In case you aren't all in my head, that title is to the tune of The Four Seasons song "Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby, Goodbye)", which is a great song. So go back and re-read/hum the title to the appropriate tune. Done? Thank you. Moving on.

OK, now I have to listen to my Best of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons CD while I write this. Alright I'm ready. I feel like a little kid who is stalling before he goes to sleep; I've been to the bathroom, heard a bedtime story and had a drink of water, there's nothing left but to go to bed. Or BEDA in this case.

Once again it seems I am the last of my BEDA buddy group to do a post like this, but I'm OK with that. I really enjoyed reading Becky, Nicola and Christina's posts first before writing my own. Honestly, I felt really touched reading all of them and I feel pretty lucky to have been part of this.

I happened upon BEDA by accident and decided to be a part of it on a whim. I had heard of Maureen Johnson through my best friend the YA librarian, but had never read any of her books. Sorry! But I've since rectified that by reading Devilish this past week. And I am in line for Suite Scarlett at the library. I am very grateful to both her and Jordan Cwierz for conceiving BEDA; they really are sort of our BEDA parents. MJ even commented on my first BEDA post offering encouragement.

Personally, BEDA was good for me in many ways.

• It got me writing more again, which I haven't done a lot of since graduating college.
• It forced me to think more to generate blog ideas.
• It also forced me to finish several half-written posts from months and months ago that might have remained unfinished for years.
• It got me out there more reading other people's blogs. I follow my college friends, but I don't often go out and find random blogs to read. This changed that.
• I wrote some posts I really thought were great. Not all of them, that is for sure, but some. There are a few toward the beginning of the month that y'all should go back and read. Definitely.
  

And then there were my BEDA buddies. I will repeat what they have all said, and that is how eerily well MJ did at matching up at least our group. We all have a lot in common so far and it's great. I really enjoyed getting to know the ladies in my group and reading their blogs and "talking" to them.

I know we've only known each other a couple of weeks, but I get the feeling the end of BEDA won't be the end of us. Between our blogs, Twitter and now Facebook, I hope these online friendships we've begun will continue. I'll keep reading ladies if you will (well, even if you won't)!

Thank you all for a wonderful month of blogging.

P.S. I've been told that since I missed April 1 and 2, I should continue into the next two days to make up for it. So stay tuned, I just might do it depending on my schedule.

Tomorrow is the last day of BEDA. I don't work at all, which is good because it means I have time to figure out something really good for my last BEDA blog entry. I hope. So since I worked two different jobs today and just got home, I am going to use today's entry to report on my two monthly goals.

First off is BEDA (Blog Every Day April). I didn't find out about BEDA until April 3rd, so I lost two days at the beginning. But beginning April 3rd, I have produced some sort of blog entry every single day. They weren't always interesting or great, but they exist. I can't believe I did it, when before I was posting once a week max, most often less.

I do have to admit that I am probably not going to be much better once BEDA is over. I do want to do better, but if I have nothing to say of any import, I won't say anything that day. I am looking forward to that part.

So I get a big pat on the back for BEDA.

Second, here I made a personal goal for April about not going out to eat. I am proud to say that I succeeded in the goal to the letter. I did not spend a single dollar on food or drink outside of a grocery store. I went out to eat a total of three times the entire month. I went out once with my dad, once with my mom and once with my mom and sister (Yeah, I have no real friends in Omaha).

I am pretty proud of myself because this was hard. If you read the post I linked to, you'll see that going out to eat is how I survive. It's easy and I can grab it on my way to/from work. What did I eat all month? I don't really know. A TON of mashed potatoes for one thing. Each afternoon before work if I had no idea what to eat, I made mashed potatoes. So many potatoes were sacrificed to this project of mine.

So overall April went well for me, as hard as it was. I am tempted to start making a new resolution each month to see how I do. Small exercises in self control, which is something I often lack.

For now though, I am definitely getting Chinese on Friday. I miss that stuff!

Look. It's right there at the end of the word.

My name is important to me - my full name: Autumn Lee Hill. It flows so well, but it almost sounds made up. Like a stage name or a nom de plume. Take out the middle name and it sounds like a housing development or a housing complex, especially if you pluralize my last name.

When I was a child I had an aversion to my first name because I went through this phase where I wanted everything personalized, and my name wasn't always easy to find. I felt the frustration keenly. But I quickly got over it. It's not so rare that people mispronounce it or get confused, but rare enough that people pause and remark on.

Yes I do get a lot of dumb jokes, mostly from older men when I am waiting tables, and no one seems to be able to spell it even though it's a noun, but these are fairly minor irritants.

But I highly doubt losing my first name will ever be an issue. The part of my name most in jeopardy is my last name. It's a pretty great last name. Short, simple, easy to spell. Another noun. I have no intention of changing it. Ever.

I could spout out all these feminine ideals as my reasons, but I won't. While I do consider myself a feminist in many ways, that's not truly the reason I want to keep it. I don't even know if I could tell you the reasons why it is so important to me; it just is.

Part of it is that I have spent about a quarter of a century now trying to figure out who Autumn Lee Hill is. I still don't have a full handle on it, and I don't see a reason to try and change who I am and start the process over again just because I get married.

Now this might be a moot point altogether. I really have no strong inclinations toward marriage. I have nothing against marriage; most of my friends are all married and seem happy. I just can't really see Autumn getting married. It's just not me. Who knows? I know my parents hope I eat my words and tie the knot someday.

I once entered into a mock engagement with this guy I worked with. I honestly don't remember how it came about. One of the first things I asked him was whether or not he would have a problem with me keeping my name. When he said he was OK with it, I knew I'd found the perfect "fiancé".

I have an announcement to make.

I already posted that there is a new car in my life. Over a week into the relationship things are going well. I am getting rid of that new car smell I don't like and making my Rav my own. There was only one problem. My car needed a name, and it was really bugging me.

Now I didn't grow up in a family that named cars. I wasn't even aware people did it until I got to college. My first semester I had a roommate whose car was named Clyde. Her family also had an old Bonneville, so they named their cars Bonnie & Clyde. I thought that was pretty cute.

I didn't have a car my freshman year, so naming my own wasn't an issue. I didn't think about it again until that summer. That was when my parents helped me get my first car: a 1998 Honda Civic.

I was working at a restaurant over the summer, and there was this busboy who firmly believed in naming cars. He had a whole reasoning behind it that I no longer remember. He was insistent I name my car, and I had nothing against the idea so I did. I named her Isabelle, Izzy for short.

Then the summer after college I was tired of Izzy and ready for something new. I didn't set out to get a Land Rover, and that was probably one of the larger mistakes I've made to date, but I won't go into how or why that happened here. Long story short, I traded Izzy in for Murdock: a 2002 Land Rover Freelander.

Since Murdock was a bigger car, he just didn't seem like a girl to me. A Land Rover felt like it had to be a boy car. I wanted to name him Hannibal, but after the main character in The A-Team not Hannibal Lecter. I knew no one would think of the right Hannibal if I did that, so I stuck with The A-Team and named him Murdock. I should NOT have named my car after a crazy person.

That brings us up to the present. I am assuming you've all figured out by now that my announcement pertains to my new car's name. It does. I was having a problem because I really wanted to name it Ingrid, but it just did not feel like a girl. I toyed around with a few butler-type names like Jeeves and Godfrey, but driving in my car it just was not a Godfrey.

Someone, I think my mom, mentioned this name in casual conversation, and it just clicked in my mind; it fit. So after that very long introduction, I am announcing that I have officially named my car Otis! Woot!

OK. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it true that practice makes perfect? Shouldn't you get better at things over time? That's the way it works for normal people right? Right. So it's just me then.

Tonight did not go super well at the restaurant, and lately I've felt like I've lost my touch a bit serving. It's probably in my head, and I don't feel it every shift, but I still feel it sometimes. Mostly I just blame it on working in La Vista. Everything was much better when I worked in Omaha itself!

But it did get me to thinking about my athletic history. Now I am not the most graceful of people. In any way. I get along OK, but I don't dance through life. I stumble, trip and run into lots of walls and sharp corners. Let's just say I am not a natural born athlete. I can catch decently well if I am focused, but that's about all I have going for me.

Anyway, the reason I was thinking about sports tonight is because with many such activities I tend to get worse the more I practice. Once summer when I was in high school my mom enrolled me in a tennis camp that lasted a couple of weeks.

The first day the adults in charge (coaches I guess) told me I was a natural. I was doing well and feeling good. But as the camp progressed, I just got worse and worse the more we played. By the end of the camp I was just awful at tennis. And I didn't understand it.

Also bowling. It's not technically a sport, but it's another fine example of my ability to unimprove (I'm getting a red line for that word, but I say it is a word). Now I took a bowling class in college and I didn't have the same problem as I did with tennis. I actually improved over the course of the semester.

However, outside of that, I have found that the more often I bowl the worse I am. If I haven't bowled in a long time, I tend to do pretty well. But if I bowl several games, or if my bowling excursions occur closer together, I get a lot worse.

Why is that? Does that make sense to anyone? I have accepted that I am quirky and a little weird; that doesn't bother me. But I just don't get that. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

What I like about this image is that it has that one way sign in the background, which is very prophetic. I think others like me will agree: Once you fall in love with Broadway, there's no turning back.

I've made it pretty clear that I love musicals. I LOVE musicals. As in I am OBSESSED with them. I have been for about a decade, if not longer. I remember when I was 15 and my dad and I went to New York City just the two of us and he took me to The Phantom of the Opera. I can pinpoint that incredible experience as the moment I was hooked. From there on out it was just love love love love love.

I get asked a lot which ones I like, and that is such a hard question because there are so many and that is a lot to bombard someone with when I know they just want a short answer. So I decided to give you an idea of how much musicals consume my life. I'm going to provide you with a couple of lists to peruse at your leisure.

First off cast albums. To put this in perspective, iTunes says I have 116 albums that I've classified as musicals. Some of these are only one song, but you get the idea. I've collected these albums through various means throughout the years. And as with any collection, there are "pieces" I prefer above others, albums I don't listen to so much anymore. I decided to group them by the people who wrote the music and lyrics because it made sense as I was doing this and I think it is just as important to know who wrote the song as it is to know who sings it.

OBC/OOBC: Original Broadway/Off-Broadway Cast, BR: Broadway Revival, L: London

Full Albums:
Adam Guettel: The Light in the Piazza (2005 OBC)
Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater: The Little Mermaid (2008 OBC)
Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Tim Rice: Beauty and the Beast (1994 OBC)
Andrew Lippa: The Wild Party (2000 OOBC)
Andrew Lloyd Webber & Charles Hart: The Phantom of the Opera (1986 OLC)
Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice: Evita (1979 OBC & 1996 Film)
Arthur Sullivan & W. S. Gilbert: The Pirates of Penzance (1981 BC)
Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus: Mamma Mia! (1999 OLC & 2008 Film)
Charles Strouse & Martin Charnin: Annie (1977 OBC)
Clark Gesner: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999 BR)
Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil: Les Misérables (1985 OLC & 1988 Complete Symphonic), Miss Saigon (1989 OLC), The Pirate Queen (2007 OBC)
Cole Porter: Anything Goes (1987 BR), Kiss Me, Kate (1953 Film & 1999 BR)
David Yazbek: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005 OBC), The Full Monty (2001 OBC)
Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater: Spring Awakening (2006 OBC)
Elton John & Bernie Taupin: Lestat (2006 OBC)
Elton John & Tim Rice: Aida (2000 OBC), The Lion King (1997 OBC)
Frank Loesser: Guys and Dolls (1992 BR)
Frank Wildhorn, Don Black & Christopher Hampton: Dracula (2005 Concept)
Frank Wildhorn & Jack Murphy: The Civil War (1998 Studio)
Frank Wildhorn & Leslie Bricusse: Jekyll & Hyde (1994 Concept & 1997 OBC)
Frank Wildhorn & Nan Knighton: The Scarlet Pimpernel (1998 OBC)
George Forrest & Robert Wright: Kismet (1955 Film)
Harvey Schmidt & Tom Jones: 110 in the Shade (2007 BR)
Henry Krieger & Bill Russell: Side Show (1997 OBC)
Henry Krieger & Tom Eyen: Dreamgirls (2006 Film)
Irving Berlin: Annie Get Your Gun (1946 OBC & 1999 BR), Easter Parade (1948 Film)
Jason Robert Brown: The Last 5 Years (2002 OOBC), Parade (1998 OBC), Songs for a New World (1996 ONYC), 13 (2008 OBC)
Jeanine Tesori & Dick Scanlan: Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 OBC)
Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II: Show Boat (1951 Film)
John Du Prez & Eric Idle: Monty Python’s Spamalot (2005 OBC)
John Kander & Fred Ebb: Chicago (2002 Film), Curtains (2007 OBC), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993 OBC & 1993 Other Cast)
Jonathan Larson: Rent (2005 Film), tick, tick…BOOM! (2001 OOBC)
Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim: Gypsy (1959 OBC & 2008 BR)
Laurence O'Keefe & Nell Benjamin: Legally Blonde (2007 OBC)
Leonard Bernstein: Candide (1989 Cast)
Leonard Bernstein, Adolph Green & Betty Comden: Wonderful Town (1999 L Studio)
Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim: West Side Story (1961 Film)
Lin-Manuel Miranda: In the Heights (2008 OBC)
Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison: The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 OBC)
Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman: Hairspray (2007 Film)
Mark Hollmann & Greg Kotis: Urinetown (2001 OOBC)
Mary Rodgers & Marshall Barer: Once Upon a Mattress (1996 BR)
Matthew Sklar & Chad Beguelin: The Wedding Singer (2006 OBC)
Meredith Wilson: The Music Man (1962 Film)
Michael John LaChiusa: Marie Christine (1999 OBC), The Wild Party (2000 OBC)
Paul Gordon: Jane Eyre (2000 OBC)
Richard Adler & Jerry Ross: The Pajama Game (2006 Br Rev)
Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II: Oklahoma! (1955 Film), The Sound of Music (1965 Film), South Pacific (2008 BR)
Sherman Edwards: 1776 (1969 OBC)
Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell & Allee Willis: The Color Purple (2005 OBC)
Stephen Flaherty & Lynn Ahrens: Lucky Stiff (1993 Studio), Once on This Island (1990 OBC), Ragtime (1998 OBC), Seussical: The Musical (2000 OBC)
Stephen Schwartz: Wicked (2003 OBC)
Stephen Sondheim: Assassins (1991 OOBC & 2004 BR), Company (2006 BR), Into the Woods (1987 OBC), Merrily We Roll Along (1993 Cast), Passion (1994 OBC), Sunday in the Park With George (1984 OBC), Sweeney Todd (1979 OBC)
William Finn: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005 OBC)

Partial Albums:
Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner: Brigadoon (1954 Movie), Gigi (1958 Film)
Jason Howland & Mindi Dickstein: Little Women (2005 OBC)
Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick: Fiddler on the Roof (1971 Film)
John Kander & Fred Ebb: Cabaret (1972 Movie)
Jonathan Larson: Rent (1996 OBC)
Lucy Simon & Marsha Norman: The Secret Garden (1991 OBC)
Maury Yeston: Nine (2003 BR)
Mitch Leigh & Joe Darion: Man of La Mancha (2002 BR)
Peter Allen: The Boy From Oz (2003 OBC)
Richard Lopez & Jeff Marx: Avenue Q (2003 OBC)
William Finn: A New Brain (1998 OOBC)

Also, I wanted to list just a few of the voices of Broadway that I have come to love so much. Many of these albums I got because of who was in them, and grew to love the rest of the music later.

Leading Men: Adam Pascal, Anthony Crivello, Brent Carver, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Douglas Sills, Hadley Fraser, James Barbour, Mandy Patinkin, Matthew Morrison, Norbert Leo Butz, Norm Lewis, Raúl Esparza and Robert Westenberg

Leading Ladies: Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Donna Murphy, Joanna Gleason, Julia Murney, Kelli O’Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, Laura Benanti, Lea Salonga, Linda Eder, Marin Mazzie, Patti LuPone, Sherie Rene Scott, Stephanie J. Block and Sutton Foster

There, that should give you an idea of what a big part of my life this is. I hope you are duly impressed/afraid/jealous! And I didn't even list which shows I've seen and where and when: I keep a list of that too.

As Becky and Christina did already, I am stealing this survey from Nicola, who said she stole it from Book Travellers Inc. Apparently we are a group who all love books. Yay!

Bookmark or bent page?
Paper clip actually. I started it a few months ago and love it. There was a learning curve where I scratched a few pages :-( but I worked out the kinks.

Have you ever been offered a book?
Not really. I guess it depends what you mean. I've received books as presents from friends before. That's the closest I've gotten to being offered a book.

Do you read in your bath?
The last bath I took had Strawberry Shortcake bubbles and a rubber ducky. I don't like baths, so no. But with me water and a book is just asking for trouble.

Have you already thought about writing a book?
I did for awhile in high school, after I took this great creative writing class. I even had a plot planned out. I was going to write a modern version of the Good Samaritan story, and apply it to this project I had to at my parents' church. I even had some of the characters and little plot devices worked out. I got excited about it again briefly in college when I found a Samaria Road not too far from there. But it faded quickly. I bet I have all that on my computer somewhere still.

What do you think about books in several volumes?
Bring it on. When I love a book, I go through withdrawal when it's over, so going back in again is perfect for me. Just looking over at my bookshelf now I see a lot of groups of three or more.

Do you have a cult book?
I guess Harry Potter would be my biggest cult books that I read. I got sucked in like everyone else.

Do you like to re-read?
Yeah. When I was younger I had this one book, I don't even remember which anymore, that I read over and over, at least a dozen times. Couldn't get enough. That's my record though. I do re-read books, especially if it's a series where a new one is about to come out. More often I will go back and just re-read sections of books, parts I really liked.

What about meeting or not with the authors of the books you've liked?
Never thought about it much. I think getting some of my books autographed and meeting the authors would be cool, but it's not so much a priority.

Do you like to talk about the books you read?
Yes and no. I love to recommend books to others, but I've never been big on in-depth discussions. Like I don't think I would like being part of a book club. It takes me back to the two semesters I spent as an English major and reminds me why I switched to journalism.

How do you pick your books?
Recommendations of course. I like to walk into a bookstore and just browse. I take notes and then go home and then look them up. And Amazon. I will go to the page of a book I liked and check out all the links there to other books and lists and I have found some great books that way.

Something you read, hard to confess?
Sometimes I don't like to tell people I read the Twilight books. I love them, but there is such a hysteria surrounding them now that I don't like to be grouped as another obsessed fan. I'm not. I read them before they were such a phenomenon.

Best places to read?
Anywhere cushy. I like taking a book and a blanket to a park and lying under a tree. Otherwise just in bed or a really comfortable chair.

The ideal book would be...?
That is not a simple question. Is there such a thing as an ideal book? All I need is an interesting plot and characters I don't want to say goodbye to by the last page and I'm content.

Read over people's shoulders?
With newspapers sometimes, never with books.

TV, computer games or book?
Books, then computer games, then TV. But I am guilty of indulging in all three to a degree.

Read and eat?
Shouldn't, but do sometimes. More read and munch. I don't read while I'm eating a real meal.

Read with music, in silence, whatever...?
It depends. I can listen to jazz or classical or anything without words and read. Anything with lyrics and I can't focus on both. I sing along and get distracted from what I'm reading.

E-books?
Not a fan. Half my love of books is the actual physical packet of paper. I wouldn't give that up.

Borrow or buy?
Both. I love libraries a ton, but I love owning books. Oftentimes I end up borrowing a book from the library, then liking it enough that I buy my own copy after that.

What book are you reading now – which one is coming next?
At the moment, Devilish by Maureen Johnson (our BEDA guru!). Up next is either The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Bound by Sally Gunning or Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

Have you already dropped a book?
Literally? All the time. I'm such a klutz. I do occasionally, but not too often. I remember the first time I read the 5th Harry Potter I couldn't get into it. It starts slow. I went back a year or so later and then had no problem reading it.

What's the first book you just fell in love with?
As a kid? My earliest favorite was Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck. I still have a copy and bought one for my first niece shortly after she was born. Great illustrations. Later I loved The Boxcar Children and, of course, The Baby-Sitters Club.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the grocery store with my dad. It was a pretty routine trip that included an excursion down the cereal aisle. We came to an agreement that some Frosted Flakes sounded good; I myself hadn't had them in a long time. They're quite delicious.

Well I automatically reached out for a box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, and I had it in my hand when I noticed my father had gone in another direction. Toward the dreaded bags of off-brand cereal.

Well, not dreaded so much as just a place I have never ventured. Don't ask me why but I ALWAYS buy name brand cereal. I never had a bad experience with bag cereal, though I don't remember ever eating it much, I just don't buy it. I never have. I can't give you a single logical reason why.

People can be very particular about what brands they buy. I am no different. There are some things where I just go for the cheapest and couldn't care less about what brand that happens to be, but some things, like cereal, HAVE to be name brand. There are other times where I always buy the off brand over the name brand because I like it better.

Like milk. I will not drink some of the national brands, like Roberts and Blue Bunny, because I think they have a weird taste. My favorite brand of milk is Wal-Mart's Great Value brand of all things. For me it is the most consistently good-tasting milk around. There are others I will drink, but that's my favorite.

For my mom, she almost always goes for the least expensive, like most moms, but when it comes to whipped topping, she always buys Cool Whip. That is a brand she is very loyal to. I was going to ask her for others, but she's asleep now. Oh well.

Oh and cream cheese: I only buy Philadelphia cream cheese. And as my mom has learned recently, I have to have Idaho potatoes. Although with that I lived there for four years so I feel I'd be unfaithful if I bought potatoes grown elsewhere.

The brand issue tends to escalate with soda. I've especially noticed this working in restaurants. While most people don't care that much, there are people for whom it is Pepsi or nothing, or Coke or nothing. I can't count how many times I've heard, "I'll have a Pepsi." "Coke OK?" "No, I'll have iced tea."

And for most of those people, if I gave them a Coke and told them it was Pepsi, they would probably be none the wiser. This came into play at one restaurant I used to work at regarding Dr. Pepper v. Mr. Pibb. We all got tired of correcting people about which one we had, so when they asked for Mr. Pibb we said OK and gave them Dr. Pepper. No one ever once said a thing to me.

What about you? What brands are non-negotiable for you?

Hello, my name is Autumn and I'm an addict. My weakness is movie captions; I can't seem to kick the habit. And I'm not trying that hard, so that could be the reason. It's pretty rare that I watch a movie and don't turn the subtitles on immediately.

*Note to reader: I am vaguely aware that there is a difference between captions and subtitles, but I don't care and will be using the two words interchangeably throughout this post.*

I remember when I realized how dependent I was on subtitles. It was a couple of months ago. I was watching a movie before I went to sleep, a bad habit I'm aware but I don't care. And I pressed the subtitle button per usual, and it had Spanish and something else, Korean I think, but no English. And I was so irritated. And then I had to stop and realize that I was irritated due to a lack of captions. Wow.

It's hard to remember where it started. I think watching foreign films like Life Is Beautiful first got me accustomed to reading captions and watching a movie at the same time. After awhile you get so engrossed you don't even realize you're reading them.

From there I started turning them on briefly to catch dialogue I hadn't heard or understood the first time. I'd rewind the movie a bit, turn the subtitles on and watch the part I hadn't heard to see what they were saying; then I'd turn them off again.

At some point I jumped straight from that to full on watching every movie intentionally with subtitles. And there are pros and cons to doing this.

I am much more of a visual person than an audio person. My retention when someone is talking to me is much less than when I read the same information for myself. So for me I get more out of a movie when I see what is being said as opposed to just hearing it.

Plus there are a lot of actors out there with accents I can't always decipher and others whose diction just is not good. And I like knowing how characters' names I like knowing how they are spelled; it makes them more real.

Something else I've noticed is that there are many movies where characters in the background make comments you'd never hear naturally, but are included in the movie's subtitles. It's quite interesting.

On the down side, you miss more facial expressions and such. No matter how fast you read, you have to look away from the action to read the captions. I remember when I was watching the BBC's recent version of Sense and Sensibility. I love the scene where Edward proposes to Elinor, and I really liked it in this movie. I watched it once with subtitles, then turned them off and watched it again without so I could watch their faces more closely.

I'm not really going anywhere with this. I still use captions almost all the time, and as I said it's not like I'm trying hard to stop. But admitting it aloud is a start, and I guess I was curious if anyone else is in the same boat as I am.

I was just downstairs finishing lunch with my mom and glancing through the paper. After I read the comics I glanced through this day in history and famous birthdays. As I read the birthdays, here is what my commentary to my mom was.

Me: It's the queen's birthday today.
Mom: The current queen?
Me: Yeah, Queen Elizabeth II.
Mom: She's 80 something, right?
Me: Yeah, 83.
I look farther down the page.
Me: It's Patti LuPone's birthday today!!!
Mom: I don't know who that is.
Me: She's a huge Broadway star, I love her!

Yeah, I don't know what that says about me. I mean I know I'm not British, but still. I got way more excited about Patti's birthday than the queen's. And it doesn't seem wrong per se, I guess it just makes me laugh. I will always get more excited about anything Broadway than I will about pretty much anything else outside my family and friends.

And hey, Patti was the original Evita, plus she's won two Best Actress Tonys and been nominated for three more so she is most definitely Broadway royalty.

So happy birthday to Queen Elizabeth II.
And happy birthday Patti!!

I just love alliteration.

I am the last of my "support" group to do this, but at least I'm getting it done. Most of you know that I've suddenly been posting on my blog every day because I committed to BEDA: Blog Every Day April. It's been hard because I don't always have something worth saying.

But our BEDA guru and creator, Maureen Johnson, came up with the concept of BEDA buddies. Anyone who was interested gave her a short summary of themselves and she took the time to pair us up. I figured why not and just from what little I've learned of my buddies so far I am glad I did it. She really took the time and effort to match us well.

So this post is to tell my new buddies a little about myself. My buddies are Christina, Nicola and Becky and I put links to their blogs on the left side of mine. I did it for my own convenience, but this way any of you who want to support them with me can.

I am 24 and I live in Omaha, Nebraska. I just moved back in with my parents right after Christmas, so I really understand your feelings on that Christina. As interesting as moving back home can be, my parents and I get along well and I am blessed to be here (And no I am not just saying that because my dad reads my blog). It is giving me a chance to get caught up financially and figure a few things out.

I have my bachelor's degree in print journalism, which is an industry I am now being forced to watch die. It makes me really sad. I enjoy writing and a bit of design work, but my specialty and passion is copy editing. And don't judge by my blog because I don't edit my own work well.

Right now I am waiting tables while I try to figure out whether I want to copy edit or become a librarian and pursue my MLS. I would like to find a way to do both.

I love to read, and I always have. I read a lot of historical fiction and YA literature (ever since that Children's Lit class I took in college). I love to watch movies, especially old musicals from the '40s and '50s.

I am obsessed with Broadway musicals. I said my passion is copy editing, and it is, but musicals are my PASSION. I can list so many shows, their songs, their leads, who wrote the music and lyrics. I know NAMES. As I write this I am listening to the 1984 original Broadway cast album of Sunday in the Park With George with Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters.

Now this post is getting too long for my taste. If any of you who know me feel there is something I should add, do so. If you have any specific questions ask them.

Oh and click here to go to my post where I list 25 Random Things About Me, which I finally broke down and filled out when it was going around Facebook like crazy.

I think we all know that Murdock and I had a very unhealthy, codependent relationship. I don't think it was working out for either of us, but I had so much invested in the relationship that breaking away was very difficult. I was torn. I felt trapped; I was afraid I would be stuck with him forever.

But not anymore! Murdock is no longer a part of my life. I finally broke it off, and there is a new car in my life now. A car I have inexplicably desired since college when this guy I hardly knew had one and I rode in it once. A silver 1999 Toyota Rav4.

It's the same kind of car as Murdock was, just a different (and better) make. For some reason I really like those small SUVs: "cute utes" as someone dubbed them. Murdock was a Land Rover Freelander, but a bit bigger and a V6. My new car is a 4-cylinder, which doesn't bug me and means better gas mileage.

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders with Murdock gone. We had a very intense love/hate relationship, but it was ALWAYS something with that car. I forever lived with the worry of what was going to break or die next with him. But every time I thought about trading him in, I couldn't do it because I did love my car in theory. In actuality he just kind of really drained me. Land Rovers are not cheap cars.

Now I finally have my Rav. Woot! Yet while I am excited, I feel like Murdock sort of jaded me. I was so excited and in love with that car when I first got it. And it proved to be one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. And I have no problem with mistakes, but along with the excitement is the worry that if I picked this car out there must be something wrong with it. I can't shake the paranoia that after Murdock I am forever fated to get screwed when it comes to cars.

But I am trying to shake that and even if this car has problems, they will be a whole helluva lot cheaper to fix than 'Dock's were! Now on to the photos. Oh, and the name is coming but I am having trouble deciding whether this car is a boy or a girl!

So I got a new car today. Yeah, no more Murdock. I will blog about that in full tomorrow, because by the time I got home from work it was too dark for pictures. And there must be pictures.

I am drawing a total blank. And as well all have learned this month, what does Autumn do when she doesn't have anything she feels like writing about? She posts a YouTube video! Lazy, but I don't care tonight. I am tired and idea free.

I don't know any details about how the events in the following video came about, it obviously wasn't spontaneous, but either way it is a cool thing to do. I would love the chance to be a part of something like this.

I'm not sure if anyone actually watches the videos when I post them because no one ever comments on the posts when it's just a video. So WATCH THIS. I'm about to fall asleep.

I have been waiting tables for over seven years now, and working for Chili's (though at four different locations) for almost exactly two years. Counting all those Chili's locations as one, I have worked for six different restaurants (one for only about two weeks though!). And I do enjoy it, or I wouldn't have kept it up this long.

Other people in the "business" will agree that most restaurants are essentially the same. Rearrange the menu, alter the uniform a bit and there you go: the people really don't change. The same type of people who work at restaurants are the same type of people who work at all restaurants for the most part.

And the duties don't change much either. Some are worse than others, but I believe the one most universally hated by servers is rolling silverware. I know I always hated it. As silly as it sounds, one of the things I love MOST about Chili's is that they don't make you roll. They keep the silverware in bins and you set the pieces down in front of each person. That right there is why I am a Chili-head.

What does rolling silverware entail do you ask? Well at most restaurants your silverware comes rolled up in a napkin, sometimes in a cloth napkin and sometimes in a paper one with one of those sticky bands holding it together. I've had to do it both ways. I hate sticky bands. But the servers are the ones who assemble the rolls before they get out to the tables.

Depending on the night, how busy it was and how many servers are working, you can get stuck rolling at least 100 sets of silverware per shift. More on weekends. Not a fun job for anyone. Not a job I miss in any way shape or form. And it is hard on your neck and back after a while too.

But I am in the process of starting at another restaurant in addition to Chili’s, one I actually worked for one summer in college: Old Chicago. Great restaurant, which is mostly found in the Midwest. It occurred to me this week that in returning to this restaurant I would once again be forced into rolling servitude.

I have resigned myself to my fate, because as much as I lucked out with Chili’s, I have to return to the real world of serving, which includes a whole lot of rollin’.

And ... I made it before midnight. Go BEDA!

My sister has been out of state for college since the beginning of the year; she gets home in just under a week. Do you know what I am most excited about being able to do when she gets here? I will finally be able to close my bedroom door! You can't imagine what that means to me.

You're probably wondering why I can't do so now. It's very simple: Pepper, my sister's cat. This thing is the most skittish, annoying cat I've ever met. You can't touch her or hold her or anything like that. She wants to be ignored, but still wants to be able to come and go as she pleases.

With my sister gone she has turned to me, sort of. She likes to sleep on my bed, where I am allowed to pet her sometimes but never hold her. But when I try to sleep she starts mewling in my ear, stepping on my chest and eating my hair.

If I try to shut my door to keep her out, she scratches on it, de-clawed though she is, incessantly. I have tried to wait her out, but she does not stop. She never gives up, never says die. And when I finally get out of bed and open the door, she doesn't even always come in. She just likes knowing she can later.

She is not the only problem either. My mom has a little dog: Snuggles. I have become her caretaker when my parents are out of town, to save some money where they would have had to board her before. Despite my best efforts, the little bugger has gotten under my skin. She smells awful, but she has a cute face. Katie she actually reminds me a bit of Teddy. Same size, same odd little sneer, just white. She and the cat act like siblings too: constantly playing/fighting.

To put this in perspective though; I AM NOT A PET PERSON. At all. I like animals, just not pets. And yes there is a difference. I think kittens and puppies are cute along with the rest of the world, I just don’t want them in my home. I can enjoy other people’s pets, but all I need is five minutes of an animal and I’m good. That’s it.

My parents and my friend Stephanie all laugh at the person who doesn’t like pets, but who often can be found with her sister’s cat and her mom’s dog snoozing away on her bed. How did this happen? All I’ve ever wanted was a turtle.

It's interesting how we have a tendency to attach objects to our memories. The memory itself doesn't always seem to be enough; we also need the T-shirt or the key chain to remind us. And it can be hard to get rid of items like that.

I took my first trip to Europe a year and a half ago. I didn't have my blog yet, but I spent two and a half weeks backpacking around Ireland and the UK with Steph, one of my closest friends from college. It was one of the best experiences of my life. And I have this shirt I’ve always liked because it reminds me of those experiences.

It's not even a shirt I bought while on this trip. It's a basic green polo shirt I bought at Target right before my trip. There is nothing at all special about the shirt itself. But it's the shirt I wore in London when Steph and I had our picture taken in front of Big Ben. It's the shirt I wore in the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland when Steph and I took a bike ride to a beach a couple miles away from our hostel.

Really it's the shirt I wore for about half the trip, if not more (we packed light). And since then every time I wear it I feel a little happier. But after wearing it all through that trip and after, and considering it was a cheap polo from Target, you can imagine the state it is in now.

This past weekend I finally had to admit defeat. I was forced to concede that enough was enough and it was time to say goodbye to my Europe shirt. So off it went with the trash yesterday morning, never to be seen again.

And I know I have the memories, I have my other souvenirs and a ton of pictures, plus I have Steph. But I still feel a little bit sad about losing that shirt.

So I had a regular post planned for today, but it can wait. I was reading Libba Bray's blog, she is the author of the Gemma Doyle trilogy starting with A Great and Terrible Beauty (fabulous books by the way!), and she had posted a link to a YouTube video.

I watched it and it was just exactly the kind of thing I needed to see today. It boosted me up and even got me a bit misty, so I wanted to share it with anyone who happens to catch my blog (I know I cheated and just posted YouTube videos all weekend, but this one was honestly unplanned.).

Click here to watch it, the embedding had been disabled. Please watch it, maybe it will cheer someone else up today.

Well it's not even quite the middle of the month and I'm feeling tired. I'm tired of trying to write every day and tired of not going out to eat. On this particular Monday I am feeling no desire to continue with either of my April goals.

This is why I HAVE to finish them. I sincerely lack follow through in my personal life. If I can force myself to do it on a small scale, then I can move on to bigger things. So I am kind of wimping out today by making this count as my blog post, but at least I wrote something.

And I haven't cheated on the eating out thing. I just REALLY REALLY want some Chinese take out!

It's Easter today, and I am going to use this holiday to be lazy while still fulfilling my BEDA requirement. So I will leave you with a brief message.

Happy Easter.

And I thought I'd share one of my favorite Easter-related things: Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.

Please ignore (or enjoy) the French subtitles, this is the only video of this I could find on YouTube.

I almost forgot to blog today. It was in the back of my mind all morning, and the next thing you knew I was at work. But since we were so completely dead at work tonight and I made no money, I was able to come home earlier than anticipated. Woohoo for me.

This means I can still manage to squeeze out a blog entry before the day officially ends in an hour. Only problem is I am completely blank on something to write about. There are no thoughts in my head. I could complain about life as a server but I had no bad tables tonight per se, just no tables.

So I decided it was time for you all, my friends, to meet Audra. Audra McDonald is incredible. She is bar none my favorite contemporary Broadway female singer. Her voice is so amazing and her talent just astounds me.

The woman has won four Tony awards and been nominated for more. I know her best from her work in Ragtime, Marie Christine and 110 in the Shade. She also has several CDs of her own she's put out.

For tonight at least, I picked one of my favorite live performances of hers that I never tire of watching. She is singing the song "Down With Love", which she blows out of the water. Just watch it. I am sure you'll be impressed.

P.S. The message of the song is not the reason I posted it.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

This is a question plied to us all the moment we start speaking and are capable of a response. Most kids change their minds several times throughout childhood (and college), and like them I went through several phases with this question.

My dreams weren't typical: I never wanted to be a doctor or a teacher or a fire fighter or anything like that. But I accomplished all my childhood dreams by the time I graduated from college almost exactly three years ago (Wow!).

My first goal for my grown-up self was to be a waitress. Yeah, I know. I have no idea what I thought a waitress did at the time or why I found whatever that was to be so glamorous, but that is what I wanted to do with my life. I got my first restaurant job when I was 17 and have been working in the industry fairly steadily since then, so for seven years now (Again, wow!).

My second goal was to be a librarian (And yes I know the picture is of a boy.). I have been an avid reader since I first learned how, and I have always been in love with libraries. They seemed such magical places to me as a kid; I wanted so badly to work or volunteer in one.

When I was a senior in high school I did volunteer at my local library branch for a couple of weeks to fulfill a community service requirement for my Civics class. And when I was a sophomore in college I got a job at the campus library and worked there for three years until I graduated.

So you see I had fulfilled all my life goals before my 22nd birthday. And what is interesting is that in both cases, I didn't get those jobs with those goals in mind. It wasn't until much later that I recalled my childhood goals and realized I had inadvertently achieved them.

As a non-goal-oriented person and lifelong procrastinator, it was a huge shock to my system. I set a goal … achieved it … and before any kind of deadline? That is so unlike me! Now I am scrambling in my brain to remember if there are any other goals I accidentally set and completed. I'm not sure I could handle another surprise of that magnitude.

And yes, I spelled that correctly. I am not using this blog to expound on my love for Cheetos and say lots of nice things about them. They turn you fingers and your teeth orange and I don't appreciate that. I am talking about foods that go wonderfully well with Cheetos.

Most people experimented with food combinations when they were children. If you like A and you like B, it stands to reason that AB will be utterly amazing. Unfortunately, that is often not the case.

I remember an episode of Full House where Michelle was trying to earn her cooking badge for some kind of Girl Scout equivalent. She used that philosophy and came up with all kinds of disgusting dishes, including Tuna Cream: tuna and Oreo ice cream mixed together.

For most of us, even the experiments we deemed successful as children - I had a friend whose cousin liked ketchup on his donuts - eventually faded away as we got older. I have forgotten all of mine but one.

I don't know when I started doing it, but I LOVED to dip Cheetos in my strawberry yogurt. I thought it was THE best thing. And it always had to be strawberry, because that's really the only flavor of yogurt I've ever liked. It always had to be Dannon Fruit on the Bottom strawberry yogurt. Always. I am sure my mother loved that.

The interesting thing about this though, and the reason I still remember it so vividly, is that it never faded. I STILL LOVE Cheetos in my strawberry yogurt. I think the last time I had it was about three weeks ago. Downstairs now there are Cheetos in my pantry and strawberry yogurt in my fridge, still Dannon Fruit on the Bottom.

I know what you're all thinking, exclamations along the lines of "Ewww!" and "Gross!", but have you ever tried it? I doubt it; it's an Autumn Hill special. And I have no doubt that you all have at least one food concoction you've retained from your childhood. You try mine and I'll try yours.

I had a bit of an odd dream last night. I don't remember the bulk of it, but the part I do remember bothered me a bit. It bothered me because Dream Autumn did something I've always promised myself I would never do.

The part of my dream I do remember involved Raúl Esparza. It wasn't anything dirty; I just dreamed that I met him. Now for you non-Broadway fanatics, Raúl Esparza has become one of my favorite modern Broadway leading men.

I know him best from Jonathan Larson's Tick, Tick ... Boom! and the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company. He also had a small role in Pushing Daisies playing traveling salesman Alfredo Aldarisio, who was sweet on Kristin Chenoweth's character, Olive. I couldn't believe it when I recognized him there.

Anyway, he's a great actor with an amazing voice, and as I said I am a fan. So in this dream I met him in the back of some sort of auditorium, and Dream Autumn freaked out. She was so excited and just gushed at the poor man.

Now I haven't really had any encounters with famous people. I had my photo taken with Ingrid Michaelson, which was amazing, but there wasn't a chance to say anything.

But for as long as I can remember I have always promised myself that if I did meet a "star" I was a fan of, I would not be one of those screaming, gushing fans. I can't stand them at all. I see them on TV or wherever and I just want to smack some sense into them.

I've always said I would be calm, do my best not to interfere in whatever they were doing and simply tell them I was a fan of their work or their voice. Possibly ask for a picture depending on the circumstances. (Then of course they'd think I was cool for acting normally and be my friend.)

But all that went right out the window when Dream Autumn met Mr. Esparza. I feel so betrayed by the light of day. I mean next thing you know Dream Autumn is going to be driving a Smart car, eating out all month and not blogging every day in April. Where does it end?

Does anyone remember that old TV show from the early '90s Dinosaurs? I vaguely remember watching it, but the thing I remember most is that fat little baby constantly hitting his dad (I think with a frying pan) and screaming "Not the mama!"

I don't know why that particular image has remained in my head, but there it is. And I have felt more and more of a kinship with that creepy looking little baby. In my life, I am the baby and my Dell laptop is the dad. I'm not sure quite what the frying pan is in my situation, just increasingly intense insults I guess, but I know for sure who the mama is.

Did you figure it out? I kind of gave it away in the title. My mama is the Mac I do not own yet. And if I were willing and able to waste an adequate piece of machinery, taking a frying pan to my laptop would not be far off.

I had no real Mac exposure until I got to college and changed my major to journalism. That's where we met. And it was awkward at first, as we got to know each other and learned to navigate around our little quirks. But soon it was love. Two blissful years together before my pending graduation tore us apart.

I've made do with my laptop, we've had our occasional good times, but I suffer from Mac withdrawal that gets worse and worse as time goes by. And I can't necessarily break it down into why I love one and intensely dislike the other, I just do. And this is not intended as a judgment against PC lovers out there: To each his or her own.

When I first got my laptop three years or so ago it asked me to name it. So I got out my French dictionary and looked up the word reliable: Fiable. That proved to be a case of not living up to your name.

So a couple of weeks ago, I honestly went into my computer and renamed it. Fiable re-emerged as Not-the-Mac, upon which I am now typing this blog entry. Not-the-Mac and I have consented to co-exist until such a time when I have enough money to kick him out of the house for something better.

And if my new Mac happens to look like Justin Long, that'll just be the icing on the cake (But let me just clarify that the mama analogy and Justin Long are in no way related).

I was at a loss today for what to blog about. I have some ideas for the month, but I didn't feel like expounding on any of them for today's post. I commented on my Facebook status that I wasn't sure what to write, and my friend Katie suggested chickens. So I figured why not.

However, I have encountered a little snag: I don't know a single thing about chickens. I mean, I've never owned one, or cared for one or even been traumatized by one. Never. I don't have a creepy fascination with them, and I don't collect chicken figurines or stuffed animals. I don't even know any decent chicken jokes.

I looked them up on Wikipedia, checked YouTube, looked up both chicken.com and chickens.com and came up totally blank. Wow, this is a lot harder than I thought.

But Katie is a good friend of mine and one of my few faithful blog followers. If she wants chickens today, I am going to give her chickens. (By the way, I picked the above picture, because that my friends is a chicken with attitude.)

Then I realized of course, knowing my friend Katie, that there is one particular chicken I know she loves. That would be Chicken Little. More specifically, the cute little guy from the 2005 animated movie, voiced by Zach Braff. He's got to be the most adorable chicken ever created.

So, Katie, for today I will give you a little bit of Chicken Little. And tomorrow I will return to writing a blog post containing more of my sparkling wit you've all grown so used to.

Over the past few days, I have been watching the BBC mini-series Bleak House, which is based on the novel by Charles Dickens. It is pretty awesome I must say, so thanks Steph for telling me about it what, a year and a half ago?

So after I came down off the high of watching the very end of it last night, I started thinking about Dickens, which is not so much of a high for me. I cannot figure that man out.

At least, I can't figure out how I feel about him as an author. Biggest example: A Tale of Two Cities. I never had to read that book in high school or college, but last summer of my own accord, I sat down to read it. To be honest though, my motivation was because of a boy.

My favorite set of Broadway pipes, James Barbour, was set to play Sydney Carton in the musical version that was then on its way to Broadway, and has since, sadly, closed. I wanted to be familiar with the story in anticipation for the show. I am such a Broadway nerd!

The point here is, I sat down to read that book, voluntarily, and I still had to force my self to continue page after page. It took me forever. And when I was finished, I was so confused. Not about the storyline, I understood that, but about my own opinions.

Is it possible to love a story while hating the way it's told? I am sorry Mr. Dickens, but I really do not like the way you write. And yet I have to say you created some pretty amazing storylines. I managed to hate the book and love the story simultaneously. And after I read A Tale of Two Cities, I watched the 1935 movie with Ronald Colman as Sydney Carton and thought with was wonderful.

And with Bleak House, I loved the story a lot, but I will never ever sit down and read the book. Why? Because I wouldn't want to ruin it for myself. Am I the only one who feels this way about one of the most popular English novelists of his time?

I have never been an especially goal-oriented person. It's not that I wander life with no direction or purpose; I've just never been one to set down goals. I don't think I've ever once made a New Year's Resolution, let alone tried to go about keeping it.

But with this commitment I've made to Blog Every Day in April, resolutions are on my mind. Now granted, the one I plan to make today is on a very small scale, but it is a resolution nonetheless. And here it is.

I cannot cook. My parents like to argue this, and I will admit there are a few small exceptions, but in the grand scheme of things: ME NO COOK-Y. I don't enjoy it that much, and honestly, where is the motivation when you are cooking for one?

My philosophy: Why take the time and effort to make something that tastes mediocre at best, when you can pay someone else to make something slightly better than mediocre with the possibility of deliciousness. (OK, apparently that is actually a word, because Blogger didn't put a red line under it. How surprising.)

So as you can tell from my attitude, I go out to eat a lot. Not fancy restaurants of course, but not quite fast food either. I try to find the good stuff in between. And for the most part, I don't see a problem with this.

However, at present I am quite skint (broke) and finding it hard to curb such a lifelong habit. I mean, to this day I don't recall how I survived college. It mostly conjures up images of a lot of potatoes, which I am sure my former roommates will all back up.

So on to the actual resolution: For the month of April, and I can truthfully say from April 1st, I am only allowed to go out to eat a maximum of once a week. AND, that is only if I am dining out with another person, most likely my parents since I don't really know anyone else in Omaha.

Even as I make this resolution I don't have a clear idea of what I will live off in April, but I have no intention of thinking that far ahead. I will achieve my goal! (She says as she heads off to her job at a restaurant!) Though actually I rarely eat there.

So last night, in a roundabout way, I discovered a project called Blog Every Day April. To the best of my knowledge the person heading it is an author named Maureen Johnson, whom I'd heard of through my personal librarian Steph.

You can go to her Web site to read her blog entry introducing the idea. She is trying to get as many people involved as she can and will feature a random blogger each day. I have read the blogs of the first two and they are quite interesting.

I think it's a great idea, and wish I had heard of it sooner so I could have started participating on April 1. As such, I will have to decide sometime this month how or if I will make up those lost two days.

Now I don't know how well I will maintain this, coming up with 30 straight (well 28) days worth of clever, interesting blog posts might be beyond me just now. So I cannot promise they will be interesting, but I can promise I will post something each day for the rest of the month of April.

I checked just now and there are at least 283 bloggers who have signed up to participate. I don't know if I will actually submit my blog as one of them, but I will still follow along with this. As always I love feedback, so feel free to follow along and make comments.

http://blogeverydayapril.blogspot.com/