Disasters and Manipulations (but not dramatic)

A few crazy things. Short one first.

I experienced an EARTHQUAKE! Except that it wasn't that exciting actually. I was reading at a table outside and I started to feel dizzy and a little sick and I thought I was getting vertigo again (which is stupid because I only got that once in 6th grade... but I'm still afraid!). I promptly forgot as soon as it was over.

Soon after, Matt texted me asking if I was okay after the earthquake and I told him I didn't even feel it. It wasn't until later when I talked to my roommates that I made the connection. Exciting... (But obviously I am grateful that it wasn't scarier for me)

In other news, I have taken another great leap towards adulthood by having my very first (drum roll) car trouble! (exclamation point for emphasis, not excitement)

I woke up on Wednesday and couldn't start the car. Very luckily, I can walk to CBS so I could still get to work. On my lunch brake I called my mom to speculate over the trouble, and she surmised that I needed a jump start.

I know jump starts are easy because I've seen them done a jillion times. After work I went to the leasing office at my apartment to see if someone could jump start the car. Closed. I went to the guard and asked for her advice, and she gave me the number to the Park La Brea tow place. They didn't have any people available, but suggested I call AAA. They told me that if I pay out of pocket, it will probably cost around $60, so they recommended I become a member because that will also cost about $60 and I get four free calls.

So I went in and tried to set up, which was a struggle because the website was difficult to navigate. It was difficult to verify that I got four free calls. Plus, I called the help line once and got an answer, but I tried to call again for another question, and they closed. Lame. Finally I get it set up. Then I call to have someone come over, and while I'm on the phone, my mom rings. When I call her back, she said she put me on HER AAA plan. So then I had to call back and cancel my membership and... just a bunch of crap that took forever.

The guy arrived and, as it turns out, my car did NOT need a jump start. The starter was broken... which, by the way, I thought was a term they were dumbing down for me so I would understand. Nay. That's the actual word for ... whatever it is. Clever. So he told me I had to bring it into my mechanic, of which I naturally have none. So I called my boss, told her my car was likely not going to start in the morning blah blah blah-- she was SUPER understanding and great.

So the next day the guy (George) came back and started my car and I followed him to the shop. I was TRYING to summon my inner haggler, lady on a mission so that I wouldn't get taken advantage of, but unfortunately I defaulted to my go-to stranger personality-- overly cheery and grateful. I can't help it! I don't want people taking care of my car to be pissed at me! I prefer to have people not take advantage of me because they would feel terribly guilty. Idealistic, maybe, but it's... something I have a hard time controlling. I ended up paying nearly $300. My mom said that sounds fine... but who really knows.

Note to self: acquire a car-person friend. (I also want a history-buff friend, but only for my own pleasure... not to abuse them. So if you know anyone... these are the people that I'm looking for... Actually though, maybe you could find me an interesting man. Yeah... make that you're first priority if you're going to evaluate your acquaintances for me)

ANYWAY, the neatest part was that we had about a JILLION deliveries to do for Present Pictures. WAY more than usual. SOOOOOO I got to drive my supervisor's car, which was AWESOME! I don't know what kind of a car it is because... I entirely forgot to make that observation... I'm pretty sure it's blue. Regardless, I've never really driven another car before. The whole day was SO SURREAL because of it.

When I finally got back to my other car, it felt so strange! And to make the day even MORE surreal, we went to a taping of The Soup. Joel McHale is funny! Too bad I don't ever feel like watching his shows. Maybe I will now (probs not).

I finally got to watch The Doors! After watching it and then reading about it... I feel like it might not be the most accurate representation of Jim Morrison. I know that they are going to dramatize things, but it just wasn't the way I would have chosen to idealize him. Here is an example: In the movie, Pam (his lady (Jim and Pam... )) did heroine with some guy and Jim, super high, flipped out and locked her in the closet and set it on fire. She lived and found him and apologized for what SHE had done.

That didn't happen.

So... that's a HUGE personality trait that they added to Jim and Pam. He's the kind of person who goes so crazy that he tries to kill people. And she's so deluded that she apologizes to the person who tried to kill her. That's a whole level of crazy that... needless to say speaks a lot about a person. And it colors the rest of what he did. Where is the poetry coming from if it's out of someone that is completely crazy?

That said, Val Kilmer could NOT have done better. However good or bad or entertaining or whatever Oliver Stone's interpretation was, Val Kilmer put his ALL into it. I was SUPER impressed! AND I was super surprised to find out that he only got nominated for an MTV Movie Award. I contend that if it came out today, he would get some pretty big awards. I don't know what happened here.

But weirdly enough, in one of the articles I read about the movie, they said that a new anti-Stone documentary on The Doors is coming out in 2010 (People Are Strange)! So I looked it up and it had it's premiere. So I saved it on netflix, but I couldn't order it yet. And then I got into the car, literally RIGHT after I looked all of this up, and an ad came on FOR THE MOVIE! It's narrated by Johnny Depp.

So then I was thinking, this was all a PLOY and they GOT ME! A few weeks ago, I walked in on my roommate watching the end of The Doors. Now I see that they planted this movie to stir up some interest for their new documentary. And they TOTALLY took me right in. Now I'm obsessed/intensely curious and there is no way that I'm NOT seeing that movie. Crazy.

I was curious as to whether I would develop a Bob Dylan-esque obsession with Jim Morrison, but the other day I went to Barnes and Noble and saw a coffee table book about Dylan. I spent a good 20 minutes going through the whole thing. Oh Bob Dylan! How could I love anyone as much as him? (anyone out of all the people I haven't and will never meet. I obviously love, at the very least, my mom above Bob Dylan. I'm not crazy) Plus honestly I've only had two full-blown obsessions with music artists. Michael Jackson in 7th grade, which WAS huge and meaningful despite my age, and Bob Dylan last year-- also intense and meaningful... to me.