I moved!

I moved everything over to a new wordpress blog with the same name:

sueczech.wordpress.com

I couldn't take the fact that I didn't have a hold on all the comments I was making and receiving. Wordpress lets me keep track of all that because Goddess knows, I'm terrible at remembering.

American vs Czech movies

Last night we saw The Departed. It's not a movie I wanted to see so I read the whole thing beforehand so I wasn't left with any surprises or anticipation, plus I could zone out during the movie and not have to ask what's going on.
Hubby was on the edge the entire time wondering who's going to die, who's going to be discovered, and what the characters' names are. Once the movie was over he kept saying how great it was and that's how movies in America should be made. So here's our argument:
Czech movies end poorly by my American taste. All of the Czech movies I have seen have ended sadly and left me in a miserable and shocked state. Hubby's defense is that Czech movies represent reality and American ones represent la-la land. He said why show a fairytale when real life isn't that way? It gives people false hope or worse yet, depression that their lives isn't the ones on the big screen.
I told him that when I go to the movies I want to be transported to a different world and where dreams really do come true. Life is hard enough, I don't want to be reminded of it in movies as well. Maybe I'm disillusioned, but I think as a kid it helped my imagination and didn't make me settle for things simply because that's how life is. I always strive for more.
It seems to me that Czech cinema doesn't have love stories, and when they do they kill off the couple!
"Just one will do", he says.
I asked him if Czech girls prefer American movies or Czech ones and of course, the answer is American because we have the better love stories. Exactly! They may not be true representations, but they're nice stories that put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.
"But you leave the theatre forgetting the entire movie", he says.
Maybe I do, but at least I leave with a lighter heart instead of a heavy one where the main character gets killed after he loses his virginity.
"But you know how the movie will end", he says.
Only cheesy movies like The Lake House are predictable. Because it is an American-made movie I know I won't be disappointed that Sandra Bullock is going to bite the dust. I don't watch all cheezy movies, but I'm a chick and I appreciate them.
I decided to watch part of the Lake House last night and as I turned it off, hubby said "Why did you turn it off? I was just starting to cry."

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me! Vsechno Nejlepsi!
Today I have reached the milestone of 30yrs old. If I was in a movie right now there would be a little capture under me saying "30 years later..."
Today I have to renew my drivers license, bake cupcakes for a playdate with Peanut's BFF, and go out to dinner with my hubby and daughter. I think it'll be a wonderful day because I woke up to the birds singing.
And luckily my hubby is home from work today so he's told me that he'll watch Peanut all day while I go and do whatever I want. So I'm hoping to take more pictures for my Flickr account and join more groups!
Yay! I'm 30!

Insane Asylum

The New Orleans City Insane Asylum has posted a record of patients between 1882-1884 and 1888. I always find these things fascinating.. I'm not sure why. I've always been interested in psychiatric patients, but not enough for me to enter the actual field of it.
Some other interesting reads along the same line would be Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, which of course was made into a movie with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. The book is ten times better and the people more interesting. That movie had basically nothing to do with the book except the names and the chicken thing.
There's also I Never Promised You a Rose Garden which I got off a free book rack in a used book store years ago. I read that book cover to cover a few times. It's about a 16yr old girl who creates a world "Yr" due to her schizophrenia and has moments of clarity while living in a mental hospital.
The other one is She's Come Undone, which doesn't necessarily deal with schizophrenia or paranoia but massive depression.
All fascinating reads... but of course truth is much better than fiction. Sadder too.

Those were the days...

I asked my hubby to watch Peanut for 10 minutes so I could take a shower this morning. While in the shower I realized how much I miss taking morning showers, so I thought of other things I missed since I've had Peanut.

• Morning showers
• Jumping out of the car and running into a store quickly. Now I jump out of car and into the backseat, put on Peanut's socks and shoes because she took them off, find the dollie, double check I have the keys, find a buggy, put Peanut in buggy, and then run into the store
• Being able to just travel somewhere because the wind carried me that way
• Going to restaurants that don't have children's menus
• Clean carpets and furniture
• Being able to read for longer than 10 minutes at a time
• Saying "yes" to going to places, parties, events, concerts without having to think if I can find a babysitter or if she can tag along
• Staying in bed with hubby early, early in the morning and planning our day and maybe romping around *wink*

Things that make up for the things that I miss.. aka... things I would never trade for in all the world now that we got Peanut:

• "I love you Mommy"
• Morning chatter over a cup of coffee (for me) and a yogurt (for her)
• Dance routines
• Pretty pink little dresses, bows, glitter, feathers, and fun
• "EW!!!! YUCK!!" in the middle of a crowded store
• Nighttime cuddles and kissies
• Finally having an excuse to be a grown adult and watch my favourite cartoons and having a partner watching Star Trek with me.
• Having someone act exactly as you and your husband do and either laugh or be mortified.
• Knowing that you brought someone into the world and that there's a possibility she'll help change it.
• The capacity of love that I didn't even know I had.

Butts are naturally funny

My Peanut is going through the "what's that?" phase right now, which means we tell her the name of body parts, objects, and food about 50 times a day. Today she pointed to her butt and said "What's that?" I said "Butt" and she laughed. She thought it was hilarious.
In school kids would say the word butt over and over again and make farting noises with their mouth, and I thought it was because of siblings or parents encouraging it. Apparently, it's not a learned behavior.. it's a natural one.
Oh boy. Or girl, I should say.

My Yummy Valentine

When it comes to holidays, I specifically name what I want. That way I spare hubby wandering around a store wondering what to get me. If I don't say what I want.. I end up with things I don't use or can't wear. In the past he bought me clothes that are too small.. which is nice because he thinks I'm skinnier than what I am. Who can complain about that?
This year I asked for Choxie from Target. I love their commercials and their packaging, but I could never warrant buying a box of chocolates for myself. All the little chocolates were so cute sitting in their cubicles that I felt bad for eating them.
Almost.
Either way.. for the price, I felt they were worth it. They're yummy, look fancy, and a cheap alternative to Godiva.
Happy Valentine's! And for others.. Happy Anti-Valentines!

Anna Nicole Smith

As you well may know.. Anna Nicole Smith has passed away. So I was reading Metafilter and I came across this quote that stopped me in my tracks:
"She just let go and no one was holding on" - four panels

How true it is for her and so many other people.
On another note.. I told my husband and he said "Who's that?"

A Morning at Home

I highly recommend going to see A Night at the Museum. I haven't laughed that hard in quite a long time... even hubby laughed and then coughed to cover the fact that he just laughed out loud. It is a Ben Stiller movie, so he plays his typical underdog character.. but the story is so funny that I can forgive him this time.

Here's a few randomness for you:
The best place to hide money.. according to a burglar
The Gummy Bear Flickr group
An interview with June Oswald (Lee Harvey's daughter)

Your Peculiar Aristocratic Name

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Reverend Lady Suzanne the Functional of St Winifred by Winchelsea Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

via The Generator Blog

The profane game

Why don't you try your hand at The Profane Game? I did and scored 35! I'm surprised some of the words I said actually made it there and was counted.
I'd like to thank all the Marines I hung out with growing up to provide me with all this profane knowledge.

An Open Letter to TBS

We have Comcast and their HD service because we have a plasma HD TV that we're quite happy with. The problem is... we only have a few channels on this HD service because Comcast doesn't carry all those that are available. Plus, we don't have one of those Gold packages so we miss out on some. Not that it matters, as long as Ugly Betty and NCIS come in HD.. I'm pretty content.
However.. this is to TBS:

To whom it may concern:
Why do you have an HD channel when you air NOTHING that's in HD? Thanks to Comcast we're limited on what channels we have in HD and thanks to you, you're wasting one of the only channels we have.
Either air something in HD.. or get off my HD.
Thank you.

You know.. I've emailed them multiple times, and I still have no response from them.

Back to Licensing

After much consideration, we both decided to drop the sampled song off the final CD and just let it float around the Internet on its own. As of now it's being played in some clubs and there's DJs that are spinning the song while they're on a world tour. Cool huh?
So let the lawyers find us that way. It's a much better case for us that the song is floating on the Internet rather than being digitally distributed by iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, etc..

So this means we take the CD back to the printers for brand new covers and I have to burn brand new copies of the demo. But no complaints here.
My husband will have his first CD actually released in just a few weeks!

Music Licensing 101

My hubby who made a remix of a very well popular song needs to obtain permission in order to sell that song on a CD, website, and other forms of media. Does this mean he'll do it? No.. this means I get to do it. :) Which I don't mind because if it deals with paper pushing.. I'm SO there!

He sampled this well known song (contact me for details.. heh), and now in order to sell it through CDBaby.. I really should obtain permission. It's the only fair thing to do. So I find the publisher info on ASCAP. From there I go to their websites to see if I can electronically get permission. That's a no go. So I look up music clearance services... one in particular is ridiculously expensive and the other just doesn't list the price. And then you see something like EMG that says on their page "Use a note and go to jail". Well fuck me.
I'm just going to do it my own self. I know I can. I can be all professional and stuff. *snort*
But on my little travels of finding out how to go abouts on getting the "ok" from the head honchos.. I run across this poor guy. All he wanted was to license some time of a few movies for his home project.. HOME, as in no audience but him and his family.

Anyways.. I'll keep my events updated. This should be fun. :)

Funny Quote

This funny quote popped up on my Google homepage today:

"I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down." - Mitch Hedburg

I had to look up who he was too. He was a stand-up comedian that passed away in 2005 due to OD'ing on heroine and cocaine

Here's some other quotes by him:
- I drink Orange Juice with Vodka. It's like Vitamin C that kicks your ass!
- I recently took up ice sculpting. Last night I made an ice cube. This morning I made 12, I was prolific.
- I type at one hundred and one words a minute. But it's in my own language.
- I would imagine that if you could understand Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy.
- If my kid couldn't draw I'd make sure that my kitchen magnets didn't work.
- My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.

There's a TON of these!

What a difference 8 years make

8 years ago I was in my hometown and going to the local dance club every Thurs night for lady's night. My favourite song back then was Fatboy Slim's Rockafeller Skank. The DJ would catch my eye when I walked in, I'd wave and just a few minutes later everyone could hear that song blasting through the speakers as I would dance, dance, dance.
Flash forward 8 years later, the song begins to play on one of my favourite radio stations (Dave FM) and there I am... dancing in my kitchen, folding laundry and all the while wearing my cow slippers. My 2yr old joins in the dancing and there we are, a couple of crazy girls dancing in our slippers.
My life has certainly changed, and I wouldn't exchange it for the world.

What American accent do you have?

I really didn't think I am Inland North.. I mean, maybe Midwest, but North? I don't have "pop", I have "coke". Eh.. well.. it's a short test. :)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Midland
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I got great ta-tas

I was running into a store the other day and didn't pay attention that the shirt I was wearing was slowly unbuttoning itself. When I came to a stop, I looked down and found my shirt mostly unbuttoned and my bra showing. This lady looked astonished at me and I quickly went to button myself, apologizing profusely and making wisecracks at how careless I was.
The lady fanned herself and said "Whew! That was very nice! You have a nice pair! You just made my day!"
Oh, no no no.. you just made mine.
I got a great rack! To which my husband replies, "I keep telling you that but it takes a lesbian to convince you?"

Free International Calls?

Yes.. it's true, you too can make almost free phone calls to 50 international countries, check out Allfreecalls.net. The only amount your charged is any long distance rate you would naturally incur by calling Iowa, because you're calling Iowa who in turn calls the International number you want.
This article will explain why and how they do this.
Is it worth it? Well.. if you have free long distance then yes it could be worth it. However, if you have to pay then you could just use Jajah, which is free... or even Skype.
How do you get this free call?

1. Dial 712 858 8094
2. Enter 011, Country Code & Phone #
3. Enjoy free phone calls.

We may be calling this soon because Hubby's Babi just got out of the hospital after a bad attack of angina and heart failure. I don't know if this means that we'll be traveling to Czech sooner than I thought, but I know they want to see Peanut and well.. they aren't getting any younger.

Fuck You Baltimore!

Now this is what a used car commercial should just say.

A little of this.. a little of that...

Zubbles are coming! They're coloured blowing bubbles! The kid of me screams "Yay!" The Mom in me says "Does that stain the carpet?"

Cellswapper. Get out of your current cellphone contract by changing to another provider and they'll take care of the fees!

John Lennon and Let It Be. I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who thought this song was about the alphabet. I love Lennon.

My Paris Hilton dream

Forgive me, but I had a strange dream about Paris Hilton last night. That'll teach me to read gossip blogs before bedtime.
I dreamed that I was at a club with Eva Menendez, and Paris Hilton was on a stage in front of us. Just as she was dancing, some change and a piece of paper fell out from in between her legs, and she tried to pick it up. Luckily I wasn't the one who picked it up (even in a dream I knew I could probably catch something from her! Ew!), but the girl who did noticed it was enough money to catch a cab out of the club. The piece of paper ended up being a business card to a lesbian tow truck driver. The card was one of those optical illusion things that when you turned it one way it showed the driver in the daytime and when you turned it the other way it was her at nighttime. Paris looked embarrassed and we all called the tabloids.
I had another dream too.. but my hubby was in it and well.. it's for his ears only. *wink*

A few new shows

It's rare that I actually sit and watch TV, but with Peanut's recent insomnia I've been catching up on lost time. There's been some new shows premiering this week that I was actually able to see. One was Knights of Prosperity and the other was In Case of Emergency. I didn't like ICE and I'm not sure why. Hubby said it was the acting. I thought the acting was pretty good, but I just got bored watching it. To me, it wasn't funny or interesting. Ah, well.
On the other hand there was Knights of Prosperity. I found myself grinning like an idiot through most of the show. I adored all the characters, the story (they're going to rob Mick Jagger), and just the humour of it all. It's like a blue collar Ocean's Eleven.
Peanut's new show is Jane and the Dragon. It was made in 2005, but we're just now catching it. It's about Jane who is training to be a Lady-in-Waiting except she'd rather be a knight, so she goes off to fight a dragon. However, she ends up making friends with the dragon and now they're friends. When she returned she became a knight in training. The CGI is fascinating and the colours are phenomenal. I like watching it for the art alone, but the story itself isn't half bad. She gets into trouble often, but she's very honest about (knight's honour you know) and things right themselves in the end.

To live in NYC

I've never been to New York City, but hubby and I have talked about going there for one Christmas. Until then, I have a lot to look at thanks to all these photographers. There's also Overheard in New York and Gothamist and Metroblogging NYC.
My father loved New York City. He said it was his most favourite place in the world. He was there during the late 50's on a soon-to-be closed Air Force base on Long Island. I'd like to go so I can call it my most favourite place in the world.

The Inventory

I said before how this new year feels so differently than previous ones. This one feels so hopeful. Maybe because our Peanut is a toddler and I can see that the future left up to her will be a great one. That's why I decided to take an inventory of my life. Just some random things to give me insight as to what I have to work with.

- One husband and one daughter
- One dog, Mickie and one cat, Louka
- One house, currently being worked on and still paying for
- One pair of really good fitting jeans and six other pairs jeans for when I'm having "fat days"
- Two books on how to learn Czech (Days spent on learning Czech - 0)
- One novel that I'm working on (er.. I meant have worked on or will work on soon)
- Dozens of books and reading two at the moment (Fiery Cross and the Tao of Pooh)
- One healthy obsession with the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
- Seven record albums including the original 1982 Mousercise and Cocktail
- Roughly 50 CDs my friend Michael burned for me as a Christmas present, he gave me the gift of a lifelong soundtrack
- The entire collection of The Sandman and many other books by Neil Gaiman
- One very old and battered pillow once owned by my brother

Wow, I almost sound like a bag lady (with the exception that most bag ladies don't have traveling companions). Although to be honest, if life ever came to that I believe I could fit my life into one grocery cart. My house flooded in 1994 and my family lost everything. After that, I realized not to put too much worth into items.

New Years Resolution

Yes, it's true. I make a resolution every year. Sometimes I keep to it, and others I don't. This year I will. I made a long list of things we (hubby and I) need to do this year, come hell or high water. This year feels different already... I don't know what it is. It feels more alive, more promising. My list is pretty long and silly (paint playground, find European store that carries krupice)
So instead of posting my new years resolution. I'll post Peanut's.
- Learn how to use the potty instead of t'ing on the turtle
- Be nicer to Mickie, quit sticking finger in his ear. Kiss his nose more often
- Stop throwing toys.. especially at people.
- Learn new words... use daily.
- Play more. Less TV.
- Learn when to stop spinning around so I quit tripping over Mickie or running into walls.
- Keep up my Czech
- Point to my nose when Mommy or Daddy asks
- Play in more mud

I feel like I should make some sort of inspirational comment about children right about now, but naaaaah. Happy New Year!