It's Halloween. I'm not dressing up or doing anything Halloween-ey; it's a nice holiday but it's not my favorite. I have a test tonight, and I'll go swing by my grandmother's on the way home, but I have no big plans.

However, when reading through the articles at slate.com, I found this article and thought it sounded interesting. The law has always interested me; that's why I'm in the Criminal Justice field.

The crux of the article is that legally, politicians and celebrities cannot sue for using their likeness as Halloween costumes or tee-shirts or other items like that. Part of the reason is because there is a bit of distortion - you know it's the person, but there's a change there. It isn't a dead on replica.

As the article states, there is the Right of Publicity, but that only states that the public figure has the right to keep their likeness out of such things as advertising campaigns. You could be Hillary Clinton for Halloween, but you can't slap a sticker of her face on a billboard for Cingular and have her trying to talk you into buying cell phones. Not unless she had endorsed the product.
Basically, only when attached to a product commercially can you not use a public figure's face. Which makes sense to me.

I still wouldn't dress up like Hillary Clinton for Halloween, though.

Well, I took my Criminology test last night. I made a B, which is fine, but I'm kind of down about it. It's not really that big of a deal. If I make an A on my paper in that class (I've never made below a 93 on her papers) and a B or above on the test, I still have an A.

I can't help it, I like straight A's.

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God. I'm so tired today. I think it's because it's mostly the changing of the seasons. I want to hibernate now, because there's less light during the day. I both love and hate the winter. Love because I love it when it's cool and we have to bundle up, but I hate it because I want to sleep all the time, all bundled it. It's a catch-22.

I'm going to my mom's this weekend, and that should be fun. I was going to leave tonight, but I'm too tired. I probably could do it, but I don't want to drive when it's dark. And honestly, I want to go home and just chill for a night. Next week will be a good week; I've got no class Monday, I'm off Tuesday, and we have a test on Wednesday. That's basically three nights with no class.

I'm so going to enjoy it.

I think I'm going to go shopping tonight. I don't know what I want, though I can say it is killing me not to own the iTouch. I don't even know why I want one, other than it's the coolest thing ever, hands down. The screen is so big!

Like I ever have time to watch anything on an iTouch. If I'm not at home sitting in front of my television, I'm doing homework. (Note to self: Work on papers this weekend, don't fall behind!) See? I'm going on a trip and what will I be doing? Studying. That is the real reason why I haven't spent the money on an iTouch or a Zune or any of the other video mp3 players. It's so impractical for me right now.

God, it would be sweet though…

What You Should Be Watching

As I was driving to work this morning, I was thinking of all the things I could talk about in my journal for this week. I went over the notebook entries in my head, and - like usual - I'm not going to go with anything I've talked about yet.

So I thought I'd talk about the TV shows I'm watching this season. That's always a good thing to talk about; everyone watches some kind of television. Mostly. I met a woman at Wal-Mart when I was buying my new TV a couple of months ago that said she hasn't watched any television since her son went to Iraq. Admirable. I couldn't do it.

Monday

How I Met Your Mother
I'm about two weeks behind on this show, but oh god, this show makes me laugh so hard. I've loved Alyson Hannigan since My Step-Mother is an Alien, and I was crazy about "Buffy." And there are no words for how much I love Neil Patrick Harris. It's Doogie, you guys. Barney is the best character that has ever been written on a show, ever. I laugh during every scene he's in. The whole cast is great, and it's very much an ensemble show, which you don't always expect from a thirty-minute sitcom.

Heroes
I started watching this show in the summer, when I got a hold of all of the episodes and watched them in the period of about three or four days. Oh god, this show had my heart in my throat so many times. I love Milo Ventagamsldkfj (really, I can never remember his last name) and Adrian Pasdar is just yum. Another ensemble cast, and they do pretty good with it, for the most part. Everyone has some sort of power and it's interesting to see how they work it into real life. The second season is interesting so far, but it isn't gripping me like it did last season - though I think it's going to start. It's still really, really good. The only big problem I have with the show this season is that they were talking about Louisiana and said we lived in counties.

Tuesday

No TV tonight (actually, catch up on TV that is on my DVR, which is everything). I used to watch "Bones," but I cut it out because I have too much other TV. I cut out "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: Vegas", also, and "Criminal Minds." I still catch "CSI: NY" on occasion, but I don't have to see it. (I'm not linking all those, sigh).

Wednesday

America's Next Top Model
Yeah. A friend got me hooked on this and now I can't get enough. I am a reality show whore anyway, and this just feeds my obsession. One of the girls on there, Heather, has a mild form of autism, so she is very social awkward. But god, she is stunning. I really hope she wins.

I'm supposed to be watching "Private Practice" tonight, too, because my current favorite actor's wife is in the cast (the actor is Jason Behr, his wife is KaDee Strickland), but I can't watch it. I really don't like hospital shows (Grey's Anatomy, ER, etc).

I also watch CSI: NY, but I've missed a couple of episodes. I did see it last night though, it was really good. Plus, Kerr Smith has a reoccurring guest star spot this season, and I like him. He plays creepy well.

Thursday
Survivor: China
Reality show whore. Need I say more?

I have to turn away when they start eating gross stuff though.

I've already talked about CSI: Vegas and how I gave it up for some sense of time when I'm not trying to catch up on my TV shows.

Friday

Hands down, this is my favorite night of the week.

Moonlight
Lovelovelovelove this show. I watched it because I was waiting for the season premiere of Numb3rs, and I was hooked. I've always loved the vampire genre. Some people yell that it's too much like Angel, some yell that it's too Forever Knight, but I don't care. I am in love with this show. I still have to watch last week's episode.

Numb3rs
I think this is probably my favorite. I love the math, and I love the relationship between the Eppes Brothers. David Krumholtz and Rob Morrow are both fantastic actors, and it shows on screen. And did I mention I really love the math?

And Colby. Oh my Colby. Sigh, all summer I couldn't wait to find out what Colby's story was - is he a spy, is he not a spy! I was crying by the end of last season's episode and I was crying but the end of this season's premiere. Such a great, great show.

So I have all this TV I watch; I record it all on my DVR. I'm almost caught up from last week; I still have to watch Moonlight and Numb3rs. I need to do that by tomorrow night. Don't ask me how I get all this in. I did have to cut out so many shows.

The sad this is most of the time I'm not even paying attention to the television, I just have it on Court TV or Discovery Times. I love true crime shows.

And thus ends the geekiest post I've ever written for this class.

The Week In Review

It's Friday. Thank God. This has been one of the busiest weeks I can remember. I've been getting to bed earlier, though, so I'm not so exhausted anymore. This is nice.

Monday
Monday was a bad day. I didn't feel good Monday at all. I'd consumed too much coffee, maybe; I'm not really sure what it was. I just know that I felt horrible. I had a test that night in my police process class. I studied, but I didn't have everything, so there are a few questions I was very iffy about. Sometimes the way he words his questions, you can figure out the answers, and I'm hoping that in those situations I figured them out well. I'm thinking high B or low A. I know some people wouldn't even fret if they made a B, but I've made exactly one B since I've been back in school. I do not want to make one here, on his test in an easy class. I keep checking moodle obsessively, but he hasn't posted the grades yet.

Also, he showed us a video that really disturbed me. You didn't see anything, just heard everything, but what it boils down to is that he showed us a video from a dashboard cam where a trooper was killed in a traffic stop. I'm still haunted by that, four days later. Cops run in my family. My dad was one, my step-brother is. My uncle and my brother are sheriff deputies, though my brother is trying to get on with city police. I can't stop thinking about them.

Tuesday
Tuesday was horrible. I didn't get any sleep Monday night, so Tuesday was spent exhausted. My skin was crawling all day. I spent a little time with my grandmother after work, and then went home to relax and go to bed.

Wednesday
Was much, much better. I really love my Marketing class, but by the time he let us out at 8:50, I was dead tired. I wrote my speech for Thursday's class though, before class started and during break. My phone was almost dead so I didn't get to listen to my music.

Thursday
I had a speech last night. It went fine; I was the last one to present, so she didn't ask any questions. My friend said I did fine on it, but I was so, so nervous. I always am. She said she couldn't hear my voice shaking, which is amazing, because I always do. I wonder if I become a teacher, if I'll be that nervous all the time? Me and my friend went to eat dinner afterward, and that was cool. We're making plans to meet next week to study since we don't have class.

Oh, and I'd forgotten: I had a nail in my tire when I walked out of my house Thursday morning. It was too close to the sidewall, so I had to get a whole new tire. That wasn't fun, but it was something that had to be done.

Friday
It's Friday. I didn't want to get up this morning, but I did. I've been busy this morning, working on homework and I am almost caught up. I still have to finish my Reading Summaries for Sunday (two of four done!) and… I have a couple of papers I want to start this weekend if I can. I don't want to really do anything this weekend but catch up on my television, but I don't think I'll be lucky enough for that to happen.

Drinks with the girls tonight and five o'clock can't come fast enough.

I'm having such a busy morning, and it's hindering my creative non-fiction writing ability. I am laughing to myself, because it's all tied in to what I've decided I'm going to write about. Ms. Smith can attest to this: none of the notebook entries I've written have really made it into my other writing (this blog, my essays). I have a difficult time with the notebook entries, honestly. It isn't the application of the entries -- I understand them and think they are a great resource. I've always got something to say, so if I give pause, I can write out one. But sometimes, I think I put too much into them. Some of my notebook entries I could probably turn around and post into this blog without any changes at all.

I don't rewrite proofs a lot. I never have. Like, for instance, my personal essay that I still need to start. I have it half written in a real paper notebook (I always start there), but it wasn't sitting well with me. I was thinking about it on the way to work this morning and got a completely different idea, out of the blue, and that's what I'm going to write the essay on, once I get the chance to start writing. And I'm working on it in my head, and have been since 7:30 this morning. I have it half written, already, in my head.

There's good to that: it seems like I'm a fountain of words. I start writing and probably fifteen to thirty minutes later, I'm finished, and really, not much changes from that. But the downside: I'm sure I lose stuff along the way. All of the shaping, and reshaping, is being down in my head, instead of from draft to draft to draft. Inevitably, I'm going to forget about something. That's why I know the notebooks are such important resources. I completely agree with that.

It's just so different than the way I do it, sometimes I have difficulty adjusting.

I write in my head, the words taking shapes like pictures, creating the story that needs to be written. I have all my main points there, lurking, waiting to come together when my fingers curl around a pen or fingertips click, click, click against the keyboard. Lay the foundation of the first main point and then zone out the slightest bit; the words really write themselves. They flow like water from my fingertips. It is a process I truly enjoy, something that I really would love to always do. There are constantly things going on in my head. They don't always make it to paper, but more often than not, they will somewhere. It really never takes much to inspire me, but I can't do much until the inspiration is there.