It's getting to be the best time of any Star Wars movie's release cycle: the period after we've seen hints of how awesome the movie could be, but before we learn how bad it actually is. Check out this site for some newly-leaked images.

Despite what this post might indicate, I'm not a huge Star Wars geek. My sophomore roommate in college (to whom I was randomly assigned) owned a life-size cardboard cutout of Han Solo that would scare the shit out of me every time I opened the door on my way home from a party, doing little to endear the franchise to me. And witnessing my roommate Rusty's level of devotion firsthand made me realize that of Star Wars, computers, and dignity, men are only allowed a choice of two.

However, I am pretty psyched about these images, because they include what looks to be a CG version of the impossibly awesome lightsabre-wielding robot from the Cartoon Network Clone Wars miniseries.

God dammit, I swear I'm not a geek. Shit.

Most of you have probably heard about how scandalously overmedicated we Americans are -- handing out antibiotics indiscriminately has produced superbugs that threaten to defy treatment. But less widely reported -- although, in my opinion, no less newsworthy -- is how direly undermedicated *I* am. Instead of superbugs, though, this injustice just produces gallons and gallons of snot.

It's almost like clockwork: every year in late-ish January I get sick, then a little better, then back to my original level of sickness, then better still, then descend into zombielike state of near-death that feels like a giant boiled lasagna noodle has been draped over every hole in my head. By the fourth week or so, when I finally drag my sorry carcass to the doctor, it's started to clear up on its own.

Now, I realize that antibiotics may not be the answer to all this -- it's a long but relatively mild illness without much fever or exotically-colored phlegm. Odds are that more often than not, my January illness-du-jour is viral. But I can't help but remember my dad telling me a story about suffering a similar problem, and having it resolved by a family friend administering a large injection of penicillin one year, in advance of his annual cold. He still gets sick from time to time, of course, but his particular yearly affliction never came back.

I bring all this up because I'm sick. I started feeling tired and achy yesterday. I thought it was just the usual Sunday malaise -- thoughts about wasting a day watching football segue so easily into thoughts about wasting a life watching TV -- but around 5AM this morning it was clear that parts of my throat were significantly larger than I usually prefer. It also occurred to me that just this Saturday I had watched the Rose Bowl with, among others, the ever-charming but, it must be said, potentially disease-ridden SueAndNotU. So I'm on high alert, illness-wise, and immediately made an appointment with a doctor. Only thing is, I haven't been to the doctor since moving into the city, what with being a hale, hearty, health-insurance-underwriting twentysomething. So off to the Blue Cross website to find a new sawbones.

I think I've found my guy. He's a little cold, and a little off-putting, but on the sole basis of a "very red looking" throat he immediately gave me a rubber-stamped prescription for some brandname amoxicillin named Augmentin XR. I mean that literally, by the way: he had a rubber stamp for it. Then, to my confusion, he gave me another prescription for the same thing. And this time he used a sticker! Oh, man.

Between those two scripts and an extra two days' worth of free Augmentin samples, I am practically swimming in antibiotic horse-pills, Scrooge McDuck-style. Bring it on, my microscopic foes. I'm ready.

buon capo d'anno, tutti. i hope your new years were not as painful as mine was. after not really having any concrete plans for our evening, and resigning ourselves to the fact that the night might involve hours of mario party + cheap champagne from the 8th street giant, we were rescued by two possible parties to which we could tag along. we first visited kriston and yglesias's house, where they were all dolled up in order to attend the libertarian party (which i will continue to refer to as such, even though yglesias informed me that the libertarianness of the party may have been overstated, seeing as the house throwing the party actually consisted of one libertarian and two liberals). after a few beers there with kriston, though, tommy, charles, julie, jon, paul and i decided to attend erik brolis's party near brookland, because he is latvian, and we all know what that means. actually, i don't know what it means, except latvians drink a hell of a lot, and erik's parties usually end up with his father taking shots with everybody.

anyway, i told tommy i think i got roofied at the party, because there is NO WAY a healthy, responsible girl such as myself would drink so much that she became a rambling idiot who loved and hugged everybody and then proceeded to black out and not be able to move from the couch for the next 24 hours, only having enough brain cells left to watch 5 episodes in a row of the alias season 1 dvd she received for christmas (and by the way, HOW EXCITED AM I FOR TWO HOURS OF ALIAS ON WEDNESDAY; shall we make a party of it?). nope. that was not me. okay. it was me. it hurt, but i had a fabulous time (i think), so it was worth it.

and now it's 2005. some things of note that are not at all related to one another:

-the arcade fire show is already sold out. DCist has two extra tix (yay foresight), though, so we'll be doing a contest this week to give those away.
-the wilco dates at the 9:30 club go on sale january 5th at 10am. here. i tell you because i love you and also i didn't get tickets to the sold-out show last year, so i don't want that to happen to any of my friends this year. i am so empathetic.
-cocktails using italian digestivos are apparently going to be hot in 2005, which only proves, once again, how ahead of the curve tommy and i are. okay, we're never ahead of the curve, but just humor us. we (well, mostly tommy) have been into digestivos for YEARS now, especially the artichoke-flavored one, cynar! actually, that one is really disgusting. if you're going to try a digestivo, go for averna or braulio.
-the NYT lets us know that " There is a growing fraternity in the American tourism industry: vacationers who plan their travels primarily — often solely — around food and wine. " and they're named tommy and catherine. i don't even give a shit about tourist sites anymore. bring on the bacchanalian times!
-speaking of bacchanalian, my 25th birthday is in 8 days. i would like to maybe do something for it. tommy and i are already going to ceiba during restaurant week to celebrate avec food, but i think a bar night with some friends is in order. any suggestions as to where or when? this saturday is the blue state DJ night at the black cat, so i think i'd prefer the weekend after that, if people are amenable. let me know!