Wednesday, January 2

 
this is my last blog this side of the atlantic. on friday morning i fly to italy and this weblog transforms into something magical and adventurous and foreign.

just so you know.
posted by from shannon at 11:23 PM

Monday, December 31

 
i found a new favourite movie today. in the style of movies i tend to love (the mummy and the mummy returns, the cutting edge, meet joe black, center stage, bedazzled), it is a movie that has been overlooked or even ridiculed by people, not because it is bad, but because it is too good for most people to get. i know, the suspense is killing you. so, without further ado, i present... newsies. it is a 1992 disney musical based on the actual events of the 1889 newsies strike. what this means is lots of young boys in fun caps with great brooklyn accents singing and dancing. the best part is that a young christian bale is the star. christian bale, singing and dancing. it just doesn't get any better for me.

here is a funny story: my mom was talking to her cousin in chicago whom she hasn't spoken to in years. it then comes up that their cousin joe, who was this annoying fat kid when they were growing up, is now quite wealthy. how, you might ask? by owning his own tattoo parlor. and that's not even the best part. apparently joe has produced several television commercials for his fine establishment. thousands of people in the metropolitan and suburban area of chicago have come to know joe from this catchy tagline: "come get tattooed by fat joe." remember, this is my family, folks.

i'm so freakin' proud.
posted by from shannon at 12:13 AM

Sunday, December 30

 
i am leaving for florence the night of my grandmother's rosary. i will be landing in italy the day of her funeral.

the only reason i feel bad about this is because i won't be there for my mother. not that she needs me - she is too strong. but still, i would like to be around for her on that day, instead of being one more worry (she hates when i travel) during an already difficult time. i personally don't really need funerals. i don't even like them. i believe i've been to six already in my short lifetime. that's every 3.33 years. they're creepy to me. i like the idea of a service - i just don't like having to walk by the coffin of a family member who's already been dead for a few days. and each funeral adds another stop in the grand family tour we have to make of forest lawn cemetery - okay, now we have to stop by grandpa mchugh, and uncle buzzy, and great-grandma lero... i just say my goodbyes differently, i guess.

the nice thing with my grandmother is that i am happy and relieved for her. she has been very sick, and i think her only dream for the past five years has been to rejoin my grandfather. i love looking at their wedding photos - they both look like old movie stars. she was a very tiny and classic beauty, and my grandfather was very dashing with his pencil-thin mustache. there's one photograph in particular, an old black and white one where they're standing in front of the alter together and her beautiful big satiny train is spread out like a puddle, that makes me think of true love.

...

on a lighter note, has anyone else ever been freaked out by kangaroos? me neither, until yesterday morning. the twins (my one-year-old niece and nephew) have been staying here since wednesday, and yesterday morning we all watched "the book of pooh" on the disney channel. it is a newer show that has these cute plush muppety puppets instead of animated characters. well, kanga comes bouncing onto the screen with roo in her pouch, and they're jabbering away, and i start to get the creeps for reasons i can't immediately pinpoint. then it hits me: the kangaroo is the only animal on this planet (except for every other marsupial) that can crawl back inside the womb. isn't that against nature's plan? good god.


posted by from shannon at 12:29 AM