When the managing partner comes into your office and says, "I have some news that's going to ruin your day," you better brace yourself.
The proverbial substance is about to hit the fan.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
rule for life #114
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
some guys have all the luck
alone in a crowd on a bus after work, and i'm dreaming
the guy next to me has a girl in his arms
my arms are empty
how does it feel when the girl next to you says she loves you
it seem so unfair when there's love everywhere, but there's none for me
i'm sorry, but you know i just eat this melodramatic ish UP.
and ever since i heard K.Clarkson has been covering this classic at her shows, i haven't been able to get it out of my head, or to stop playing it repeatedly on iTunes.
perhaps a side effect of growing up with a single mother in the '80's: my affinity for Rod Stewart's music.
check out Kelly's take on it, linked above: Some Girls Have All the Luck.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
you still don't get Gossip Girl?
well, i didn't either. for a long time. despite being late to the game, i caught up really quickly. problem is, now i can't stop gushing.
do me a prop and read this NY Mag article, The Genius of GG and why it's CHANGING TELEVISION FOR-EV-ER. this article obviously isn't the same as watching (and imminently falling in love with) the show, but you might gain a better understanding of the craze.
some highlights of the article that struck a chord with me:
the authors go on to give lots of insight into the hot stars (some of which is very surprising), as well as their 6 reasons why they believe GG is revolutionizing television.
one point i found fascinating is the CW's frustration with modern day access to their golden program. when you can watch online for free, why suffer through commercials? when no one's watching commercials, how does a network make money?
do me a prop and read this NY Mag article, The Genius of GG and why it's CHANGING TELEVISION FOR-EV-ER. this article obviously isn't the same as watching (and imminently falling in love with) the show, but you might gain a better understanding of the craze.
some highlights of the article that struck a chord with me:
Technically, we’re a little old for Gossip Girl—our own high-school experience was kind of a while ago. Like, 90210-was-still-on-the-air a while ago. But it’s not just tweenage girls who are hooked on the show.
At first we cloaked our adoration in irony. "It’s awesomely bad," we explained to friends. "You know, like Showgirls. Or a Bloomin’ Onion." But before long we were covering the show pretty much exhaustively on the Daily Intelligencer, the blog we write on nymag.com. And then a funny thing happened: E-mails and texts from fans of all ages began filling our in-boxes. "S. at Cafe Gitane, not with Lonely Boy!" read one text, from a 28-year-old marketing executive. "OMG!" we texted back. "Is she cheating?" "No, he is a gay." (Translation: Blake Lively, who plays Serena van der Woodsen, was spotted with someone other than Penn Badgley, who plays her onscreen boyfriend and whom she’s rumored to be dating in real life. The "he" who is "a gay" is just some guy who looked that way to the texter.) The more we wrote about Gossip Girl, the more its radically invested fan base began to reveal itself to us. We were like a support group for the fully grown, employed, non-pervert adult fans of the show.
But there should be no shame in a love of Gossip Girl. After all, it is (and we have come to this conclusion honestly) the most awesomely awesome show ever. And so on the eve of the show’s return from writers’-strike limbo, we are here to give you the six best reasons you should openly love Gossip Girl, even if you’ve never seen it before. Why waste so much time writing about something so insipid? Because, dear readers, it’s not.
the authors go on to give lots of insight into the hot stars (some of which is very surprising), as well as their 6 reasons why they believe GG is revolutionizing television.
one point i found fascinating is the CW's frustration with modern day access to their golden program. when you can watch online for free, why suffer through commercials? when no one's watching commercials, how does a network make money?
As the CW struggles to figure out how to make money off Gossip Girl, it’s overlooking what an amazing thing it has on its hands, which is a show that may foretell a future of multiplatform entertainment whose success is determined not by traditional ratings but by what Schwartz and co–executive producer Stephanie Savage call "cultural permeation." It’s not a new goal—as Us Weekly editor Janice Min puts it, "The best thing that could happen to a show is for someone to be able to say ‘Jen and Courteney’ and you know they are talking about the stars of Friends"—but it is an entirely new way of getting there.
Monday, September 14, 2009
my new approach to life: defeatism, apparently
paralegal: Didn't you hear? I fell. When I went out to lunch, I just fell on the street. Right on my ass. Just like that.
me: If I were you, I would've just stayed down.
waa-waaaah.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
live-blogging the season finale
actual text messages i received during tonight's insane season finale of True Blood
[note: some language censored for the sake of my younger and/or religious readers.]
9:08, from C.D.
OMG WTF!
9:09, from C.D.
...Just prepping 4 rest of hour
9:22, from K.G.
LOL so f*ckin funny
9:29, from C.D.
OMG WTF!
9:30, from J.L.
NOW WHAT for the next 30 mins?
9:30, from C.D.
WTF?
9:42, from J.L.
Jason needs to shut up and take his clothes off
9:45, from C.D.
Jason's logic is flawless
10:00, from J.L.
She'd rather be with Eric. Who wouldn't?
10:02, from C.D.
Can you say anticlimactic?
10:02, from K.G.
F*ck my life!
10:03, from C.D.
Not enough sessy times
i guess we'll find out in a year. but seriously, what the eff are this show's writers on?
true insanity.
*photo in honor of what this show offered last season.
[note: some language censored for the sake of my younger and/or religious readers.]
9:08, from C.D.
OMG WTF!
9:09, from C.D.
...Just prepping 4 rest of hour
9:22, from K.G.
LOL so f*ckin funny
9:29, from C.D.
OMG WTF!
9:30, from J.L.
NOW WHAT for the next 30 mins?
9:30, from C.D.
WTF?
9:42, from J.L.
Jason needs to shut up and take his clothes off
9:45, from C.D.
Jason's logic is flawless
10:00, from J.L.
She'd rather be with Eric. Who wouldn't?
10:02, from C.D.
Can you say anticlimactic?
10:02, from K.G.
F*ck my life!
10:03, from C.D.
Not enough sessy times
i guess we'll find out in a year. but seriously, what the eff are this show's writers on?
true insanity.
*photo in honor of what this show offered last season.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
uniform
dear my new saturday uniform,
i thank J.Crew and, most of all, God, for creating you. or did you evolve from a lesser form of sweatshirt?
who cares, i love you and love being inside you.
xoxo
Friday, September 11, 2009
nine eleven
since everyone else is talking about it...
eight years ago i was living in a bubble. actually called "the bubble" by its students, Grove City College sits idyllically inside a beautiful brick wall that runs along its physical periphery, and inside an invisible, yet very secure, wall that keeps the outside world a comfortable distance from God's chosen undergrads.
my roommate and i didn't have a television, nor did any of our friends. those few students who had television, normally jocks, weren't even given the option of having MTV. as i understood it, the college had a formal agreement with the cable company regarding what should be offered to students.
at any rate, it is with this preface that i admit to you that when the twin towers (or is it "the two towers?" i always get 9/11 confused with Lord of the Rings) fell, i was too busy to notice. i was studying for a very difficult and very intimidating Spanish Lit. exam in the student union (remember the Geedunk?) when people began crowding around a television.
it was a strange crowd, i remember. usually when two or more GCC students are gathered together, it's impossible to block out the screams of "Yahtzee!" or, alternatively, the songs of praise they spontaneously burst into (yes, i'm serious). but this crowd wasn't screaming or singing anything. they just stared at a television set.
i guess i understood that something bad was happening, but i'd been studying for that exam non-stop for 3 days. i woke up at 5 AM to do last-minute cramming. i was sick to my stomach with fear that i might forget one of the 10 pages of Spanish quotations and literary criticism jargon i had learned by rote memorization (how do you explain a 'controlling metaphor' in Spanish?). at the time, i absolutely had no concern for what newsworthy event was unfolding live on Fox News. did Billy Graham die? or Pat Robertson, maybe? either national tragedy would've explained the looks of shock and sadness on my fellow grovers' faces.
whatever was going on, it didn't affect me. until i got to class. as my fellow hispanoparlantes and i sat down to take another of Senorita Forrester's dreaded exams, all shaking with anxiety and praying to Jesus to help us all get A's, i noticed that quite a few desks were empty. where was everyone?
and so it was la senorita who broke the news to me and the few other students who made it all the way to our 10:30 class oblivious to what had happened in Manhattan. she assumed that most people already knew; she understood that some of us might not be emotionally able to sit for the exam; she would hold a make-up exam for those students who were too distraught by, or at least fixated on, the morning news to do last-minute studying. before i knew it, i was one of those people. i found myself packing up my Jansport and leaving the class, while about half the students who had shown up that morning stayed behind and took the exam.
of course, i hadn't spent the morning distraught or staring at a television. i was prepared for that exam. but who could pass up the opportunity to study a little more? i would go on to graduate with a 4.0 in my major, which might not have been possible had i sat for that exam. does that make me a bad person?
the next few days on campus were a mess of impromptu chapel services, candlelight prayer vigils, and - thank the Lord - canceled classes. i felt safe inside the bubble. childish and ignorant, i didn't get, at the time, what 9/11 meant.
it was only months later, when my first love decided to move to New York for grad school, that the tragedy hit home. once i had loved ones in the city, and now that many people i love live there, the thought of such a thing happening again is terrifying. but 8 years ago, ignorance really was bliss.
what's YOUR story?
eight years ago i was living in a bubble. actually called "the bubble" by its students, Grove City College sits idyllically inside a beautiful brick wall that runs along its physical periphery, and inside an invisible, yet very secure, wall that keeps the outside world a comfortable distance from God's chosen undergrads.
my roommate and i didn't have a television, nor did any of our friends. those few students who had television, normally jocks, weren't even given the option of having MTV. as i understood it, the college had a formal agreement with the cable company regarding what should be offered to students.
at any rate, it is with this preface that i admit to you that when the twin towers (or is it "the two towers?" i always get 9/11 confused with Lord of the Rings) fell, i was too busy to notice. i was studying for a very difficult and very intimidating Spanish Lit. exam in the student union (remember the Geedunk?) when people began crowding around a television.
it was a strange crowd, i remember. usually when two or more GCC students are gathered together, it's impossible to block out the screams of "Yahtzee!" or, alternatively, the songs of praise they spontaneously burst into (yes, i'm serious). but this crowd wasn't screaming or singing anything. they just stared at a television set.
i guess i understood that something bad was happening, but i'd been studying for that exam non-stop for 3 days. i woke up at 5 AM to do last-minute cramming. i was sick to my stomach with fear that i might forget one of the 10 pages of Spanish quotations and literary criticism jargon i had learned by rote memorization (how do you explain a 'controlling metaphor' in Spanish?). at the time, i absolutely had no concern for what newsworthy event was unfolding live on Fox News. did Billy Graham die? or Pat Robertson, maybe? either national tragedy would've explained the looks of shock and sadness on my fellow grovers' faces.
whatever was going on, it didn't affect me. until i got to class. as my fellow hispanoparlantes and i sat down to take another of Senorita Forrester's dreaded exams, all shaking with anxiety and praying to Jesus to help us all get A's, i noticed that quite a few desks were empty. where was everyone?
and so it was la senorita who broke the news to me and the few other students who made it all the way to our 10:30 class oblivious to what had happened in Manhattan. she assumed that most people already knew; she understood that some of us might not be emotionally able to sit for the exam; she would hold a make-up exam for those students who were too distraught by, or at least fixated on, the morning news to do last-minute studying. before i knew it, i was one of those people. i found myself packing up my Jansport and leaving the class, while about half the students who had shown up that morning stayed behind and took the exam.
of course, i hadn't spent the morning distraught or staring at a television. i was prepared for that exam. but who could pass up the opportunity to study a little more? i would go on to graduate with a 4.0 in my major, which might not have been possible had i sat for that exam. does that make me a bad person?
the next few days on campus were a mess of impromptu chapel services, candlelight prayer vigils, and - thank the Lord - canceled classes. i felt safe inside the bubble. childish and ignorant, i didn't get, at the time, what 9/11 meant.
it was only months later, when my first love decided to move to New York for grad school, that the tragedy hit home. once i had loved ones in the city, and now that many people i love live there, the thought of such a thing happening again is terrifying. but 8 years ago, ignorance really was bliss.
what's YOUR story?
a reminder from dolly
Leave something good in every day.
plenty more Smoky Mountain wisdom on Dolly's Twitter.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
prohibido: no buscar tu felicidad
gracias a manuelito por este.a nice reminder to "follow your bliss." eh, CPGB?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
amen
It's no crime to change your mind, and a believer might of course doubt his belief. There's a lot to be said, though, for just getting on with life, and in particular for resolving your doubts.
Having come to doubt you're on the right path, weigh the evidence as best you can. Then either stay on the path or (as in my case) get off it onto some other. What seems unconvincing to me is the claims by some believers to have wrestled with doubt for years or decades.
To people making those claims, the only thing I can think of to say is: "Isn't it time you, like, made up your cotton-pickin' mind?"
more here.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
daydreaming about dreams
You know that place between asleep and awake? That place where you still remember dreaming? ...That's where I'll be waiting.
this romantical quote from one of my favorite childhood movies, HOOK, just popped into my head as i was telling a friend about the crazy night of dreams i had.
maybe i still haven't snapped back to reality after the long holiday weekend's craziness and laziness; or maybe the Tylenol PM just hasn't worn off yet... i don't know. but i'm definitely still in a fog.
start with a dreary tuesday morning, throw in a wandering mind, and you'll find me daydreaming about being back in my comfy bed with fresh white sheets after the weekend's laundry ritual. what i wouldn't give to be back there...
at the same time i continue thinking about the vivid dreams i had last night. were they, too, the product of my OTC sleeping pills? did my 10+ hours of sleep leave my mind so bored, it started making up stories?
i won't go into the craziness that went on in my head last night, but i will say that now i have a strong urge to decorate an old attic and to sleep in it, as well as to drive back home to amishville with some random law school classmates who i haven't even seen for months.
dreams are so weird. often mine are a sort of compilation, or greatest hits, of my day beforehand. but every now and then, like last night's dreams, they come out of nowhere. places i haven't been in years, people who aren't even in my daily life, sometimes there are giant snakes involved. don't even get me started on my recurring dreams.
i know one thing: it's unusual to remember dreams this well several hours after waking.
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