Awkwardly Social

I just caught Lula staring at my DVD collection. I think she wants to watch the first season of The West Wing. It reminds her of when she was a puppy.

I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend!

I just posted this photo to Flickr, because it’s a rare one that has me smiling with my teeth showing. After I quit smoking, I decided I don’t like my teeth. The inside of my head is whackadoodudalydoo.

Then I went back to my old site and found the entry about that weekend, because as I was looking at the picture remembering how we barely had enough weed to get high, I remembered the crazy fake cab driver who might have been trying to murder us. I moved it over here, because for some reason it never made it over in the great migration to Typepad.

Here it is it is for your blast to the past perusal.

I wonder what I’ll be doing three years from now.

I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve started to enjoy cooking. It’s not something I ever enjoyed as a kid, except for licking the beaters (which, now sounds incredibly dirty to my incredibly dirty mind), and as a young adult and college student I thought it was a symbol of the patriarchy to be a woman in the kitchen. Feminism and cooking did not mix, in my mind.* Now though? Now, I’m all about cooking. I hate that I can only really do anything extravagant on the weekends, and by extravagant I mean anything that has more than 3 ingredients and requires more than one burner to make.

Recently I’ve been trolling the web for easy recipes and I’ve found a lot that claim to be easy, and they look easy skill wise, but I’m always lacking some key ingredient. I don’t know how people keep their fridge stocked. I am always missing onion because they go bad so quickly. And I never have bell peppers on hand. It’s rare that I have carrots sitting around, but if I do, you can bet I don’t also have celery. Potatoes? Well, I just discovered the source of the mystery smell in the fridge room, and it wasn’t something that made me want to go out and buy more potatoes. (Lula was glad that she was no longer being blamed for the smell.)

If a recipe calls for fresh dill, parsley (two different varieties), rosemary or basil, I can just go to my herb garden on the balcony and snip it, but for some reason now I feel like every recipe I see calls for fresh sage and oregano, and those are the two I shunned in my last herb buying expedition.

I don’t know if I’m expecting this whole cooking thing to be easier or just more convenient. I abhor stopping at the grocery store for one item. It makes my skin crawl, in part because my grocery store options swing from the wildly expensive and doesn’t have everything you need, to the cheap but under construction and nothing is where it used to be, to the convenient to pull into and find everything but has almost resulted in a deadly car accident every time I try to exit that place. I think this weekend I’m going to try the farmer’s market. If nothing else I’ll feel less like I’m salting the earth with my carbon fueled buying spree of triple packed frozen dinners that taste kind of like the plastic with which they’re thrice wrapped.

I’m off to find a few recipes to try this weekend, hopefully they involve chicken breasts and carrots, onions and celery, because I don’t think I can deal with rotten celery.

*When I mentioned this to one of the women in my book club she couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t even cook for myself, and I told her that cooking was symbolic of the treatment of women in the last century. She still didn’t get it, so I took the easy way out and said I was a weirdo. I don’t know why I do that, instead of just letting it drop I feel the need to make everyone feel comfortable by calling myself a weirdo, and that behavior is even more abhorrent to the little feminist inside of me than cooking.

The dog hair has taken over the apartment. It’s amazing how one little dog can shed so violently. It’s like she’s got something to prove, and that thing is how much she hates us.

I spent the better part of the morning cleaning. Why would anyone do that, especially someone as lazy as me? I’m hosting book club in a month and I wanted to get a head start.

I also just took a full trunk load of crap that I keep holding onto but I know I don’t really want, need or have room to store. It felt quite good. I also picked up a couple of serving bowls and three mismatched martini glasses for under $10. Under $9, actually. It’s official. I have turned into my father. That man loves him some Goodwill shopping. Me… I guess I’m a bit of a snob and also have weird ‘unknown germ’ issues about used things. I don’t mind that my house is germy or my car or even the public bathroom, but I don’t really like the thought of bringing someone’s germy martini glass into my house. The trouble is, I don’t want to buy new martini glasses because I don’t know how long my obsession with dirty martinis will last, (see the Mike’s Hard Lime debacle and my ensuing beer belly of earlier this summer) so I went for it. Fuck new things! I’m throwing caution to the wind here, people! Unknown germs, be damned!

Now I’m trying to figure out if I want to do anything else productive today or if I want to just sit here and watch 5 Tivo’d Martha episodes, while flipping through three unread Real Simple Magazines.

I think you know what I’m going to do.

P.S. Don’t forget to give me your scavenger hunt suggestions on the post below!

I have been thinking a lot about this scavenger hunt project and how to make it fun and how to have guidelines (not rules) and how to maintain my interest past the first month, and my conclusion is that having you guys involved is going to do that. It’s really occupied all my brain space, that is, all the brain space that wasn’t being used for writing that 2nd draft.

Here are my initial thoughts -

1. I’ll create a Flickr group for everyone to post their pictures to, so if they don’t have a blog (*cough*Davah*cough*) they can still participate in the challenge.

2. I’ll post a link on my side bar (or in my header if I can figure out how to do another tab. Jen, any idea how to do that?) to a list of the participants, and at the end of the month links to their results on their blogs.

3. I’ll open the floor for picture requests 3 - 5 days before the month begins (post as many as you’d like) and then pick ten (that’s manageable right?) randomly from a hat. The unused suggestions will remain in the pot for the next month to be added to the future suggestions.

4. The only rule is there is no rule. Take the suggestions literally or metaphorically. Post a link back to this blog or don’t. Do it methodically and artistically or scramble around at the last minute and finish it in one day. Don’t do it at all and skim past this post to the next one which is almost guaranteed to have me talking about being drunk, again. It’s up to you.

5. The best part about my impromptu scavenger challenge was how it opened my eyes to my environment, and how I spent less time thinking about how slowly the time was passing and more time thinking about how to take a picture of a brown cow 100 yards away from a speeding vehicle that I was driving. (DANGER: Don’t attempt!) I hope that it’s the same way for you.

So, without further ado, I am opening the comments section for photo requests, and on September 1st, I’ll post the results.

I’ll start -

• A ridiculous lawn/yard ornament
• A sign with a cool font
• A house or building you’d love to live in

These past two weeks have been the most productive I’ve been in a long time. Draft 2 is complete. I think it needs one more draft and a polish before I’ll be entirely satisfied with it, but this small thing has made me very happy.

I’m popping some champagne this weekend, that’s for sure.

(Scavenger Note: Starting August 28th, I’ll be taking suggestions for the September photo scavenger hunt, if you’re interested in playing along at home drop me a comment or an e-mail. I think this is going to be super fun! If you don’t know what I’m talking about - read the post directly below.)

Before my trip to Oregon I asked for song recommendations, and on a whim, photo requests - the latter sent me on a makeshift scavenger hunt. I didn’t get everything requested. I did pretty poorly overall, actually. But it definitely was a fun challenge and opened my eyes to the environment around me.

Here are the results.

Davah asked for:

1) A cow that is not black and white.
2) An actual piece of fruit or vegetable still hanging on orchard tree or vine.
3) Local food find.
4) A tear from a unicorn.
5) A funny or unusual bumper sticker.

I saw plenty of brown cows, but I was cruising along at about 75 miles per hour and never really stopped when they were moseying around. - Result NADA .

I was thinking of stopping at my favorite place on my route up the 5, called the Olive Pit, to see if I could get an olive shot, but it was 93 degrees outside and Lula nixed it. Much to my delight there were blackberries growing right outside our rental’s front door. - Result SUCCESS!

A local food find - I am usually all about ordering something off the menu that I know I like and not risking having an unsatisfying meal. I’m picky and a horrible dinner mate but I decided that this was an easy one to accomplish on our trip into the little town of Cannon Beach - Result SUCCESS.

A tear from a unicorn. She was joking about this, I think. But I gave my niece a My Pretty Pony coloring book, and there was TOTALLY a picture of a unicorn in there. I just forgot to take a picture of her coloring it in and drawing in tears. Boo. - Result NADA.

A funny or unusual bumper sticker. I was surprised I didn’t see more bumper stickers. I hardly saw any - I blame the price of gas. People aren’t dragging their old beaters out for a road trip to Northern California anymore. I risked my life (and Lula’s) to get close enough to take a picture of this guy, so it counts. Result - SUCCESS (sort of).

Beth asked for: “cheesiest local-flavor touristy wind chime you can find, please,” and boy were there some cheesy wind chimes. I think the sea gull takes the cake though. Result - SUCCESS.

EKG asked for:

1. “Welcome To…” sign. Has to be a town. Bonus points if it says “population”
2. Farm/roadside stan

I saw a ton of standard California regulation signs giving the “Now entering ____ Pop. ____” signs, but I really didn’t see anything funny or authentic. Probably because I was driving too fast. - Result NADA.

The farm stands were a plenty. If nothing else it showed me the bounty our country puts forward for easy consumption along our highways. I caught this one on the way out of town. Result SUCCESS.

Mags asked for “a picture of you with one of those garden gnome thingies.”
I found a gnome, it wasn’t in a garden, and I wasn’t in the picture. But I’m counting it! - Result SUCCESS (sort of).

Jen asked for a shot of “your feet hanging out the car window (passenger side only, of course) as you sail past a “Welcome To… Population…” sign.”

Sadly, I was driving myself, and I didn’t really see any signs as I mentioned before. So… - Result NADA.

Doahleigh asked for:
1. Inside of a closet.
2. Interesting door knocker.

And I got neither! How is that possible? There were plenty of closets in the house I was staying, though zero door knockers. - Result NADA

Finally, as a random bonus shot - I got a picture of some starfishes snacking on a crab. Enjoy!

I think I might try to set up a monthly scavenger hunt - everyone participates and posts their results to their blogs. Fun? Would you do it?

I don’t think I realized when I went to film school that paying for my education was going to be a problem. I also didn’t realize I wouldn’t be a smashing success by now. Three years out of film school and the future is… uncertain.

I’m happy. I love my boyfriend. I have the best dog on the planet. But there is a certain lack in my life. And that lack is money. I make enough. I’m not eating beans every night, that’s for sure. But there are trips I want to go on, there are things I don’t want to worry about like what if my car finally dies and I have to start walking 10 miles to work, or, what if this persistent sore throat is actually throat cancer. It’s a life I’ve made for myself and I live with very few regrets. (Eating that second helping of spaghetti last night is one of my big regrets.) I just wonder if there should be more. If being a grown-up is supposed to be this scary.

By this time in her life, my mom had 2 kids, a 4 year old marriage, a house, two dogs, and long blond hair. When we were growing up our parents did the best they could to make sure we weren’t scared about our future. Since I don’t have kids to worry about and Lula isn’t taking the pointed hints to get a damned job already, there is no one to keep me in check with my worries.

All this came up because I had to apply for a second year of economic hardship with my loans. They ask questions like, how much do you make a month. How much? Really? Don’t you have a master’s? Yeah. Yes. No really. Then the dude had the balls to tell me that my pay stubs better match what I was telling him or I wouldn’t qualify. I laughed. Believe me, guy in Mumbai, it most certainly matches. (”So you are telling me that is what you actually make?” “Yes.” “So what you are saying is ‘yes’.” “Yes.”)

I watched The Paper Chase this weekend, and realized that being a lawyer means you actually have to go to law school, and law school looks a lot less fun than film school was. A LOT LESS. But it also looks like something I would actually be pretty good at. So there’s always that.

That is if I’m not a smashing success in the next 2 years.

I’ve been sick for a full week now. Yay.

This weekend I attended the wedding of a friend of mine. She is the girl that set Louie and I up, so it was only fitting that her wedding fell on the day before the anniversary of our first date. It was a lovely wedding in a venue so hip there was no address. I love that. I have two more weddings to attend in the next couple of weeks, I hope they can live up to my expectations. Those expectations include - open bar, good food, good seating arrangements to provide for the most entertaining discussions of the good food and the open bar and did I mention open bar?

Yesterday while I was recovering from the aforementioned open bar, Louie snuck out and got me flowers. He was very proud that he remembered not to get me roses. I was very confused that I had at some point told him I didn’t like roses, because that is not true. I love roses. Apparently, I told him if he got me roses that meant he did something wrong. heh. I cleared up the confusion by saying he could get me roses on occasions, but not out of the blue. (This all vaguely sounds like something I would say and not really mean because I can’t imagine Louie ever doing something wrong. Also it sounds like something I felt like I should say as the girl part of the relationship, you know, to be more girly.) And then I cackled madly imagining him writing down all the crazy shit I’ve said in the past and trying to make sense of the female mind, specifically my female mind. Three years. It’s flown by.

I have some recovering still to do, but I don’t really have time to go to bed at 9:30 any more. The script isn’t going to re-write itself, you know?

Louie got a new computer. It is fancy and has features that have finally reached the point that I can say, yes, I am living in the future, now people can talk to me and I can see their face and they can see mine and that means I can no longer pick my nose or my pimples or dig in my teeth while I’m on the phone. That actually isn’t true, while on the regular phone I can still do all of those things, but while his computer is around I feel like I need to be on my best behavior.

Just this morning he was video chatting with someone and I got freaked out because I wasn’t wearing a bra. Let me clarify, I was freaked out because he was video chatting with someone IN THE OTHER ROOM, and figured his new computer is so fancy it could see everything everywhere including under my shirt where there was no bra. The future apparently affords his computer super x-ray bra free breast finding capabilities.

It is a Mac, so I wouldn’t fucking doubt it.