Like to read?

Okay all you bookworms and English nerds out there, here is a test for you. The test will list the first line of 13 different classic novels, and you have to name the novel and author who wrote it.

I scored a 10/13. Not bad. Take the test here.


I always say that the first line of a book is the most important. It is the very first thing your readers will read. Often, when I'm debating whether or not to buy a book, I will open to the first page and read the opening line. Good line - I buy it. Bad line - I put it back.

See if you can name the book that holds these famous first lines.

Updated: Classic!

Remember Kyle Krashalot?! He's free to roam the streets on his bar stool again. TMZ is reporting that Wygel (his legal name) was charged with a DUI and forced to pay a fine. However, a judge lifted the ban on his car bar stool and Wygel is permitted to drive it again.


Does one need a special license or permit to drive a bar stool, I wonder? Maybe he should design a seat belt for the vehicle next time. Remember kids, don't drink and drive [a bar stool].
Hilarious

Baby Kitty

Guess who might be joining my family very soon...

Only me

The most exciting thing happened this weekend. I was working at Godiva on Saturday morning when a couple came in with their small boy. The first thing I noticed was how skinny the woman was, and the second was how cute the little boy was. When I looked at the man, something in my head clicked.

This guy looks like Christopher Rendall-Jackson, I thought. I looked at the girl. And she looks like Kaori Ogasawara. It's them! I'm thinking. It's got to be!


TIME OUT Christopher Rendall Jackson and Kaori Ogasawara are two dancers at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. I know, only I would recognize them, and get excited about it. TIME IN

Do I say something? No, don't say something, you idiot. They're gonna think you're crazy. So what did I do? I said something. "I'm sorry to do this to you guys but are you dancers with PBT?" They smiled and tried to introduce themselves when I cut in to tell them their own names. "You're Christopher [I pointed]; and you're Kaori!" I'm sure my cheeks were giving me away at this point. I was completely geeking out. "I'm a big fan," I gushed.

They smiled and were happy I knew who they were. They probably don't get recognized as often as The Steelers in Pittsburgh. We talked about ballet for a little, and I asked them if they wanted any chocolate. I sent them home with a chocolate-drizzled banana - half for the little boy, half for them.

Happiest moment of my weekend!

We should've seen this one coming.

As you probably know by now, Brittany has a mountain lion of a cat named Riley. Riley is the devil. He and I have a very serious love-hate relationship - I love him; he hates me. Why I love him isn't quite clear since Riley has killed a member of my family... That's right, killed. 

When I went away to college oh so many moons ago, I was sad because I would miss my golden retriever, Shiloh. So to fill the void, I adopted a Beta fish. It wasn't exactly the same. My senior year, Brittany and I moved into our apartment. She brought along her mountain lion cat, and I brought my fish, Gregory Hamilton (I thought it sounded like a big important name for a fish.) 

Over the years, I sort of grew tired of Gregory. He just kind of floated there. He didn't fetch; he didn't greet me when I came home; I couldn't even pet him. At my old internship, I even blogged on their website that I wanted my new cat to eat my old fish. Little did I know...

Riley always was interested in Gregory. He'd watch him swim around and try to paw at him occasionally. Then one day, we came home to this:

^We'll call this exhibit A.^

Brittany and I had spent the day out watching movies, and when we came through the door, all both of us could say was "ohmygosh." The carpet was soaked, colored rocks were everywhere, and Riley licked his lips. 

That's right, Riley had eaten my fish. Brittany and I cautiously peeked around corners and looked under the table hoping to find a dead fish. No such luck. Riley is now a seafood connoisseur. He also loves shrimp... but that's another story.

Cover your eyes!

While watching Dancing with the Stars, one can expect some of the celebrity dancers to be less than amazing because they haven't trained all their lives to be dancers, and they are not known as dancers. But wouldn't you expect someone who is featured as a guest professional dancer on the show to be pretty good?

I would think so, but last night's Macy's Stars of Dance performance of The Pussycat Dolls featuring Carmen Electra was anything but amazing. The actual Dolls did great, and I could tell they were trained dancers. Miss Electra [Tara Leigh Patrick is her human name] was not. This highly disappoints me. She's known for being naked being an actor and dancer. But it disappoints me that what she's known for, she's not very good at.

Allow me to be the snobby ballet dancer I've been brainwashed trained to be. Sure, she has rhythm and can keep the beat, but she doesn't have the fundamentals. She didn't turn out her legs and feet; she didn't finish her movements; she doesn't have nice lines; she doesn't even have the stage presence of a great dancer - I found myself watching the other Dolls more than "the feature." Take a ballet class, Carmen!

The routine, choreographed by Lindsley Allen, was actually very cute. It was entertaining and fitting of the Vegas-esque nature of the PCDs. I just think that Electra didn't add much flare. It makes me sad that she's known for dance more than most professional dancers. She does not have the talent and natural abilities that it takes to be a professional dancer. I guarantee that if she walked into a professional dance company to audition as Tara Leigh Patrick, she would not make it through the first cut.


Gilles Marini is my pick to win it all! He is fantastic - and yummy too!

Tell me something I don't know.

A new article by health and nutrition nut Dr. Margaret Furtado claims that eating chocolate in moderation is actually good for you. Duh! I've been eating chocolate since I came out of the womb, thanks to my mother, and I'm as healthy as ever.

The USDA reports, "a mere 2 tablespoons of natural cocoa contain more antioxidants than 4 cups of green tea, 1 cup of blueberries, or 1 and 1/2 glasses of red wine. This is why research indicates that eating chocolate, particularly natural cocoa, could help improve heart health, blood pressure, blood flow, skin health, and even brain function."

- in fewer words: Chocolate is practically a health food.

The darker the chocolate, the better. Although anything over 60% cocoa has the good stuff. And 60% isn't that dark. In my opinion, the bitter taste only comes after about 72% cocoa.

Like I've been saying this whole time: Chocolate is good for you.

My life is now complete.

So I've never been a smoker, but I'm thinking about starting. My drug of choice will be, what else, chocolate. That's right, I will be inhaling chocolate. Harvard scientists have come up with a guilt-free way for freaks like me to eat inhale chocolate - though I've never felt guilty about eating chocolate before.

Le Whif [which sounds like it could have a few different meanings] comes in 4 flavors: mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate, and milk chocolate. Yummo!

The launch party will take place in Paris on April 29th. Quite interesting. I wonder if it could really replace the real thing for me though. I want to try it.

May I present to you...

Miss Natalia Osipova from the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia. This right here is exactly why I love ballet. It is absolutely beautiful.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV0jT1Do6NQ
^ Click the link to watch the video. (But please come back to read the rest of my posts.)

I was on the radio!

I was a bit early getting to the good 'ol ParknRide yesterday so I passed the time by listening to the radio. Buckhead and Bubba were talking about the craze with Facebook and Twitter, and everyone's obsession with status updates. They decided to do their own status updates live over the air. They all did their own and asked listeners to call in with their status updates. So I thought to myself, self, what is my status update? I thought of how cozy I was in my little car, and how much I did not want to get onto the bus with the tiny little seats. That's it! My status update was "Anne is wondering why they have to make the seats so small on the bus."

So, with nothing better to do, I called the station. I was sure that I would get a busy signal. But to my surprise, someone (probably the intern Beaker) picked up. I told him my status update and he asked me to hang on the line. I then held and was able to listen to the broadcast through my cell phone. Pretty cool. Then the DJs came back on the air and picked up my line as I announced my status update to the world.

I've actually had a lot of luck with radio contests and getting on the air. I've probably been on the air at least 6 or 7 times just by calling in. I won a cd prize pack. I even won tickets to see Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera in concert. No lie!

Maybe I missed my calling. If you ever want to win anything over the radio, just let me know. I'll call for you.

I live with a mountain lion

Let me start off by saying yes, I'm blogging about a cat [a cat that's not even mine (he belongs to Brit)] and I'm not ashamed one bit. Riley is not your average house cat. He weighs about 15 pounds and is the meanest cat I've ever met - I say that with all the love in the world. I'm not lying when I say most of me and Brittany's friends are afraid of him. Riley was even part of the reason 2 of our friends opted not to live in the same apartment as us. When someone new comes to the apartment, they go to pet him and they say "aw hi, kitty. Is he a nice cat?" We say with all the sincerity in the world, "No, he'll probably bite you." Riley bites me at least twice a day when I try to pick him up or pet him; or often for no reason at all when I'm merely walking down the hall, he'll attack my leg.



Riley is also the most vocal cat I've ever met. Riley talks all the time. Mostly, he screams at me in the morning when he wants to be fed. Even when I'm feeding him, I have to watch my back because he will literally knock me over to get to his food dish - which we put on the window sill. Which leads me to my next story. For as big a cat as Riley is, he sure can move. Brittany and I like to point the laser pointer at the light switch. Riley will stare at it for a few seconds and suddenly jump with the greatest of ease to catch the little red light, turning on or off the light in the process. Brittany and I crack up every time.



We like to call him: Bubba, Pants, Batman, Fatman, Wetpaw - he dips his paw into his water before drinking it, and Fatty

Riley does have some cat-like qualities though. He uses a scratch post, and we find cardboard shavings all over our apartment. He loves to have his back and behind his ears scratched. Occasionally he'll purr. After that, he's over-stimulated, and he'll probably bite you. He loves to scratch his cheek on the corners of walls or the lampshade behind the couch. My favorite thing is when he does the kitty roll. "You know the thing, where they show you the belly. And you gotta reward that." :-)

Classic!

Sometimes I really have to think hard about the topics I choose to blog about; and sometimes they reach out screaming and slap me in the face - like this one. This is a story I happened to catch on KDKA last night while staying up way too late with Brittany and Katie.

On March 4th police responded to a late-night call in Ohio for a drunk driving incident with injuries. However, police saw no signs of a car crash. Drunkard Kyle Wygle was driving his motorized bar stool - allow me to clarify... yes... motorized bar stool - when he crashed it after consuming 15 beers. The stool is powered by a lawn mower engine and even comes equipped with a tiny steering wheel. Perhaps from his power wheels car?


^ You may be laughing, but this puppy can go up to 38 mph!

Kyle Krashalot was hospitalized with minor injuries and has pleaded not guilty to the charge. A trial is to follow. Wow.