penn

Favorite Actresses (+ more)

It's no secret to those who know me that I love Julia Stiles like none other. She's beautiful, intelligent, capable, athletic, and bitingly witty.

I also adore Clare Danes. Altho she seems to be a weaker female to me, there's something about her that says "I'm coping and you can cope too." She was a balm to my teenage soul.

Now that I've looked her up, I realize that I have one more favorite actress: Maggie Gyllenhaal. She's to die for. I've seen lots of movies that she's been in, and I think she's fantastic. Really, it's just today that I connected all the dots and realized that she's the same actress in all these great movies.

Anyway, the thing that is now bugging me is trying to remember one of her movies. It's the userpic for an LJ user, and I can't figure it out. She's in a wedding dress in the photo, and I know I've seen it in a movie somewhere. Gah. Maybe it's from Secretary?

Okay, yeah, so I finally figured out the answer via IMDB (google, strangely enough, could not help me well with this quest). She's in a wedding dress in Secretary, which is a great movie.

PS I really want to see Criminal now. John C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and none other than my favorite Latino boy, Diego Luna (ignore the IMDB photo; he's much hotter). Swoon.

Weekend Update: part III, I'm still alive

I got back from Mt. Hood at 4.30 on Sunday, so I had just enough time to unpack, shower, and head out to Portland. When I was in Eugene, I met this great couple named Sam & Taylor. They live in Portland, and Ant stayed with them for part of this weekend. Anyway, they invited me specifically for dinner, which makes me feel quite loved.

I had a delightful time. We had delicious salad, homemade heavy, dark bread, and beer cheese soup. The soup didn't even bother my stomach, altho I didn't manage to finish my bowl and had to pawn my leftovers off on Ant (not that he complained or anything).

I found the whole evening to be wonderful. It was nice to sit around and chat with some intellectual people, and I met some other Portlanders. Maybe I can meet people if I stay around the city . . . hmmm . . .

Overall, it was just a nice change of pace. I'm used to hanging out with college students who are just about my age (22ish) or younger. I'm thinking, tho, that age isn't the factor. Being a college student isn't the factor either, because Sam is a student at PDX. It seems that being a little quirky and interesting is the more important part. Anyway, it was just different than usual.

My fav part of the evening? We went from talking about Pete Seeger (the little boxes song! I haven't heard it in years. Dad, do we still have an LP/tape/CD of that?) to houseplants to the botfly larva Taylor grew in her shoulder after their honeymoon in Costa Rica. Now who wouldn't love that?

Weekend Update: part II, tackling the mountain

To start, I should say that I've wanted to go snow camping for years. I love snow, and I've always romanticized camping (maybe b/c I never really did it while growing up). When I heard that my school offered in outdoor recreation class with an opportunity to go snow camping, I knew I had to sign up.

We met up Saturday morning, packed up all our gear, and headed out an hour earlier than we had planned. We drove to Hood River then over to the north face of Mt. Hood to line ourselves up for the Tilley Jane trail.

My pack wasn't too heavy, but it was bigger than I needed for all my gear, since I ended up borrowing a pack from my school. My pack = tiny little thing (altho I can fit a lot in it, but it's a pain when you have to bring a sleeping bag. It's better suited to urban backpacking adventures).

I don't want to give a blow-by-blow of every little detail, so the highlights (ahem, lowlights too) are numbered and behind the cut.

Weekend Update: part I, or pre-Mt. Hood

It wouldn't be fair to say that my weekend started with Mt. Hood. My weekend really started on Friday, since I'm out at class by 11. This weekend, Ant came up from Eugene to enjoy the PDX scene, and he graced me with his Friday afternoon presence. He did manage to get lost in Forest Grove (which is kind of easy and kind of hard . . . ), but I steered him the right way.

We snagged lunch at a great little cafe -- Cafe Bouche -- and enjoyed our delicious meals. I'll be writing a restaurant review of them, so please let me know what you thought, Ant. I got the quiche (tuna fish sandwich last time), and it was to die for. Then again, I do love quiche, so maybe I'm not the best judge.

I also took Ant to Fernhill Wetlands and taught him how to identify ducks (last couple pictures in the Ecology Photo Album). Afterwards, we walked around the Grove and got some pizza. It was a nice, low-key day.

I think I stayed up too late on Friday. I ended up taking a two hour or so nap because I fell asleep while watching a movie. Then, I went to Fred Meyer for mineral oil (digestive aid section -- took forever to find and no one there could help me). My roommate got a new swimsuit. I got home and talked on the phone with my best friend.

Saturday morning was Mt. Hood, and that's the next post.

Back safe

sore. tired. exhausted. going in to PDX for dinner (because I'm crazy, that's why). Will do details and pictures later . . .

Goin' to Mt. Hood

and I won't be back until sometime Sunday evening.

Yes, I'm bringing my camera. I'm sure I'll be more successful than I was in Eugene.

For those in the know, we're going to the Tilly Jane area on the north side of the mountain.

New photos

in the Ecology photo album ^^

Note to Self: Yogurt Raisins

Ms. Penn/Leah/tree-hugger/whatever the hell the crazy kids call you these days:

you are no longer allowed to purchase yogurt raisins. quit the crack. you know you can. why not just go enjoy more gyoza while finishing your homework?

Ferdinand Love

We've downgraded our expectations

As seen on a 7th day Adventist Church readerboard last night:

Try not to Sin Deliberately