my upstairs neighbors had some friends staying over this past weekend. i saluted from my window when i saw them leave this morning. it'd be so noisy the past few days, i had to sleep with ear plugs. i was secretly entertaining thoughts of burning the house down, but that'd mean burning my place down as well, not the best revenge. now that they've left, i don't have to resort to arson.

made another bacon egg english muffin sandwich for breakfast. i've getting better at flipping my eggs, but i still do it over the sink because i'm afraid of making a mess on the stovetop (i'm afraid of setting the eggs on fire).

i went to belmont so i could go with my mother to the sears at burlington mall. she practically lives there now, with each successive weekend another sale on winter clothes. i discovered the second floor, where all the appliances and electronics and kitchenware were located. while my mother was downstairs busy trying out clothes, i was upstairs browsing all the gadgets. maybe i could use a sewing machine! what about a deep fryer? or some new pillows? i realized i'm pretty good at browsing, which makes me the worst kind of customer, the one who hangs out at the store for hours with no intentions of buying anything.

my sister took hailey out to the forest. with the warmer weather (today was another close-to-60's day), the ticks have started to come out again. my sister found 2 on the dog and gave her a bath afterwards.

my mother made dinner but used too much salt, so two of the dishes had to be remade (even then it was still salty). i left soon afterwards, rushing home to catch the academy awards. i was panting the whole way, afraid of scaring pedestrians on the sidewalks who hear the approach of somebody breathing heavily behind them.

my bike lock broke about a week ago. the crossbar that connects to the steel u-ring split apart. i usually leave the lock in my rear milk crate while i ride, and all that rattling must've damaged it. the lock still works though, although i have to jiggle the crossbar pieces together so i can properly insert the u-ring. i couldn't get it to work though when i got home, and decided to just bring my bike inside the house instead. i finally managed to fix the lock.

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some live-blog notes:

red carpet: best dressed: kathryn bigelow - woman does not look 58. she kind of resembles an american elizabeth hurley.

first award: best supporting actor: prediction (obvious) christoph waltz - no surprise - what a weird incoherent speech though - i think it would've been better if he'd just read dialogue from inglorious basterds. i'll cut him some slack though, english probably isn't his first language.

premiere of the ipad commercial - which really just looks like a giant iphone. pass. unlike giant iphones are your thing (why not just get a laptop instead?).

best animated feature film: prediction: up - winner up - no surprise.

best song: huh? meh. i haven't heard any of these songs before. they should call this category: "the song that plays the during the credits while i'm rushing out the theatre to go use the bathroom because i drank too much soda during the movie."

best original screenplay: another award i have no clue about: winner hurt locker - could this be the first of many hurt locker awards tonight?

molly ringwald presenting an award? oh, it's a john hughes tribute. that's okay then. followed by some more hughes' kids coming out from behind the curtains. their should be way more actors. where's james spader? or robert downy junior? eric stoltz? rob lowe? haters!

best animated short: ???

best documentary short: ???

best live action short: ???

anyone in an academy award pool basically just close their eyes and pick winners at random for these categories, since i haven't heard of any of these shorts. some of the documentaries look interesting though.

best makeup: i go with star trek! since that's the only movie i saw that was nominated for this award. and the award goes to star trek! how come there was only 3 nominees? was there no makeup in any other movies this year?

best adapted screenplay: precious won. was reitman supposed to get this for up in the air? looks like up in the air may leave this year's oscars with zero awards. this was the movie that was the early lead to rack up multiple awards. the oscars can be unpredictable after all it seems.

best supporting actress: is it going to be mo'nique like everyone predicts? sure is! this may be a horrible thing to say, but when i see mo'nique, i actually think her character in precious is her real self, and the mo'nique we see on the stage is the act. i feel like at any moment she'll just burst into an abusive tirade and throw objects at us.

best art direction: ??? avatar's first award

best costume design: ??? young victoria - i think victorian era films always win in this category. am i right on this? the woman who won seems so jaded, already having won 2 in previous years. is she the michael jordan of costume design? a threepeat! t-shirts ought to be made immediately to celebrate this accomplishment.

tribute to horror movies. i love horror movies, but i was underwhelmed by the tribute. besides, it was only the horror movies that've been nominated in the past. there's a whole range of horror films they didn't bother showing.

best sound editing: hurt locker vs. avatar! and the winner is...the hurt locker! 2nd award for the hurt locker.

best sound mixing: what's the difference? hurt locker vs. avatar again! oh no! on yes! hurt locker again! really? i figured at least one of the sound awards would go to avatar. guys wins his second oscar award in less than 30 seconds. that must be a record, right?

scitech awards: snore.

i love that john travolta introduces inglorious basterds. it would've been more awesome if it was travolta and uma thurman. she must've been busy tonight.

best cinematography: another avatar hurt locker battle. oh, avatar wins this one though. so if you're keeping score: hurt locker 3, avatar 2.

entertainers who died this year: patrick swayze. brittany "lou anne" murphy. natasha richardson. michael jackson. what the heck? they rolled the loop too soon, patrick swayze didn't get any applause. nice going academy!

interpretative dancing? i could do without this performance. shave some time off of the usually long-running show.

best original score: avatar vs. hurt locker. the award goes to up.

best visual effects: avatar is a shoe-in, right? so goes the award. hurt locker 3, avatar 3. nice abrupt cutoff! you're right, what these people have to say aren't really that important.

best documentary feature: i want to see everyone of these films, but where do you find them in the theatres? maybe at kendall square. the dolphin movie won!

best film editing: hurt locker 4, avatar 3!

keanu reeves presents hurt locker (kathryn bigelow point break connection!) too bad patrick swayze can't be with us. johnny utah and bodhi reunited!

best foreign language film: i'm rooting for the french film a prophet. and the argentinean film wins! a movie that i will probably never see.

i love the all-star best actor presentation. it's like hearing 5 awesome toasts. jeff bridges gets it, right? no surprise. the dude abides!

best actress award: what is the forrest whittaker and sandra bullock connection? oh, he directed her in a movie. forrest has lost a lot of weight! he looks good thin! stanley tucci's tribute to meryl streep was awesome. and the winner is...sandra bullock! i've seen the blind side and it's really not that good a movie. i think this is more of a "we owe you" oscar than for the best performance. bullock is a very gracious winner though, thanking all the other nominees. funny and very touching, i love me some sandy!

they're not doing the 5 nominee toast for the directors? but bringing out barbara streisand instead? what's her connection? maybe it's because they're running too long.

best director award: this is it! this what we've been waiting for it! fingers crossed for kathryn bigelow! it's 11:55! history is made: KATHRYN BIGELOW! man that woman is tall!

best film award: out of 10 nominees! fingers crossed again for the hurt locker. HURT LOCKER! bigelow is still backstage! okay, she's coming out! did she just beat that sound guy who won 2 oscars within the span of 30 seconds? but that's awesome. makes me want to go see hurt locker again. bigelow looks like she's at the gym with her two oscar dumbbells! notice how many people (men) touch her when she's on the stage? kind of weird! 12:02, it's over - finally! (final score: hurt locker 6, avatar 3)