vel's journaly thing

Had my 90 day evaluation at work today. I hate evaluations, they are so scary to me! I don't handle criticism well, even when it's minor. Oh well, just got the same thing I always get: "You're doing a great job, but smile more!" Dude, my face just doesn't work that way; believe me, it's been like this my whole life. I'm just not a smiler! I don't sit around grinning for no reason, my face is just sort of neutral at all times. At least it feels completely neutral to me, people tell me I look like I'm frowning or something. And apparently my idea of smiling must be on a much smaller scale than everyone else. Sigh. This is how I smile, just deal with it! =p

Went to the Sharks' fifth playoff game of the first round with my brother last night, and they KICKED ASS!! It was SUCH an awesome game! They absolutely dominated and were finally able to get the puck past Colorado's goalie, clobbering them 5-0. Woohoo! So glad I got to go to that one! It was the first game in this series where they've led by more than one goal. One more win and they move to the next round of the playoffs! GO SHARKS!! =D

( Pics from the game )

Then last night as I was driving home, I saw a freaking big spider crawl across the INSIDE of my windshield!! D= Aaaaauuuuggghhh! Spiders freak me the fuck out! Normally I don't mind them, as long as they stay the hell off of me and out of my space! And inside my truck is definitely my space! I was nearly home when I saw it and had to stop for gas anyway, so I pulled into a station to fill up and try to get the damn thing out. Well it FELL off the windshield, and I had no idea where it went! I looked all over with a flashlight trying to find it without any luck. So then I had to get back in with the mysterious missing spider and drive the rest of the way home (about four blocks). >_< I damn near had a panic attack on the way, thinking about it coming crawling out of my steering column or something and was driving with one finger on the wheel and jumping at every movement out of the corner of my eye. I'm such a freaking sissy. I made it home safely, but the spider is still missing. ARGH.

Second game of the first round of playoffs, Sharks vs. Avalanche, Avs leading the series 1-0. Oh man, what an amazing game! So glad my class got cancelled tonight so I could watch it! My neighbors are probably sick of all my screeching and cheering. ^^;

Most of the game was actually pretty frustrating, though action-packed. I was getting pissed off throughout it because the Avs kept leading by one, and every time the Sharks scored an answering goal, the Avalanche scored right back, sometimes within seconds, to reclaim the lead. Nabby was off his game, seeing as the Avs and the Sharks had the same amount of goals, but the Avs had about four times fewer shots on goal than the Sharks. =\ The Sharks were really charging the net and getting tons of shots off and lots of great chances, but they just couldn't get them in like they should have.

So at the end of the third period the Avs were leading 5-4, and as hard as the Sharks were playing, it looked like they had little chance of scoring at the last minute. But then a break for my favorite player, my boy Joe Pavelski! He accidently blocked a shot with his leg right in front of the Avs' goal, and the puck dropped right at his feet and he knocked it in the net with only about 30 seconds left in the period! Tied it up 5-5! Phew!! The Sharks got another chance by going to overtime.

And thankfully, Nabby did much better in OT, blocking all the Avs' shots. The Sharks kept up their momentum and pressure on the Avs, and they drew a penalty when one of the Avs knocked one of the Sharks into the Avalanche net, knocking it off and getting an interference penalty. That gave the Sharks a power play in which they continued to whale on the Avs, and Devond Setoguchi, my second favorite, scored the winning goal! Sooooo awesome!!!

Who the heck is Terushima Takuma and why are so many people voting for him on seiyuu?

I finally watched the new Phantom of the Opera movie. I knew it would be bad (Joel Schumacher directing? *shudder*), but GEEZ. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was awful, awful, AWFUL. If you're going to do a movie of a musical about a musical genius, at least cast someone who can SING in the title role!!! Dear lord, it was seriously painful to listen to him butcher all my favorite songs. >_< And why did they change some of the words/not sing many of the lines that are meant to be sung?

Oh, and the phantom is supposed to be absolutely *terrifying* to look at, NOT a totally handsome guy merely suffering from a second degree sunburn! COME ON. And Minnie Driver as Carlotta? WTF? She's not an opera singer, is she? She completely didn't fit the image I have of Carlotta. The girl who played Christine was really dull and had only one look on her face for the entire movie: vapid airhead. I guess her singing was okay, but not nearly powerful enough. The rest of the cast I didn't pay much attention to, but I did like Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry. Also I recognized the guy playing Andre was that one guy from Shakespeare in Love; he seemed pretty good.

People weren't kidding...if you like the musical and the original Broadway cast, stay the hell away from this travesty!

Yesterday I spent something like FIVE HOURS in a department store returning and exchanging clothes. Ugh! If you know me you know I HATE shopping like nothing else. Clothes shopping is the worst, though, because it takes so much time and effort to try everything on. At least I got some things that actually fit and that I'm happy with now, but sometime this week I have to go back to another store and try to exchange some other things. Oh yay...

Last night I went with my family to the Sharks game. The Sharks lost when they really didn't deserve it. That was the most blatantly rigged game I'd ever seen! The first two periods were fine, and they were leading 2-1. Then when the third period started suddenly the refs completely decided the Coyotes had to win and attacked the Sharks. They gave them no less than four or five penalties within the space of five minutes (most of which were completely undeserved, and they were really grasping at straws for things to call; "delay of game"? WTF?). So for at least four minutes it was 5 on 3, and with an advantage like that the Coyotes scored 4 goals in about 4 minutes. It was really disgusting.

I think poor Nabokov was pretty flustered by it all; one of the goals was his fault since he accidently kicked it in behind him. After that he was pulled and they sent in Toskala. And for the rest of the game no matter what the Coyotes did, they were never given any penalties! Tripping, interference, high sticking, who cares? But if a Shark puts one toe out of line, it's off to the penalty box with you! They did manage to score two more goals and make it 4-5, but the refs made sure that if they were coming any closer to scoring another goal they'd get a penalty. There's no question that whoever was making those calls was completely biased and totally destroyed any fairness there was in the game.

As for some good news, in about two hours I'm going to the airport to pick up Josh! ^_^ Also, today is my brother's 23rd birthday, so I'll be going out to dinner and a movie with my family tonight. He wants to see Fun with Dick and Jane. Is that supposed to be any good? It looks kind of stupid in the commercials...

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Tampa Bay beat Calgary *g*

Sharks beat the Avalanche 4-1 :) that was a great game! I'm glad we were able to go to it.