Bragging About My Life (Sorry) with a Side of Cellphone Complaint

Life is going GREAT so far!!

Yesterday/Tuesdays in general, according to my schedule, look the roughest. I have work from 9am-1pm, then class from 2pm to 6pm (but really 5:30pm most of the time) and Chords from 7pm-10pm (except yesterday when I had to be there at 6:30pm).

ANYWAY, that is a LOOONG day! Except that it really wasn't. Hillel is SO un-taxing that I mostly read for my homework the whole time. And what did I read? Scripts of Two and a Half Men and 30 Rock. Then I had a free sandwich and off to film class.

This was my first film discussion and my teacher wanted to do getting-to-know-you exercises, which in my opinion cause WWAAAAYYY more anxiety than they alleviate. In fact, I don't think they EVER alleviate anxiety. I'm not sure why professors (or TAs in this case) do it.

BUUUUUUUT you know how we did it in this class?! We got in groups of three and we had to pick out three movies that would be on all of our top ten movie list!!!

!!!!!!!!

THAT IS MY FAVORITE THING TO DISCUSS WITH STRANGERS!!! Particularly strangers who love movies!!

AAAAAND!!!!!

We picked The Princess Bride (!!!), American Beauty (!!), and Wall-e (which wouldn't REALLY make my top ten... but... obviously we needed a little give, and it was perfectly acceptable).

AAAAAAAAND!!! (can there even BE an "and"!!?)

My class' favorites as a whole were The Princess Bride (!!!!!!!!), American Beauty (!!), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind!

GOLD!! We even filled out little cards and put our own personal top five movies on that! This is where I want to be!!

Then we watched some old movies and discussed. It's really about learning the best film-story technique right now... so it's not too noteworthy what the movies were. Regardless, in the future we're basically watching a movie and then discussing it at the end. That is what the 3.5-4 hours will make up.

And THEN I get to sing. Or in this case, listen to people try out, which ... you can use your imagination to think of how fun that is (QUITE fun).

Plus today, in my TV writing class, we voted to write our class script (which we're doing BEFORE individual ones) on The Office!!!!

And today we watched an episode of South Park in class. South Park is hilarious as it is, but I think it's ESPECIALLY hilarious when you watch it in class. AAAND when you have to talk about it. For instance, here is a direct quote from my professor:

"So we talked about the story of one little kid masturbating a dog escalating into..."

I know I'm getting into my brag-y self again... but it's MUUUCH better than the downer I've been more recently. At least for me it is.

Here's something though. Yesterday I read a lot of scary health care things and then I told them to Elena later in the night. Presumably as a consequence, I had nightmares about my mom losing her health care.

Also, I had to buy deodorant for the first time in literally years. I'd obtained so much from various places but I've finally run out.

Also, this isn't relevant to today or this week or anything, but I would like to reflect on how depressed (yes, depressed) cellphones make me. I'm not TRRYYYYING to be a butt (I say that so much... on some level I'm sure I am trying to be a butt), but I HATE that you can't talk to ANYONE without them being distracted by their phone. I hate it because it's alREADY hard to make a connection with someone. But then they get a text. And MOST people look at it... but they insist that you keep talking or THEY try to keep talking but you know they aren't thinking about your conversation anymore. And then they smile and ask "what was I talking about?" and in my head I'm like "fuck you. I don't give a shit anymore!" because you know that whatever the text was was completely useless and I just think the person with you should get your attention.

I only like actually talking to a few people anyway... but I think it's more of a depressing notion. I can't even talk to my MOM without her getting distracted. That's why grandpas are awesome. But I ESPECIALLY despise when people pick up their calls... which only a FEW people still haven't realized is like... the least cool thing ever. Some people do it in the middle of THEIR sentence!! And some people don't even give you a warning.

Actually the worst thing is that I can't say anything about it. I'm pretty sure I'd be less offended, especially in the case of answering the phone mid sentence, if the person slapped me across the face.... but if you got noticeably upset, you'd look completely crazy and irrational.

Buuuut... I had a great day today!!

David Letterman said Extract was brilliant.... so maybe I'll check that out.

Big Bang Toast

Well I went crazy again and only have seven more episodes to watch before I finish the entire series of The Big Bang Theory. Thankfully it's only two seasons long so... while I clearly have some sort of a problem, I haven't given up my life completely...

On the bright side, it's now another choice for my final project for my TV writing class. PLUS, it's apparently the highest rated sitcom behind Two and Half Men (if I understood correctly) and it's a young show so it'll probably be around for a while after I graduate... all of this according to my professor... not my own observations.

Today I got a lot done before I realized that we don't have class tomorrow. Then I abruptly stopped. Oh well...

(If you can't figure out what happened to the rest of my day, refer to paragraph one.)

Here's one glorious thing. I obtained the new toaster-- the one that I didn't find on public ground. And it makes PERFECT toast!!! Breakfast just got infinitely more lovely! Peanut butter toast! Eggs and toast! Toasty turkey sandwiches... or dare I try making my own lovely, toasty CLUB sandwiches!?!! And if I run out of money again, there's nothing wrong with a little plain buttered toast. Did I mention that this toaster toasts BAGELS?! It even has a special setting for FROZEN bagels!!

Joni Mitchell, Hillel, Hair, Other Uselessness...

Before I start... You know when you know something could likely be good or interesting but it looks or sounds so SO boring that you either aren't going to see or hear it OR it's going to take a lot of will power to see or hear it? Ok, to my knowledge, it's a common situation with no single word to describe it. Now, Kevin and I used to use "Joni Mitchell" as the description. For example:

Person A: Are you going to see Paul Revere's house?

Person B: eh... I don't know. It's pretty Joni Mitchell.

This isn't to say anything bad about the actual Joni Mitchell. At the time we came up with the phrase (and subsequent list of Joni Mitchell things), we felt like we SHOULD listen to Joni Mitchell but... it was too Joni Mitchell. Since then, I have grown very fond of Joni Mitchell, particularly the songs "Little Green," "River," and "Carey." Also, Bob Dylan really likes Joni Mitchell. Regardless, I need this to be part of my blogging vocabulary.

Pressing on... I saw a new trailer for The Open Road starring Jeff Bridges and Justin Timberlake, who I think is a WONDERFUL actor, but I concede that I could just be seduced by his charm and charisma... although in my opinion, that's about 75% of acting. It does look a little JONI MITCHELL though. Also, it looks like Justin's less cute-and-funny-teen version of Crossroads.... and there are parents involved.

I had my first day at the Hillel dining hall (as opposed to the cafe, where I started on Thursday). It was lovely. I worked with two boys, which made me very shy... so I'm going to have to try to speak more next time. But also, I enjoyed watching how they interact with me as "the girl"-- where they drew the line on everything. For instance, they didn't seem to have a problem talking about strippers, but they wouldn't look me in the eye while doing it. Also, their voices became gentler when directing their speech to me.

Here is something glorious for me (relatively speaking) that I noticed. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I start the day with class which begins at 10am, which I think is the earliest that my brain is fully functioning. BUUUT on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I start the day with (largely non-interactive) work at 9am... which is fine because I don't NEED to have a fully functioning brain yet. Then on Saturday I start work at 10am... which is a LITTLE sucky... but it IS interactive and also a good way to get up on a Saturday.

And for something unrelated (as all of these things are), part of my homework was to familiarize myself with these 4 shows:

1. Two and a Half Men

2. The Office

3. 30 Rock

4. The Big Bang Theory

(Being a television major is AWESOME... I do have other things too though... because all majors require work!)

I obviously know The Office and 30 Rock, but I watched several episodes of the other two. Not bad. I particularly like The Big Bang Theory because Leonard is David from Roseanne (my favorite character)... which I already knew, but what I DIDN'T know was that Sara Gilbert, Darlene from Roseanne, is a regular character too!! Fun!

Lastly, Elena and Matt went to see a Boston taping of Wheel of Fortune! I can't WAIT to hear what it was like!

Double lastly, how could THE Final Destination (why did we need a "the?"), aka: Final Destination 4, reach the top of the box office??!! And without any Devon Sawa!! I just don't understand! I'm inclined to blame the recent series of films with bad lady hair:

(Bullock in All About Steve)

(Adams in Julie and Julia)

You may say that's just two films... I say two's enough to do some damage! People are growing confused and they want to see death follow some beautiful people around.

(I'm really kidding though. I think we need more leads with less attractive hair so we can start relaxing some standards here. I think Adams should grow some armpit hair... help her sisters out a bit).

(but actually not-- I'm not that liberated.)

(yet...)

:::dramatic music swell:::

Job Security and Class

Glorious glorious glorious!

First of all, the Hillel job is pie. Plus, I make sandwiches during the job (but only 2 kinds of sandwiches-- lox and tuna) but MAYBE this will be able to count as some kind of food services job in the future if I need to be a waitress. Mostly it's nice because it isn't terribly busy. I got through a LOT of my Colbert book re-read, which will hopefully be replaced with a book of more academic use in the future (I didn't realize I would be able to read and thus wasn't prepared).

Also, while I'm speaking of work, I DID get my SED job back (it was questionable before because I thought I was too busy for them to take me). Soooo I'm working either 21 or 22 hours a week this year (questionable because I know I'm starting at 10am at Hillel on Saturday but I DON'T know when I'm ending... I didn't think to ask. I imagine 1 or 2pm)!! WHOOO! I haven't had money in so long (my fault, my fault, I know, I know, I know, I know!). Elena informs me that she thinks this is going to be stressful... but I don't think so. Or maybe I'm just greedy about the moneys.

ANYWAY, my classes seem kick ass!

TV writing: My professor has an INTENSE career! If you look up Michael Loman on imbd.com, you'll see what I mean. He's very kind and not scary at all, though. Also, he's my professor for my television comedy (sans writing), which I haven't had yet, but... I assume they'll be similarly awesome. PLUS I get to write a script on my own as a final project and it can be whatever running sitcom I want. YES!!

Health care sociology: When I signed up for the course, I thought I would enjoy it because it's so timely. NOW I see that I'm so fortunate to take the class while we have a strong hope for change. When I left the class, I a LITTLE wanted to kill myself over our current health care situation. I'll probably (hopefully) write out the stuff I think is important. Crazy stuff here.

Art and literature of film: AWESOME!! Basically we watch a movie on Tuesdays. Then right after we discuss it. Then on Thursday we have a lecture about it. Then Friday is an optional re-screening of the movie from Tuesday. Two things are great about that:

1. It's GREAT that they accommodate for wanting to watch a movie twice. On a big screen!

2. That's 2.5 hours on a Friday that I don't have to go to... which makes it easier for me to decide to take a trip... to Penn State, perhaps? Yes!

Also, we're not really starting the novels yet, but they're going to quiz us on the novels, which is nice because it'll make me actually read them. They aren't that long, so I don't think it'll get to be too much.

Some other semi-interesting things:

1. My friend Nora and I were walking home from Julia's (west) at 1am and we saw this guy screaming at a girl in a really scary way for a long time. We thought, maybe it'll be fine, but on the off chance that something happens, it would never escape our conscience's. So I called the police and we watched as two police cars came and took them both away. It couldn't have taken more than a minute from the time I placed the call. I hadn't even hung up before the first police car got there. Awesome. After wards we basically kissed each other's ass, telling each other what good samaritans we are. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.

2. I watched Pumpkin. When I started it I was like "oh god, this is the worst movie ever!" And then as it progressed I was like "wait... this really IS the worst movie... in a good way." I think it was intentional.. in which case, it's pretty funny. I guess it's kind of in the realm of But I'm a Cheerleader... which I do like.

3. New season of The Office starts Sept. 17 at 9pm. PUUUUMPED!! It starts in real time with Pam four months pregnant!

A Wee Obama Plug

Just THINK about donating to the Obama health care campaign. After all, we'd rather him ask us for the money instead of lobbyists who will ask for their agenda to be put in the bill. And if everyone gives $5...

Gods' Shout-Out

Usually I don't have a hard time sleeping, but last night I actually laid in bed in the dark for hours with either no sleep or very restless sleep (you know when you can't really tell... I have to assume I was at least partially asleep). Plus I woke up like... 3 times to pee, which is also not the usual for me. I guess it was first day of class jitters, which I didn't even realize I had. But it was good because it wasn't difficult at all for me to get up at 9am.

Yesterday I decided to get my books, mostly because I have guitar today, the only class I ASSUME I'm going to need the book for on the first day. Unfortunately that was the only book that wasn't there. But at least I tried. BUUUUUT two glorious things occurred:

1. My only book for TV writing was a book that I previously had for another class. The miracle is that I STILL have it!! I get rid of MOST of my books. So... I think that was a shout-out from the gods.

2. Since I dropped my other scary literature class (where I needed to read The Odyssey and Portrait of an Artist BEFORE class even STARTED!! (ah!!)), I didn't check to see what books we would be reading for my new choice, art and literature of film. Weeeell, I'm pleased to announce that the books are Frankenstein, Basic Kafka, selected tales from Edgar Allen Poe, Miss Lonely Hearts/Day of Locust (?), and a textbook called Understanding Movies, which has Spiderman on the cover (which will make me look mighty intellectual). I'm SOOO pleased because I'll still be getting some classic literature, but the odds that I'll read Frankenstein are a MILLION times better than the odds that I would have read The Odyssey!!

In other news, I went through my netflix queue to put movies I really want to see at the top of the list (an act I practice every so often), buuuuut I forgot to put them in order of how I actually want to receive them... so I'm getting Pumpkin today... which I DID want to see, but not in the same way that I wanted to see Into the Wild or Death to Smoochy. Oh well.

Also, Elena and I found a 4-slot toaster in our vestibule-- basically my dream. I fantasize about peanut butter toast breakfasts. However, the toaster is temperamental, not surprising given it's abandoned state when we found it. My fantasies WOULD be ruined, but lovely Corina is giving me a toaster. I'm taking this to mean that the same gods who saved me from buying an extra book must really want me to have toast this year. I accept!

Also, the cast of Seinfeld is doing a semi-reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm. The plot is going to be for 5 episodes, three of which will have the entire cast. They'll be kind of playing themselves but the plot is that they are creating a reunion show, so you'll get to see scenes from the fictional reunion show... so basically in some parts they will be playing their Seinfeld characters. Pretty cool! Although... I don't get HBO.

Also, I watched the most recent episode of Weeds yesterday (it was THRILLING), only to learn that it was the SEASON FINALE! BAAAH!! No Weeds!! No Office!! No Daily Show or Colbert Report!! What am I going to do with myself??!!

I hear Greek is good...

I think Glee is starting again, except I watched the pilot and I didn't see what the fuss was about.

I guess I'll have to go back to movies for a while. Or do my homework...

BUSAAAY!

I forget how busy life is (I know that sounds like... some sort of flat exaggerated open-liner... but I am SERIOUS!)!!! A jillion people to see, a jillion things to do, and a jillion places to be. It's overwhelming!

In fact, I can't even list everything I've done every day (thank god for you) because there's too much (or more likely, my brain has lost the ability to retain even slightly large pieces of information). I'll just give you an example instead.

Yesterday I got up to go to Splash (the activities fair thing... the main attraction, in my opinion, was the hamburgers, which I talked about excessively up until the point where one was in my mouth... oh and also to promote Chords and get people to audition). I was intending on being at the Starbucks outside at 9:40am... but because of chronic-early syndrome, I was there at 9:30am. That's EARLY (in my opinion). Yadda Yadda hamburgers (THREE) yadda. There was also excessive screaming.

ANYWAY, then I went to help Caroline move for the second day! Now she lives four flights up ... a trip which leaves me winded when I go up ONCE with no intention of coming back down within 3 hours. Which is why ANTICIPATING moving her is torture. And she's got a LOOOOT of stuff... including a bed and futon!! Crazy. But actually it isn't AS impossible as you'd imagine. I don't know how, but somehow the stairs, while definitely painful, don't become AS awful if you're making 7 trips up and down. I don't know why. Although this fact certainly doesn't seem to diminish the back pain the next morning (today). I considered the two day activity as my body's physical warm-up before it plunges back into regular activity. I considered the screaming at Splash to be the vocal warm-up. Get used to talking again!

After that, I came home (with so many martini glasses that Caroline gave me that I can make martinis... and smash them to the ground after every drink and probably still get pretty off (a practice I definitely wouldn't recommend... being drunk around smashed glasses)). Elena and I had tea and apples and soup. Then we went to a bingo/ice cream/ Tiffany's and Coach prizes night, for which we left at 9pm, although it started at 10.

Bingo is HIGH anxiety. I have no idea why it is intended for the elderly. Also, after I was over the anxiety because there was no way I was going to win, I got really sleepy. Plus, the guy calling out the numbers started sounding REALLY annoying to me. I was not alone it ANY of these feelings. Everyone at the table seemed to go through all those exact emotions-- anxiety, sleepy, and then pissed at the caller. He WAS really annoying though. He seemed to get really pissed off at all the people and then he just lost enthusiasm completely. We were like, "Jesus! This isn't THAT hard of a job, here! Settle down!"

Then I went home and passed out.

That's far too many activities for one day! I feel like I could spread that out over 3 weeks! And all of my days seem to be scheduled like that! Where are my three days in a row of neither seeing nor talking to anyone, watching movies all day long? Gone? Gone for the rest of my life!? Yeah...