and I actually have a good feeling about it.

Have a good weekend!

Weeping for my Wedges

I recently bought a nice pair of wedge shoes in time for the summer season and now I come to find out that they are more harmful for my feet than wearing regular heels. What a disappointment! I can understand how the structure of a wedge or platform is less supportive to the foot but that's why some manufacturers have changed the way they make the shoes to be less of a risk to injury for users.

And honestly, I may wear them often this summer but it's not the only pair of shoes I wear. I doubt I'll end up spraining an ankle before the season is over (knock on wood!). I also wear pairs of ballet flats which also pose a hazard for my feet because they don't offer arch support. So basically any day I'm not wearing arch supported sneakers, I'm living on the edge! I'm just glad I don't have to walk around barefoot.

Happy Birthday Sigmund Baby!

There's a great article on Freud in this past sunday's New York Times Magazine. His birthday is this saturday, May 6th. Satisfy your Id with some birthday cake then it's up to you if you want your Superego to make you feel guilty for what you've consumed.


Speaking of cake, Martha made the cutest monkey cake. Isn't that the most adorable thing you've seen today?! I must make this one day.

A New Project from Project Runway

Emmett McCarthy, a contestant from the second season of Project Runway, has opened up his flagship New York City boutique. Click here to view photos of his grand opening party and a sneek peek at his upcoming holiday line. His hometown's newspaper even printed an article on him!

I'd play all day if I could, but I haven't got all the time in the world.

Out of my busy week last week, I'd have to say the best part was seeing Lisa Loeb live in concert. She played at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den last night. Lisa puts on a great show and she's very funny too. I enjoyed the show very much. Joan and I also ended up meeting Lisa Loeb after the concert! I had Lisa's "The Very Best Of" album signed and I took a picture with her.

I heart Lisa Loeb!


Oh, if you really want to know what exactly I did last week, read on. Otherwise have a good day and pay it forward!

Monday night, I performed in the first of two SCSU choral concerts. My solos went well and I received much appreciated compliments from my colleagues. I was happy. And if you're one of my close girlfriends, you know what else happened to me that night that made me even happier!

Tuesday I met a guy on campus who happened to know my name even though I've never seen him before in my life. It turns out he found my blog while doing a search for SCSU students on a blog search engine for an assignment. I also found out he's the drummer of a local band and I apparently have that band's MySpace page added to my MySpace friends list. Hi Shawn!

Wednesday afternoon I had to drive from New Haven to Groton to retrain at my old job. It took a little over 2 hours just to go through all the procedures for my seemingly easy job. Afterwards I met up with my sister for dinner. We ate at Ortega's Mexican Restaurant. I had beef burritos and she had beef enchiladas. We tried each others' food and everything was delicious. I'm so glad that we have at least one good ethnic restaurant in my hometown besides another pizza place and chinese food joint.

Thursday evening I invited over my girlfriends Christina and Danielle to make smoothies. We had good times cutting fruit and blending and drinking it all up. I made sure to have our drinks served in my fun cups with straws that have umbrealls on them. It's all in the presentation, baby!

After smoothies we made a trip to the beach. Random fun was had and photos were taken. Some of the photos are uploaded to my Flickr album.
Friday evening was supposed to be the BEST DAY EVER! I bought tickets for me and a few friends to see The Roots who did a concert on campus. I planned an awesome day for friends that were coming in from Brooklyn and Providence but emergency after emergency prevented them from getting here. If I couldn't go with the people I originally intended to, I didn't want to go at all. That's what happened. I wasn't upset at my friends because stuff happens and it's understandable, and I'm sure I'll get the opportunity to see The Roots and Talib Kweli some other time. I was more upset at the fact that all my money and effort put into what was supposed to be the BEST DAY EVER! didn't produce any desirable results. My backup plans didn't work either. So thumbs down on that!

Saturday I went hiking with my friend Janet. We went to West Rock behind the campus and I took some cool pictures. I manually took a panoramic photo (meaning I took a bunch of photos while rotating 180 degrees and I have to crop the photos together myself) of the surrounding area so you can see that in the Flickr album when I get it done.

Saturday night I spent 5 hours with my roommate at the Yale-New Haven Hospital ER. It's been a long time since I've been in an ER and for the first time it wasn't me who was going to get checked in. Let me tell you, sitting in the waiting room at the Y-NH ER is an experience. Oh, the kinds of people you encounter! It felt like I was sitting in an episode of ER. A place where you'd think people are sitting calm and being attended to was more like a place where people are arguing about who goes next in line, someone is crying and inconsolable, an inebriated individual is getting yelled at by a nurse ("You're not supposed to bring drugs." ... "Sit down and shut up!"), and everyone takes turns providing urine samples and getting X-rays. My maternal instincts nearly kicked in because I was so worried about my roomie's health and whether or not she'd make it through all the waiting periods we had. I just wanted her to get medical attention ASAP but it didn't seem to come fast enough. "Emergency" and "Urgent Care" should not be the words used to describe this area of the hospital! The good thing is that my roommate is okay and her illness is nothing too, too serious as long as she takes what was prescribed to her and she gets enough liquids and bed rest.

Sunday I performed in the second choral concert and my parents and oldest sister were in attendance. My solos were fine again (I'm so awesome. I'm kidding.) and the concert was recorded so I'm excited to buy a couple CDs when they're made. My mother started bringing her camcorder again to videotape my concerts after 8 years (I've been in choir since 1st grade) and even though it's a bit embarrassing to view to the videos, it shows my mother's support in my one extra-curricular activity and I'm glad for that. My dad made me so happy too. He showed up dressed in a suit (and my mom and sister went cash) and gave a standing ovation at the end of the concert (while mom and sister sat there not clapping, thanks). I've never seen him so enthusiastic for one of my choral events and it seriously touched my heart for his outward appreciation of my hard work.

I also finally met a girl in choir who I knew from a past psychology class and choir but never talked to her. We got in touch on MySpace recently and then we eventually got acquainted today. Funny how I end up meeting some people.