Lots of Caps Today

Today was berNARDed (that's a replacement word for it's less PC, but seemingly necessary to my vocabulary, rhyming counterpart)!!!! Seriously.

So last night I was procrastinating, yadda yadda. So I decided to start the second half of my script after Colbert last night, which is fine because I pretty much always do that. So I turn on my computer and I notice...

IT'S NOT CHARGING!! So I play with the charger for a bit. Then I try turning the computer on and off. I figure it's the charger's fault because it's lit up green, which shouldn't happen unless it's already plugged into the computer and the computer is charged... neither of which are the case.

Finally, I have a HEART ATTACK! It's 12:30am, the library is going to close at 2am. Plus, even if it didn't, I needed to use the program that was on my computer-- you can't download onto a school computer. Plus, the program I was using was a trial version of Final Draft-- I'm not going to go into the reasoning behind this because it's probably boring... but the point is that it's only on my computer AND it sucks because when I print it out, it leaves a watermark behind because I haven't paid for the program (I don't think I'm being too cheap but it's $79!!).

Regardless, I text Amanda because I KNOW she has a mac and PRAY that she's awake because I only have 57 minutes left on my computer. She is and I basically run to her place-- and bless her heart because she was clearly half-asleep when I got there. Anyway, I set up shop in her common room and I see that HER CHARGER ISN'T WORKING ON MY COMPUTER EITHER! Clearly the my charger AND my computer are dead! Buuuuut now it says that I have 2 hours and 40 minutes (which sometimes happens, where the remaining battery time is inaccurate). So I decide to just stay out in Stuvi, where Amanda lives (about a 12 minute walk away), and finish my thing. Miraculously I DO finish before the computer dies-- it is now down to 15 minutes. I walk home at about 4am.

When I wake up later at 9am, I remember what happened and want to cry. I have a paper due at midnight on Friday, which isn't a huge deal, but it does suck when you can't do something at home. More importantly, I have to make this script happen before the final one is due... the one I was working on was only the second half of a rough draft-- still a lot of my grade though. I even briefly act pissy about it to Elena in the morning.

But, then I went to health care sociology and we watched a video in which a billion jillion people were in pain or dying. I was like "I GET it, universe! Okay okay, my own personal computer not charging is HARDLY something to freak out about in the grand scheme of things." Jesus Herbert Christ! The universe almost NEVER lets me wallow in self pity.

Side note: I cried AGAIN in that health care class. STUPID LADY HORMONES!! Honestly, I regularly get pissed when people cry, so I'm being a real hypocrite by pointing out all of my emotional surges... but I really think my tear ducts are a bit hilariously out of control. The other night, at like... 3am, I was watching The Brady Bunch. In this episode, Bobby is obsessed with Jesse James because he doesn't quite see that Jesse James was a vicious killer villain. In the episode, Mike and Carol make Bobby talk to the son of a man who was killed by Jesse James. That night he has a dream that he's on a train-- and this is like... the worst set ever!-- with the rest of his family. Then Jesse James comes on and shoots the family. But it's The Brady Bunch so, I think the gun is just his fingers shaped like a gun, although I forget. But the shot sound is DEFINITELY just Jesse James saying "BANG BANG BANG." No sound effects. And then the whole family bloodlessly, hilariously, and dramatically fall over on each other as Bobby delivers a TERRIBLE performance of fake horror and tears. It SHOULD have been hilarious-- in fact it was. But tears ran down my face! REALLY, LADY HORMONES?! REALLY?! But back to my other tale...

Anyway, after class, I try to go to COM and see if any of the computers have a real version of Final Draft so that I don't have to hand in something with watermarks on it. I search for a while, but most of the labs have classes in them. So I decide to go to the dining hall for lunch and then come back at noon (my class is at 1pm). Well, I try the open labs and none of them have it. Finally I realize I should just ask someone. I do and it turns out none of our computers even have Final Draft-- ANNOYING!! They have photoshop!

But now I know that I'm going to have to pay for Final Draft, even though I still haven't put in my check for this week, so I only have $13 right now. Plus, if my computer has only 15 minutes of life left, where am I going to put this program?! It means, I'll have to get my computer fixed right away, but what if THEY charge me? So I had to pick up and deposit my check, and in the mean time see if my computer can be fixed for free. If it can't, have to fix computer when my check clears two days later. Then I have to spend $80 for Final Draft. Then I have to spend the rest of my money on my ticket home next week... which means that I can't go out to dinner or do anything fun. And I'll probably have to borrow money from my mom for gas for my trip. BAAAH!!

But, since I couldn't do anything about it before class, I decided to read for a half hour in front of my class (YES Bridget Jones!). Miraculously, a kid from my class was passing and reminded me that we don't even HAVE class today-- we have individual meetings!!! I felt AWEFUL because I don't think I'm usually that irresponsible... but we haven't had class in three weeks, so I forgive myself. Anyway, that means that I didn't have to be ready until 3:45pm instead of 1pm (thanks for the "W," Wolbers).

I go back home, thinking I'll just take a shower and then plan my actions. Before I do, I decide to use my last 15 minutes of computer time to look up the number for the Mac store and inquire about my problem-- maybe we could trouble shoot over the phone. It's possible. I open my computer to find...

I have nearly FIVE HOURS on it! What?! I decide that the computer could be misreading it, but I decide to start trying to rewrite the script in Word instead of Final Draft. Miraculously, the computer stays alive, depleting in charge and continually saying it's NOT charging... but at some point I see that there is no way it could not be charging. I worked for hours and hours last night... it would FOR SURE have run out of battery if it wasn't charging. I guess it's just trying to fool me!!! MAJOR CRISIS AVERTED!

Anyway, I continue doing the script in Word and it's working WAAAAAY better than I thought. Although, it would probably only take an hour to type a script in Final Draft, after three hours I was nearly done with it in Word (it's a margin and spacing issue). BUUUUUT, I couldn't finish the last four pages because I was going to have a heart attack about being late. I left about 35 minutes before my appointment to go and print.

So I get to the library, which is VERY close to where my appointment is, and go to print. WEEEELL my Mac Word doesn't exactly fit with the Windows Word-- REALLY annoying, always. So I have to reformat it a bit. About 10 minutes before I have to be at my appointment, I print, without the last four pages. I just tear them off the back of the script I wrote with the watermarks, assuming he'd be fine with it-- it IS a rough draft. Oh God though, even in memory, 10 minutes makes my heart race! So I go to print and... OBVIOUSLY it won't. OOOOBVIOUSLY! This is why I leave 4 hours early for plane rides. I go up to the desk and they say the server is down so I should wait a minute. Fine. I go back to my computer and refresh like crazy.

Now I'm down to 4 minutes before I have to be at my appointment. I'm already going to be a minute late. AAAAAHHH!!

Honestly, I HATE being late! But I REALLY HAAAAAATE being late with people that I respect and admire, like I do with this professor. PLUS, unbeknownst to him, he was a huge contributing factor to my release from my chick flick funk a few days ago! And I just KNOOOOW he's waiting for me because last time he wasn't running late at all-- in fact, I went in several minutes early. Oh God!

FINALLY the computer allows me to release the document to be printed. I run over to the counter, but the guy says it WASN'T released!!! He tells me to wait...

Ten to FIFTEEN MINUTES!

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

As I'm leaving, actually whisper "FUCK!" aloud, which... I'm pretty sure I've never done before. Right afterwards, I immediately start berating myself. This is my fault. I know to leave earlier. Community printers are NEVER reliable. I only have 3 minutes left so I decide to go with my watermarked paper. I actually get out of the library, ready to run, when I remember that I actually crossed out a full page of the watermarked paper. Like... there is a big X over a page because I just planned to attach the last four pages to the first part in Word.

Immediately see that a big X is worse than being late. I go back into the library, trying to get another computer. It's already the time of my appointment. I finally get to the computer and see that the computer has charged me and that the document is in my history. I go to the man at the printing station and tell him that I'm pretty sure it went through. I have some documents pending, but I really did release one. He goes over and sees that that is correct and gives me my document.

I RUUUUN to my appointment and I get there in 2 minutes, but I'm already almost 6 minutes late... which I KNOOOOOW I sound insane about this time thing, but our meeting is only 15 minutes long! I feel TEEEEERRRRIBLE!! I get up to the floor and...

HE'S STILL IN A MEETING! This time he's running late!!! And he continues to be in a meeting for another TEN MINUTES!!!!! I am SOOOOOO relieved that I chose to go back and wait for the paper instead of choosing the big X, watermarked version of the assignment.

I end up having the meeting with him, and he didn't care about the watermarks or anything... which, I really knew he wouldn't. I got a B+/A- on the first half of the script, which has watermarks on it. PLUUUUS, as it turns out, I just ASSUMED we were turning in a final draft of that script, but we're not. Although I really think/hope that I finish my script so I can use it as a spec script later. Plus, I kind of like it. But the point is, I DEFINITELY don't have to buy Final Draft. $80 saved. Plus the billions saved because my computer is not really broken, just quirky.

Anyway, as I was walking home, I realized that even though I had this terrible, eventful, super stressful day... nothing even happened at ALL!! If I had done NOTHING, my day would have been just fine. I just had like... 1000 false alarms.

And that's why my day was BERNARDED!!!

Take it Easy

After I had my chick flick, what-makes-Lloyd Dobler-so-unattainable!? freak-out (which unfortunately escalated to near tears with my roommate later... buuuh), I went to bed pretty miserable. But the next day in class, in an amazing and the-universe-really-must-look-out-for-me coincidence, we had what my professor called "the boisterous women" day during which we watched and discussed Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Roseanne-- lovely, flawed, self-motivated, and generally.... a normal amount of happy (obviously "normal" is subjective). Even more importantly, my professor was in love with all of these women. So, I'll just find someone like him. Done. Freak out subsided.

Missed The Big Bang Theory last night because I was asleep... again! I don't think I've EVER caught that show during it's broadcast. For some reason I seem to regularly be asleep at 9:30pm on Mondays. Something is amiss.

Sometime last week I had to stay up all night for a paper (lame) and the next day I had to find a way to be alive during work. In addition to my first attempt with 5 Hour Energy (which cannot evaluate as I was a walking zombie without reliable opinions at the time ... which may actually be a reasonable evaluation in itself), I also decided to read Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, which is my go-to book for when I need to laugh immediately (like when I have scary thoughts at 3am). I figured if I was laughing, I'd be awake. It worked miraculously except that I can't stop reading it, even though I've read it at LEAST 4 times before! Plluuuuus the flaw in reading the Bridget Jones' books is that she speaks in incomplete shorthand sentences because it's in diary form.... so I start THINKING in incomplete sentences. I skipped several words of this very blog entry and had to go back and complete the sentence. That book is HILARIOUS though. And it totally does keep me awake.

Speaking of which, I regularly fall asleep in my Art and Literature of Film class. I am convinced that it is because the class is right after lunch and it's weirdly hot and the seats are padded and cozy... and it's dark. Plus, honestly, some of the movies just aren't that fun to watch, even if they are pretty interesting in terms of innovation. Caffeine does not help. I've tried everything short of energy drinks, which I don't really want to be consuming twice a week.

Today I was, as always, sure that I would fall asleep, but I really wanted to see Rear Window. So instead of having only Winter Fresh gum, I also got Big Red for a little jolt if I felt the sleepy pocket nearing. Buuuut I didn't even need them because the movie was EXCELLENT! Maybe all Hitchcock movies are really great and I'm biased against them for some unexplained reason. In fact, I'm pretty sure this must be the case. Regardless, the movie was VEEERY energizing and I participated tons afterwards as a result. Which just goes to show that a good movie can cure the sleepy right up.

Lastly, Claire posted a number of ways to get out of a funk including the idea to make a positive playlist. I JUST made a playlist for that very reason called Take it Easy (which doesn't actually include the song "Take it Easy") and I thought I'd share its contents:

1. "No Rain" by Blind Melon

2. "I Can See Clearly" by Johnny Nash

3. "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes

4. "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles

5. "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman

6. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" by Bob Dylan

7. "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" by Bob Dylan

8. "Penny & Me" by Hanson

9. "No Rain" by Blind Melon

A petite half hour of Take it Easy.

Continued Research

To follow up on my interest in Chris Rock's Good Hair documentary, I decided to look up Tyra Banks' opinion on the matter-- I vaguely remember her having a natural hair day where she and others took off their wigs. Anyway, she had an entire show on the subject, semi-inspired by Chris Rock's documentary and it was SUPER enlightening. I didn't realize how intense hair was for black women. It's SUPER sad because the chemicals burn. And little girls have terrible self-esteem-- other kids made fun of them. One five-year-old was obsessed with a Hannah Montana wig, not because she loved Hannah Montana, but because she thought it made her look pretty. One woman went back to her natural hair and her mom won't introduce her to people as her daughter because she just "doesn't look like my daughter anymore." One lady was relaxing her THREE-year-old daughter's hair-- and that shit is super painful and TERRIBLE for your hair! Plus, they spend like, a JILLION dollars on all of the stuff! And the extensions! And it's so time consuming!

On Tyra, they said that historically, women with looser hair were way more likely to be freed and have better jobs and stuff because it was a sign of being the offspring of the slave owner, and the trend stayed.

I just really didn't realize any of this. I kind of feel like a douche because I always feel so sorry for myself and other women because of how much maintenance is required, even for the most low maintenance girls, just so that we don't look like complete monsters-- whereas, someone is going to be attracted to a guy no matter how little he does to himself. I just didn't know that black women had SO MUCH more pressure than we do. I don't do SHIT to my hair. Plus, I learned in health care sociology that black women are WAY more likely to give birth to a baby with low birth weight and black men AND women have a lower life expectancy, regardless of education or wealth (which is usually the determining factor), just because of the constant pressures of racism-- the stress releases chemicals into your body, and because it doesn't stop, it takes a huge toll on their health.

Anyway, if you want to watch the special, here is the link to the first part.

In other news, I have so much to do this week, and I didn't even realize it. I think it'll be okay, because it's mostly not academic-- it's just about finding time.

I watched Donnie Darko for the second time on Halloween. The first time I watched it was with Pat, and we were painting and chatting at the time (which I hardly ever do during a movie I haven't seen) and so I attributed my lack of understanding to that. Turns out, it's straight up confusing. I guess I'm going to have to watch it again, and I shall as I both own it, and think Jake Gyllenhaal is super attractive.

Also, I am currently rediscovering the miracle of The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys. I always consider it to be my least favorite of a trio of movies, the other two being Imaginary Heroes and Igby Goes Down (which, to be clear, is not widely considered to be a trio). But now I see that I really can't rate them in terms of favorites. The movie really is the shit! They all are! Plus, Jena Malone-- she might not be my FAVORITE actress ever, but there is something to be said for the fact that she's in the BEST MOVIES EVER! Seriously. Into the Wild, Saved!, The United States of Leland, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys... plus Stepmom, which is pretty good, Life as a House, which isn't GREAT but has HUUUGE merits (of which Jena Malone takes huge part), Donnie Darko, which... is still up in the air for me, and I can't forget Pride and Prejudice, the Knightley version, which... in comparison with the 6-hour BBC version is INCREDIBLY all-encompassing of the story without being too rushed... a miracle that I don't fully understand.

But seriously, The Secret Lives of Alter Boys-- I need to remember to not underestimate this movie again.

That is all.

Update: All of the Malone talk made me need to see an interview (except let's be honest-- this is going to turn into a JILLION interviews) and I would TOTALLY want to be her friend! She seems like the fucking SHIT! Which shouldn't surprise me, given her aforementioned movie choices.

Small Triumphs

Officially accepted L.A. Back out west I go, even if I'm shoved... or pulled there by a tractor (I know the phrase is actually "tractor beam," but I changed it so that it implies my resistance rather than L.A.'s irresistibility. Maybe I should've gone with different wording... but it's my blog).

I slept about a BILLION hours this weekend. Miraculously, it put me in an excellent mood instead of a groggy one. I must've needed it.

We got a new chef at the hillel for Saturdays. I met him two Saturdays ago briefly-- he's tall, about 45ish, and has Vince Vaughn's voice exactly--it's weird. ANYWAY, this week I saw him and he hugged me, which made me feel really weird and uncomfortable. But then he gave me a cookie... so my attitude changed. By the end we were essentially in love and he gave me 6 rolls of challah, 2 tomatoes, a little tupperware of roast beef, one with potato salad, and one with watermelon, AND 6 baby pumpkins for decoration. Awesome!

I talked to my mom before accepting L.A. and I told her that one of my biggest concerns is that they are going to judge me about how I dress, even though I am for sure buying new clothes. Still... said clothes are certainly not going to be the epitome of chic. My mom told me that I was being prejudiced and that people from L.A. are not different than people here. To which I replied that they absolutely ARE different. I told her that to say they weren't is like when people suggest that you can't tell if men are gay or not because a straight man can be super flamboyant and a gay man could be... not. But really, even though there are always exceptions, to say that there aren't patterns is to be turning a blind eye completely. Yes of course there are many kinds of people in L.A.... but there is also an L.A. culture that isn't the same as northeast culture-- to say they are generally the same is wrong. Then she got pissed and told me that I was prejudiced about gay people. Ugh.

In other news, I chose High Fidelity as my Best Buy movie. I'm pleased with the choice. I think I needed it. It was PRETTY fun choosing, but they don't have a terrific movie selection at Best Buy-- only a half an aisle for ALL of their comedy and drama films. They used to have an entire aisle. Lame. Although I REALLY wanted Being John Malkovich. I was not at all surprised that they didn't have Amelie, though.

Also, when I was little I used to watch this live action version of Snow White that I was obsessed with. About two years ago I REALLY tried to find out what it was but I couldn't. I asked about it on yahoo answers and someone gave me a title of a german film that seemed like it might be the one, but I could only find one picture so I couldn't be sure.

For whatever reason, I tried to find it again today. I went back to the yahoo answers (which told me I last posted a question two years ago-- that's how I know) and got the title and looked it up. Now there are MANY postings of the movie. I found some pictures. I found a trailer. I even found a site that had the entire film that I could watch... but it didn't seem to work on a mac. Regardless, I'm so amused because it was totally dubbed in English and I guess I never noticed as a child. Also... it's like... the worst production quality ever. But it was SUPER neat seeing and hearing it again. It was veeeery nostalgic to hear the wicked witch's theme song and feel more fear than I would have if I was just seeing this incredibly lame movie for the first time. If you'd like to see what I'm talking about, here's the trailer. The movie was made in 1955 and I have NO idea why I had a tape of it or why it was clearly one of my most frequently watched movies as a child. Here's a picture:

I kind of want to paint it...

ANYWAY, I need(ed?) to come up with a story for The Big Bang Theory. I basically came up with the whole thing in... not that long (although it HAS been floating in my mind for a while). I'm SHOCKED because I thought it would be harder than The Office, given that I'm not QUITE as intimately familiar with The Big Bang Theory as I am with The Office. Turns out... that's not really the factor. The Big Bang Theory only has about 10 scenes per half hour, whereas The Office has...

40!!

Plus... The Office really is much more intricate... and has many more people to incorporate. This, of course, is assuming my Big Bang Theory idea is any good... Hope so.

YES. MORE.

I NEED TO SAY that I just essentially finished That '70s Show. The ending SUCKS! All I can think about is how Dawson's Creek definitely bested That '70s Show in terms of endings. And Dawson's Creek is usually mysterious because it bests no show... and yet I still love it (except best kissing-- Good lord, Joshua Jackson!). Anyway, take THAT That '70s Show!

ALSO I decided that I HAD to own Love Me If You Dare. HAD TO! So I went on amazon.com and the cheapest copy was like... $30!! which I can't pay even if I NEED a movie. So I decided to check ebay, which I've never used before. I found it for $16! Done. I knooooow I shouldn't buy movies, but everyone knows it's my heart's desire and I really haven't bought any movies in a long time! "But you DID buy 2 books and a concert ticket AND a standup comedy ticket, Ms. Blythe..."

Fine! I love myself! I want me to be happy! Is that a crime!? Get off my back!

You know who else wants me to seek happiness in movie shopping? Best Buy. Hours after I bought my movie, I got a ticket from the Best Buy rewards club for a free $10, on which it says that it can be used like cash. It only took me 3 years of membership, but I got $10. Regardless, I get to buy ANOTHER movie tomorrow!!! WHOOOOOO!!

I'm seriously considering High Fidelity or Being John Malkovich. Or Amelie if they have it. Tomorrow's going to be heaven!

What we've learned today is that I apparently need three separate blog posts in about 12 hours. I need a post per every 4 hours.

Dreams and Reality

The other night I had a VERY brief dream in which I was panicking about whether or not I would get into the L.A. program. So I was freaking out with worry that I wouldn't get in and then I open the email (and I DID reflect on the sadness of opening emails in my dreams) and I DID get in. But the wave of relief never came. I just continued my line of panic in another direction. But... despite the dream, I do feel like I've been getting braver. Sometimes I have waves of optimism. Which leads me to this:

I DID get into the L.A. program! I just found out today. Good lord.

Instead of talking about that, I'd rather mention that I am also INCREDIBLY likely going to graduate with a minor in Anthropology. When I say "incredibly likely" I mean... I'll have to actually die or get amnesia in the process of doing the paper work for it to not happen. So... that's cool, albeit a little useless. But... I also thought taking AP tests was useless when it was actually the opposite. So you never know what good can come from a minor in anthro. At the very least, it tells people that I'm a half-expert on humans.

I didn't watch any late night TV this week because The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were on hiatus for the week (it WAS torture, yes). So... it turns out that if I don't have the impetus of Jon Stewart, I don't need to spend the whole night with Letterman and Conan and Ferguson. Instead, I've essentially watched 3/4 of the entire series of That '70s Show, which is my 15-year-old sister's fave. It is pretty golden, but not enough for me to fall head first into obsession.

Bob Casey, our (PA's) junior senator, wrote me back (/his interns did). He's already for health reform but I did learn some stuff. In my first draft of this blog (yes... I may have drafts...), posted an excerpt from his reply, but then I realized that no one would read it. Basically, he mentioned a HELP committee bill, which I hadn't really heard of, that had a lot of great things INCLUDING a public option, although it said that it will NOT require everyone to have insurance. I thought all public option bills were killed though, so I need to do some research on what he's talking about.

Also, a while ago, I watched Citizen Kane, which I wasn't looking forward to because it seemed really Joni Mitchell. Well... I gotta say it was pretty great! It wasn't a snooze-fest like 2001: Space Odyssey or Lawrence of Arabia, both of which I actually couldn't finish because I was fighting unconsciousness... and lost.

Lastly, Claire frequently writes about a site called etsy.com, which is all handmade stuff. Well, the other night when I was writing faux journal entries in my notebook, I realized I should buy a new diary on that site.

ETSY.COM IS AMAZING!!/ I don't know how I'll ever EVER be able to choose!!!

I shall be frequently updating on this dilemma.

Also, I passed my 300 entries mark on this blog!!! Crazy.

ALSO, I ACCIDENTLY ERASED MY FREE CELL HISTORY!!!! I was REALLY upset before I decided that I was a little TOO attached to it, and erasing it is probably healthier in the long run. PLUS, it'll give me a chance to win more than just 59% percent... after I'd played SOOO much, there was basically no hope in improving my stats. If I go back to 59% though, we'll know that it's a very accurate representation of my free cell skills.

A Little More Hanson and a Bit on Food

I just need to add that while it would have been nice to have someone with me at the concert to evaluate the opening bands-- Sherwood, Steel Train, and Hellogoodbye (all quality, but I particularly liked Steel Train), it was ultimately golden that no one was with me because then I didn't have to be ashamed as I danced and screamed (SCREAMED!) like a maniac, knowing all the words to semi-obscure Hanson songs... just like everyone else there. I need to point out that the entire audience sang EVERY WORD to "Crazy Beautiful" from their 3rd album (how many people in the ... normal? world even know Hanson has a third album? (and a 4th)...). I'm talking ALL VERSES. That's CRAZY! (/beautiful... heh)!

In other news, I'm nearly finished with the week of crazy. I have to write my reason for wanting to go to LA and a 3-5 page paper for health care sociology (which ISN'T a research paper... which I find strange and wonderful) and I'm academically in the clear. ALTHOUGH, I am unfortunately not gold on the readings anymore. C'est la vie. It the homework reading proficiency didn't seem likely to last forever.

Other things:

1. I lost my wallet this week. Well... not so much lost as dropped it and then had to go on a goose chase around campus to get it back. What's weird is a few hours before that I forgot my notebook at work and a few hours later, I left home without my keys. It was a forgetful/materials lost sort of 24-hours.

2. I made irish potato soup. Honestly the odds seemed stacked against me-- mostly of my own doing. All I knew was that I wanted irish potato soup like the kind I get at my favorite restaurant in PA (Maggie O'Neil's). I looked up 3 or 4 recipes and then did what I thought would be the least elaborate way to make the soup, which isn't too smart, especially considering my less-than-delicious cooking past. But miraculously, it was GREAT!!! Even Elena thought so (although her words may not have included "great," and she did concede that if it wasn't good, she would still tell me it was good... what I'm saying is that she isn't a reliable source ;) ).

3. Last week I had a salad week. One week of DEFINITELY getting the right amount of vegetables. I did enjoy it. The only problem (can I call it a problem?) is maintenance. I can't buy 2 weeks worth of vegetables because they'll go bad, so I have to go to the store almost every day to replace something that I finished up. Lame. I finally ran out of spinach two days ago. Thus endeth salad week.

Also, 30 Rock premiere tonight at 9:30pm after The Office on NBC!!!

Also, I'm seeing David Cross on Monday!!!

A Bunch of Warm and Fuzzies

I LOVE the onset of seasons!!!! I LOOOOVE when people are bundled in their fall-wear! I'm probably biased, but I think fall is ESPECIALLY nice in a college, Boston setting. Some majestic old trees against the red brownstone buildings. All the students look trendy with their scarves and hats and vibrant colors and sipping on their coffees and teas with rosy cheeks and noses. People inside pouring over books and slowly eating a cup of soup. I like that the darkness sets in before 6pm and the sun is up before I can even THINK about opening my eyes. I love fresh apples and hot apple cider. I love fall playlists on your ipod-- especially when you steal someone else's fall playlist and a lot of the songs are unfamiliar but distinctly fall!

I'm procrastinating... but I just want to say that the travel mug idea-- gold! If I put a tea bag into my cup in the morning, there is no shortage of places that will give me free hot water throughout the day! Plus, it's caffeine but it doesn't FEEL like a huge body-altering amount. It doesn't feel like it'll give you a crash... but hard to say.

A little bit ago, I decided I was over my standard lipton tea bag and went to get a chai latte instead. Well they didn't accept cards and I only had $3.50 when it cost $3.91 (which I think is pretty ridiculous, especially when I was supplying my own mug...). Anyway, the girl making the chai latte ended up giving it to me for free!! Actually, more correctly, she bought it for me with her own points! And she wouldn't even accept my $3.50 in cash! How incredibly kind!!!! I've decided that my $3.50 is going to have to go to a street performer or someone homeless or something.

Also, I know that it's hard to find time, but I have to SERIOUSLY recommend getting the free podcast to NPR's This American Life. It just makes you feel REALLY good! I know that listening to radio for an hour is kind of hard, and I don't know that I would do it if my job wasn't made for listening to the radio, but... seriously. It's amazing!

Lastly, I've shown this video to a bunch of people and so... if you're bored and want 7 minutes of ... warm and fuzzies, I would recommend watching this Jon Stewart interview of a boy from Africa who built a windmill using only a library book picture and things he found. It's very cute and funny.

Personal Late Night Dilemma and Pomegranate Advice

Ok having my TV back is both gold and... not-so gold. It's pyrite, if you will.

For one thing, having a TV can suck you into things you really don't want to watch and don't honestly have the time for. For instance, yesterday I watched Along Came Polly, which has to be my least favorite Ben Stiller movie, my least favorite Phillip Seymour Hoffman movie, and my least favorite Hank Azaria movie. To be fair, it isn't my least favorite of the Aniston flicks (She's Just Not That Into You, Rumor Has It) or my least favorite Debra Messing film (The Wedding Date). Still... the movie shouldn't be a temptation, yet simply existing seems to have been enough of a motivation for me to succumb.

ALTHOUGH, on the gold end, I almost died having to wait to watch Jon Stewart's interview with Rod Blagojevich.

Now since the summer, I've been watching my late night programs online. Because of CBS' lame website, I switched to Conan as being my primary late night talk show host of the 11:30-12:30 time slot (except I only watch the last half hour because Colbert trumps both). Well now that both Letterman and Conan are equal again (because I'm going to watch them on TV), which do I choose? I went to both of their sites and wrote down the guests for every day this week. With some simple math, I've come up with a good plan for each day.

(Conan on the left; Letterman on the right)

Monday: Drew Barrymore > Felicity Huffman = Conan

Tuesday: John Krasinski > Kelsey Grammer = Conan

Wednesday: Kate Walsh < madonna =" Letterman

Thursday: Michael Moore... =? Woody Harrelson = hard to say

Friday: Joshua Bell < david =" Letterman

Other information:

If you cut a pomegranate into 6 pieces and then put it under water in a bowl, you can EASILY get the seeds out. PLUS all of the peel floats to the top and the seeds sink to the bottom so you can skim the top of the water of all the peel and then drain the seeds in a colander. Then you've got all the seeds!! WAY better than picking them out of the peel individually, in my opinion.

PLUS, you can put the seeds into a bowl and mash the juice out by swishing the seeds with a glass. If you decide to put a pomegranate and a half of juice in a martini glass with 1.5 shots of vodka and a splash of lemonade, you get a pretty delicious drink. Then if you take a few sips and take a picture of it, I can only guess it might look something like this:

Worth it? Probably not (unless you get the pomegranates for free, which happened to be my fortunate circumstance at the time). Fun and delicious? HELL YEAH!

Best Buy Miracle

On August 29 I brought my broken TV to the Best Buy to get it fixed.

On September 4th they called me saying that they were ordering parts and that they should receive the parts in 3 to 10 days.

On September 23rd I had still heard nothing about my TV so I decided to call and ask what's up. They said they would email the manufacturers and get back to me on why it's taking so long.

On September 26 they called me to tell me I could pick up a replacement TV.

I went down to pick it up and the TV I bought last year has

1. a lot more shit that comes with it and

2. is $40 cheaper

The miracle; I got refunded that $40 in cash!!

So I got paid $40 to get a new and better TV.

Sweet!!

Four Parts and the Longest One is About TV...

I guess fortunately (?) my life has reached such a momentum that I can no longer write everything I do, despite what seemed to be my insatiable need to record all of my own dull doings. So, I will break it (my life) into parts and see what happens:

Part 1: Blythe-specific Selective Media Coverage (if you loosely define "media coverage")

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are back. Thank god! Even the few things that I actually saw on my own (without their coaxing) were infinitely funnier and more illuminating when they showed it to me.

The Office is also back!!! (YEEESS!!!!!) I thought the first episode was great, which is a good sign because I had awfully high expectations.

Right afterwards was the new show Community, which seemed a little offensive about community colleges... but it seemed funny enough. I only watched until the first commercial because ... I guess it didn't capture me enough. BUT John Oliver, one of my favorite Daily Show correspondents, was a main character. The real question is where is this Community going to go when 30 Rock comes after it's time-slot on October 15th? Also, I do NOT have faith in Parks and Recreations.

On the radio front, I HIGHLY recommend subscribing to the free podcast of This American Life... although I wouldn't hold anyone against not doing it because... I don't know anyone who really has the time to listen to an hour of radio. But if you DO have the time... or a long drive or something... pretty much every episode inspires me or illuminates something for me or makes me rethink or recognize the complexity of things I thought I knew. It's just pure gold. Plus David Sedaris sometimes contributes!

Also, I STILL haven't used my free movie pass. The one that I had back when I decided I was going to use it on 500 Days of Summer. And then I was going to see Inglourious Basterds. And then Extract. Bah!

Lastly, if you know me at all, you know that I watch like... a billion interviews per day. Well I PARTICULARLY enjoyed Matt Damon on Letterman the other day. The entire interview was gold, but as I couldn't find the entire thing as an isolated clip, I would at least recommend watching the best part. If you want to watch the whole thing, you can find it on cbs.com. Just find the interview and then move the marker right on top of the commercial line that looks closest to the middle (I don't know why I'm explaining when I know that no one will do it).

Part 2: Work

I LOVE working at SED! I've caught up on my Real Time with Bill Maher and I'm going through my This American Life. Hillel is fine and easy too. Today I decided to not shower right away so that I could shower AFTER I have to wear the visor. What I'd like most from these places, though, is to get paid. I'm getting to be QUITE poor again (thank god for my god money).

Part 3: Anecdote

Today when I got to work, Sandy, the woman who sets up the station and who I now know is from Hong Kong (she also has an accent) was there. I'm OBSESSED with her! Well today when she was leaving to go upstairs, she stopped to tell me what the muffin flavors were today:

Sandy: We have banana nut and cheepo

Blythe: Cheepo?

Sandy: Yes cheepo. They have cranberries, blueberries, and one other kind.

Blythe: Okay thanks.

About 15 minutes later, Ben, a regular customer (and friend of Rachael's) comes over.

Ben: Can I have a muffin?

Blythe: Sure. We have banana nut and what Sandy told me was a "cheepo" muffin. It has cranberries, blueberries, and one other kind of berry.

:::pause:::

Ben: I think she meant "triple."

How embarrassing!! I'm so glad he pointed that out to me before I spent the whole day calling them "cheepo" muffins (/I'm definitely always going to call berry muffins "cheepo" in my head.)

Part 4: Let's Wrap it Up

This girl that I thought was the funniest girl in my old TV writing class transferred into my new one. I tried to downplay my excitement but she wrote a GREAT episode of Seinfeld last year and I am PUMPED to see what she comes up with this year!! She's also reeeaaally nice. So... awesome (/I'm a creep).

We post our final list of girls for Chords tomorrow at 8am. I hope they choose us!!!!

Unaccountable Taste and Dirty Money

I have to see Extract. Both Jimmy Fallon AND Letterman were RAVING about it for like... a year and a half. Tomorrow.

Also, this was last week or something, but I posed the question to someone about why THE Final Destination was doing so well. 3D! I forgot about that surprisingly weighty new element to movies. I think I might piss my pants if I saw that in 3D... so I can see the appeal.

Glee got great ratings, which was especially impressive because that's when Obama did his big health care address. Plus everyone talks about the show. At the Hillel, these girls talked for like... a half hour about where they were going to watch it. Plus my a cappella friends are obsessed... which makes sense because it's about a cappella... but even my TV friend whose taste I trust, Stephanie, recommended it to me. I watched it! I don't get it!

I watched Death to Smoochy last night. It was PRETTY good... but I'm pretty sure I'll never have to see it again. I liked the message and satire more than the movie itself. I MORE enjoyed watching it and then going on thedailyshow.com and watching Jon Stewart interview all of the people that were in the movie. It reaffirmed all of my feelings about all of the actors. Loves the Ed Norton, Danny DeVito is fun as hell, and Robin Williams has so much god damn energy that IIII need to take a nap per every 10 minutes he talks.

Last night, when I was getting out of bed for something... I don't know what happened exactly but I caught my big toe nail on my ankle. But the (more) mysterious part is, while my toe nail is incredibly strong and my ankle skin is relatively weak, I did not break the skin on my ankle but my big toe nail broke half way down and started bleeding quite a bit! I just wonder how that's possible. I imagine it was some magic angle at which the nail hit my ankle... the only angle that would cause the nail to break instead of the skin. Or maybe this isn't interesting at all. Regardless, I didn't know what to do about the toe, so I taped it with medical tape and I haven't looked at it again. I imagine I'm currently susceptible to foot diseases.

Also, I forgot to mention that I now have to wear a visor at Hillel... which sucks because now I have to really think about when I'm going to take a shower every day to minimize how long I have to go around with flat hair from the visor. My question is, do visors even help? Because I was already wearing my hair back and it's not like you shed from the top of your head.

The reason for the visor is the health inspector lady came. Everything was okay. Buuut, what I've been doing is wearing plastic gloves to make food and then whenever I touch money, I take the gloves off and put new gloves on... which in my opinion is excessive and pretty wasteful. I essentially use different gloves for every customer... and the trash can largely consists of "used" gloves. Whatever, I get it. But the health inspector lady told me that I should wear gloves when I make the food, take them off to work with the money, WASH MY HANDS, and then put more gloves on. She was like, "you see you hands get contaminated when you touch the dirty money and then you touch the clean gloves, which contaminates them-- just another way of looking at it."

I REAAALLLY wanted to say "how dirty is it?" in a suggestive manner. Nevertheless, I'm not actually going to do that because it would dry my hands out. I already have to use lotion EVERY TIME I wash my hands... and even sometimes when I don't because I FREQUENTLY (like... 15 times a day, literally) feel like my hands are too dry. I actually don't know how the compulsion started... because I've only been doing it for like... 1.5 years but it doesn't seem like something that's going to go away for me. And I'm not sad about it because it will just keep my hands smooth longer. The rest of my skin will shrivel up over the years, but my hands might remain silky. Regardless, I simply cannot wash my hands 25 times in 4 hours. Although I don't want to deliberately breaks rules just because I think it's incredibly stupid. I NEVER wash my hands before meals and I'm positive that I haven't gotten sick once from that. And I'm sure I've touched dirtier things than money before sticking my fingers right in my mouth. I don't care. I hardly get sick at all. Plus it strengthens your immune system.

ANYWAY, I'm just going to wear my dirty gloves when I touch the dirty money and then my hands will only be touching new clean gloves and nothing else. Problem solved. Hay day for plastic glove companies and anti-bacterial soap, though (as always).

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!

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...

Submerged

Submerged in the world of people.

Amanda's mom took Amanda, Joanna, and me out for dinner the other day. It was FANTASTIC and I'm pretty sure I could not have been more appreciative (unless I was a native in a third world country... but that, I believe, is implied). Now, I pretty much have money again, and I certainly will... and I don't have anxiety about food TOO much anymore. All of these things I was trying to hide for a bit (relatively unsuccessfully... but still, I didn't reveal, even here, the extent of the situation) because I didn't want to sound like I thought I didn't deserve what happened, and I didn't want to sound like I was begging or whining. It was bad but it was a good bad.

ANYWAY, now that I have money, I don't feel as inhibited about talking about the situation I was in for a couple of weeks. I didn't THINK I was talking about it TOO much, but I guess I must have because after dinner, Amanda's mom offered to buy me groceries!!! Some people are so lovely that I can't handle it at all. I declined because my stomach no longer takes precedence over my guilt, shame, and courtesy... something I can't say was true 10 days ago.

Look at the word vomit. Awful. But... it is MY blog! And I'm not begging anymore... I'm just, apparently, really pleased with myself.

Anyway, I'd gotten up at 8:45am, done my 6.4 miles of moving, and after dinner, at 10:30pm, I was about to kill myself with exhaustion. After so much decadence and flexible consciousness in the summer, my body was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?!" So I went home, but unfortunately didn't sleep... until midnight when I HAD to because I still had a LOT of cleaning to do (All my fault, though. Can I stress this enough to not sound like I'm really whining? No? Sorry...)

So I woke up at 2am. I did laundry. Scrubbed down the kitchen and the bathroom and the bedroom. Threw away a shit-ton of stuff. It was intense... and not bad at all. Vanessa was supposed to come back around 6am and I finished everything around 5:30am. SOOOOO to kill some time, I did what I've become accustomed to doing... I assume out of solitude. I read ALOUD from my blog.... which I wouldn't even admit right here... but it's pretty important. Because I ASSUMED that Vanessa would call me when she got there... because what are the other options? She doesn't have a key. That's why had to wait for her.

WEEEELL instead, she came to the window, HEARD ME TALKING TO MYSELF, and shouted for me to come to the door. AT 6AM! HOW EMBARRASSING! My skin doesn't really have blushing capabilities, but I can guarantee if it did, this is when they would be utilized. Just to be clear, I don't really know Vanessa terribly well... at all. She didn't really say anything about it, for which I was very thankful. However, we ended up having a lovely chat for well over an hour, and at some point we were talking about living in the apartment and how there is a level of solitude that gets to be too much. She told me that she would get really lonely, and I told her that I wasn't getting LONELY so much as I started worrying that I was going crazy sometimes. And then I laughed and said "like how you caught me talking to myself at 6am just now!" And she looked and me and laughed and told me that she did hear me talking but she didn't make the connection that I was talking to myself. The weirdness hadn't even occurred to her. So... shot myself in the foot on that one.

That I came back to my south apartment at like... 8am or something, which was really comforting. I bet I'm more comfortable in this apartment than any other place in the world, which is good because I'm here now and sad because... of obvious reasons. Plus it was very cute making the trip to south because I had my plant... and you can't walk down the street with a plant and NOT be cute... in my humble opinion. Also, my plant has grown substantially since it arrived at the west apartment. It seems that the windowsill was optimum for jade-growing. I imagine my plant is sad to be in my south apartment where it has to struggle for survival... and certainly doesn't have the opportunity to thrive. C'est la vie.

Then I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was gold! Pure gold!! Honestly, I couldn't recommend it more because it's so good and also it's very short and thus not much of a commitment.

Then Amanda came over bearing GROCERIES!! Because APPARENTLY, without noticing, I DID word-vomit about food too much! What an amazingly generous woman (Amanda's mom... and Amanda, of course)! I think I'm going to write her an email to thank her personally since I didn't see her when Amanda delivered them. She got me a ton of pasta, SAUCE (which I could previously not afford), apples and bananas, frozen chicken, organic peanut butter, two heads of garlic, a loaf of wheat bread, and two boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats. Can you even believe it?! I'm floored by the generosity and kindness some people give me... especially when I did literally nothing to deserve it.

Then we went to get my meal plan (this was yesterday, to clarify). The dining hall starts today... but the GSU never ended... a fact that hadn't occurred to me until I got the meal plan. So basically I had a huge feast. It was AMAZING!! Two feasts in a row!!! I couldn't be more excited!!!!

Then I promptly passed out. There was no other option. And it was lovely.

At some point I put up SOME paintings so I wasn't looking at white walls. I also watched I Love You, Man. It was PRETTY good. I thought it was funny, but it wasn't earth shattering in any way. Plus, they use weird abbreviations and awkward nicknames and stuff a LOT in the whole movie... which was good because it showed the level of awkwardness. BUUUUUT it started to be really painful. Every time it happened, it make me NOT in love with either of them. Not that you're necessarily supposed to fall in love with them... but... I think it would have helped. In summation: I would be more likely, for better or worse, to watch a comedy like that if I was in love with any of the lead characters, and because of a useful technique they used to show awkwardness, I couldn't be in love with them because I felt too strange about the language. That isn't an official review of whether it was good or bad as a movie. It's just how I feel it will be held in my own memory.

This morning I got my stored stuff from storeurdorm. It was VERY prompt. My window of delivery was noon to 2pm and my stuff came at like... 11:59am! Amazing! And they brought the stuff right to my room and everything. Very lovely. And I WOULD give them an excellent review, except that my TV is broken.

!!

I was pretty upset about it, because the screen isn't cracked, but it definitely isn't watchable. I honestly have no idea how it could have happened because the TV was in it's box with the original packing styrofoam. The point is that even if I called storeurdorm, they will only give me $100... which doesn't even pay for half of the TV. BUUUUT miraculously, Elena thought of the warranty. And the manufacturers DO give you a warranty for up to 1 year. And I bought my TV on September 4th!!!! Isn't that LUCKY!!?

I still didn't really believe they were going to fix it, especially since I didn't have the receipt, but it gave me hope. So I called the Best Buy people and they tell me to take it into the store. Although I DIDN'T need a receipt... because of the miracle of computers. I think they got my receipt just from my phone number. If that isn't a miracle, I don't know what is! But I also had the box and all the papers for it. I don't know if that helped, but it certainly didn't hurt.

So I took it into the store and they told me the manufacturers would still handle it and they shipped it out! So... MIRACLE!! I'll still only believe I will finish this business with a fully functioning TV when I see it. I'm not going to get my hopes up. BUUUT so far it's going as well as possible!! Excellent!

So today I'm thankful! I'm thankful for:

1. Food

2. Amanda's mom

3. Best Buy warrantees

4. Elena, for thinking of warrantees

5. Storeurdorm (for everything BUT the TV, obvs)

6. Tempur-pedic mattress pads

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

8. My life.

And surely more.