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.

The Seductive Powers of Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Big week, this week.

I'm not going to break it down day by day because I know that's always an especially boring read. But I will say that I have a TV comedy midterm paper and oral presentation, my supervisor appointment, my LA application, a paper for healthcare sociology, film studies midterm, a Chords concert to perform in, a Hanson concert to go to, a viewing of Citizen Kane during Chords rehearsal, and cupcakes to sell. PACKED. Maybe that's how your weeks regularly are... but umm... not for me.

So... lame. Also I bought season 5 of The Office (I do not judge myself) which has already arrived and is BEGGING me to watch it! AND I got the last of the David Sedaris books that I have not read (I thought I'd already done that, but to my blissful surprise I found one from 2005 that I missed). Then I got a book written by Amy AND David Sedaris which... I may wet my pants over! These haven't come in yet (more intervention from the heavens, I imagine), but I am going to be very surprised if they don't make their way to me before my academic coast is clear.

I feel pretty good because I'm choosing to see next week as my payment for the week of sloth that I just had. Not sloth like the summer, but I truly did very very little this past week.

Today I bought a travel mug. I've been thinking about it for a while but I really didn't want to get one that wasn't perfect. I've had travel mugs before but they never stuck in my life and I'm pretty sure it was mug design (the alternative theory being that I don't drink enough tea... although now I'm pretty sure that I do). I just really want one that isn't going to spill if I put it in my bag when there is only a few drops left. I really feel that this should be a main feature for travel mugs, yet you always find the ones that have spinning tops to open and close it but it never prevents liquid from coming out-- thus, in my opinion, nullifying the purpose of being able to "close" in the first place (harsh? Yes. ).

So I've been waiting on this for like 10 days and I finally went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and.... well I got one that DOESN'T prevent spilling! I was SEDUCED! I was seduced by it's green color and promise that it was made from recycled material and can be recycled later! When I got back, I tested it to see if it was spill proof... but I knew that it wasn't. Damnit. Plus, I got myself a metal water bottle... which was another act of seduction. I reuse my water bottles anyway, so I KIND OF didn't need to make the purchase, but at least this way I won't get plastic water bottle BPA cancer (/I probably already have it from soda... how increasingly fatalistic is this generation becoming with the ever growing knowledge that every single action we do is giving us cancer? I'd say limitlessly fatalistic, if I had to take a guess).

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!!!!