Stuff I Like #23: Wil Wheaton

I'm going to admit it. I had a crush on Wil Wheaton when I was a kid. As a hardcore TrekkieTeen, he was the only one that was anywhere near close enough to my age to crush on.

Now that I'm an adult, I don't really have a crush on him any longer, but his coolness factor is over 9000! He's grown up to be a full-blown geek of his own. He role plays, is a reader, and a writer. Geek is sexy in my book, and readers and writers make it even more sexy!

I also love that he shows up in my favorite TV shows! Even funnier, he is the bad guy. He was such a Boy Scout on Star Trek:TNG, but he makes a great bad guy! He was a great evil hacker on Leverage. He's a hilarious nemesis for Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. Most recently, he was an angry slug-eating scientist on Eureka. His life must be so much fun.

On top of that, he got to grow up with such amazing actors as his mentors! He got to see Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Brent Spiner on a daily basis! How cool must that childhood have been? I would have given my first-born to have that kind of experience! I am entirely jealous of his experience growing up.

Wil Wheaton, you're my favorite geek!

Stuff I Like #22: L'Oreal One Sweep Eye Shadow

 

Disclosure: I received a free sample of this to try. I have not been compensated for this posting, and all my opinions are my own. 

I would not necessarily call myself a tomboy, but I'm pretty close. I am most comfortable in jeans and t-shirts. I rarely wear makeup, except for very special occasions.

Growing up, my mother never really encouraged me to play with makeup(although she didn't discourage me either!). I never really had a chance to figure out what looked good on me and what didn't. To be honest, I didn't really care much. I had other ways that I preferred to spend my time.

Now as an adult, I have no idea what really looks good on me. I've tried a few different things, but I'm never really sure if I like it or not. Honestly, I was skeptical about this product. There are few makeup items that I really have liked right off. I have a naturally rosy complection, so I don't really need blush. I can't stand the feel of foundation or powder on my skin, so I avoid those. I think that my eyes are one of my best features, so I like eye makeup. I like mascara because it makes my eyelashes look longer. I use eye liner every once in a while, but I'm not terribly crazy about it either.

The first time I tried this, I loved it! It's pretty idiot proof! There are different color combinations for different eye colors. They have more conservative colors and more playful colors for each eye color, as well as combinations that suit all eye colors. I really liked the way it looked on me. I felt like it enhanced my eyes perfectly. I would never have come up with the right combination on my own, and never in the right order. L'Oreal's One Sweep Eye Shadow makes it easy for even the most inexperienced makeup users to look great.

Stuff I Like #21: bobble water bottles

I definitely advocate for water bottles as opposed to bottled water. Bottled water is often simply tap water, sometimes filtered, and what a waste to use a bottle only once! I am not prissy and definitely don't mind drinking tap water at all. At the same time, the chemicals that get added to tap water sometimes irritate my stomach and make it hurt.

I commute between two and sometimes three cities a day. The new bobble water bottle totally makes it better. There is a filter in the cap, so it evens out the chemicals in the water. No more sore stomach! Plus, they look pretty cool. They come in all sorts of different colors, so they are easily customizable. I am contemplating using Sharpies to make mine even more "mine."

Bobble filters last for 40 gallons of water, which the company's website equates to about 2 months. They don't filter enough to drink where water has not been declared safe, but they're great for people who don't want all the chemical additives in their tap water.

I love my bobble, and I don't know if I will ever need another water bottle!

Stuff I Like #20: St. Patrick's Day

Who doesn't love a holiday that not only gives you license to drink, but actually almost demands that you do?

One year while I was living in Los Angeles, I went to a bar downtown to enjoy the music of a small Irish band whose singer I knew. Sadly, I didn't have green beer--what was I thinking?? It was my first time at a bar, having been somewhat sheltered and quite conservative up until that point. I also hadn't developed a taste for beer yet. I sipped an Amaretto Sour and watched the subdued revelry.

The best part of the evening was when a man in a kilt came in to the bar. One of the ladies decided she was going to find out what he wore underneath his kilt! I doubt she would have done that if it had not been St. Patrick's Day. For one thing, men don't wear their kilts everyday(although they should!), and women don't go around groping men when they're sober(unless they're members of the world's oldest profession).

It was probably the best St. Patrick's Day I've spent, and I've been thinking of it quite a bit lately since St. Paddy's is coming up this Thursday. I have to say that shamrocks are quite a beautiful plant, Irish music is one of my favorite genres, and I think that I am declaring St. Patrick's Day my official favorite holiday! I am determined to find and drink some green beer this year!

Stuff I Like #19: Patrick Stewart

My last post was Star Trek related, and since I mentioned my favorite character/actor from the Original Series, I have to write a post about my favorite character/actor from the Next Generation!

If I had a chance to pick which captain I would want to serve under, it would be Jean-Luc Picard in a heartbeat. He was stern, fair, able to laugh at himself, and a magnificent leader.

Patrick Stewart the actor is magnificent as well! How could you not love a man who has been captain of the Enterprise AND Professor X? The man has a voice to die for. He's a classically-trained Shakespearean actor, the epitome of actors.

The best part is that he is a man who is able to laugh at himself! A few years back, he did a bit on the Conan O'Brien show about his dark secrets. One of his secrets? His favorite food is bald eagle. You'll have to watch the clip to find out why.

Stuff I Like #18: Leonard Nimoy

I have a confession to make. I grew up as a Trekkie. Every Sunday morning, the highlight of my weekend was watching Star Trek: the Original Series with my dad. When The Next Generation started airing, we were one of the first families on the couch! I grew up to the wonder of interstellar travel and space as an inspiration. I had a crush on Wesley Crusher.

Trek was a family affair. If we'd had the money, we would have gone to quite a few conventions, I daresay. I did actually get a chance to go to a Con with my family in 2009. It was great! We had the chance to hear both Patrick Stewart and Leonard Nimoy speak. I think I'm probably going to write another post about him in the near future.

Leonard Nimoy impressed the hell out of me. He is such an icon in my life. He is the logical voice in my head. I think I could listen to him read a phone book. In addition to being a brilliant actor(in my definitely amateur opinion), he is also a very creative man. He is a photographer with some really interesting projects going on. One of his projects is of plus-sized women in the nude. One was the depiction of the Shekinah, the feminine aspect of G-d in the Jewish tradition. Yet a third is called Secret Selves and explores the secret lives of ordinary people in Massachusetts.

He has an Etsy shop! How cool is that? I think I can say that there's no other celebrity I would rather have as my grandfather. I would pay good money just to have lunch with this guy and listen to him talk about photography.

Stuff I Like #17: The Sun Magazine

I subscribe to only a couple of magazines. Two are writing related, and then there is The Sun. I don't remember how or exactly when I discovered the magazine. I might have come across a link online while using StumbleUpon. I might have heard someone mention it. For whatever reason, I subscribed and have never, ever been sorry. In fact, I spent over an hour and a half reading it today.

The Sun contains one interview per month, several black and white photographs, some essays, some memoir, some fiction, a couple of poems, a page of quotes, and my favorite section: Readers Write. Each month, the magazine provides a topic and the subscribers and readers of the magazine write in about that topic. The stories are funny, poignant, heartbreaking. I really love that dense little section of pages that I try to leave until last but inevitably end up reading first. It honestly brings a smile to my face every month when The Sun shows up in my mailbox.

Twice in my life have I met other people who subscribe to The Sun. Once was at a job where I was on 2nd shift supervising individuals with brain injuries. I often ended up staying late to talk to one of my coworkers when she would come in for 3rd shift. We had spent several nights just talking before one of us pulled out The Sun. The other kind of gasped and was like "I didn't know anybody else subscribed!" She is the one person that I am still in contact with from that job, and one of those people that I think I will always find something to talk to about.

The other time was at last year's BlogHer conference. I was rooming with three other ladies, two of whom I had never met before and one who I've known for more than 10 years. Two of our roommates had gone out to socialize, network, party, whatever you want to call it, and the two of us were left in the room. We were more introverted I guess, and the day's slate of events had worn us out. The other lady, one I hadn't known before the conference, pulled out her copy of the month's magazine. I think I might have squealed like a little girl when I saw it. She and I spent several hours that night chatting about the meaning of life and everything. I haven't spoken to her since, but I really believe we could pick up where we left off no matter how long it had been since I had seen her.

I love The Sun so much that it is one of my life's goals to be published in its pages. I want to have some of my photography, some of my poetry, an essay, an interview, and a Readers Write piece to be published in The Sun. Not a small goal, I suppose. I will be a subscriber as long as the magazine publishes and as long as I can scrape together the yearly cost of subscription.

One of the best parts of the magazine? There are no advertisements. It makes it cost a bit more each month to publish, but in my opinion, it's worth every penny.

Go. Read their website and some examples of the writing inside. You won't be sorry. I promise.