You down with OCD?

I've heard great things about Fish Bar, but I'm having difficulty with the sign on their building.

WHY are the "F" and "I" next to each other?! It looks so...wrong. 


*for some reason I couldn't upload photos so I had to link. Hmpf!

Why I loved the Royal Wedding.

My paternal grandfather was born and raised in Cornwall, England, and came to the United States by way of Canada. At this moment, I can't recall exactly how old he was when he arrived stateside, but I know he spent most of his younger years in England. I'd call my parents to ask, but I am just too lazy to do so right now because I woke up at 3:50 am this morning (but it's a good reminder to get that shit in writing, because I'm notorious for forgetting those kinds of details.)

He died when I was 8 years old (mere months after the death of BOTH of my maternal grandparents) but he was, according to family tales and foggy memories, one of my most favorite people in the whole world. It may have been because I was the only granddaughter on that side of the family, the first precious baby girl after five male grandchildren (and my dad has two brothers), but people tell me that I lit up his life, and he mine. My mom recently finished a "mom book" for me after procrastinating on filling it out for FOUR YEARS (see where I get it from?) I haven't read the whole book yet, but I saw a portion where she states that when I was born, my grandpa looked into the nursery window and said he wanted to live long enough to dance at my wedding. Clearly, that didn't happen (even if he would have hung on past my 9th birthday, he would be 98 now, and there's no wedding on the horizon) but isn't that sweet? I am sure everyone thinks "Oh, of course he said that...he's a grandpa!" but the English are not an emotional bunch. In the book my mom states how that comment touched her heart, because she had never seen him show emotion before that moment.

When I traveled to London in 2005, I immediately fell in love with the city. The history, the people, the fashion, the building, the cute British sayings; I ate it all up. I was SAD to have to go home, not just in a "Oh no, my vacation's over!" kind of way, but in a "This place is so comforting to me." I have been a fan of the Royal family for ages: I will never forget where I was or how I felt when Princess Diana died. I have been an amateur Kate Middleton fan pretty much ever since she started dating Prince William.  I know I am not British, but that doesn't mean my love for them is dumb or misguided.  I had a similar feeling of comfort when I traveled to Ireland in 2006, I think in large part because I pretty much look like everyone else in that country and felt very primal and "with my people" there.

I'm not a big television watcher, so perhaps I haven't seen nearly as much pre-wedding coverage as everyone else. Perhaps I'm not sick of the media circus because I am not a frequent consumer of television (and if you are, maybe you should rethink that?) Perhaps it's because I truly love all the pomp over this wedding.  It IS a big deal. I mean, a lot of American media outlets went crazy over Chelsea Clinton's wedding, didn't they? This is more exciting, in my opinion, because of the rich history, interesting traditions, and social significance this has in their country. I mean, the PRINCE is marrying a COMMONER, and NO ONE CARES. Remember all the hoopla when Matt Damon started dating a woman who was his waitress at a restaurant? That was like an American royal dating a commoner...it was kind of a big deal.  I feel like the media kept bringing up the fact that Kate is not from an aristocratic background just as a fact, not because they think it's ridiculous. I truly believe the country is happy that a member of the Royal family is saying "to hell with rules" and is following his heart. How very romantic.

This morning was amazing - I had the TV on from 4 am until I left (begrudgingly - how can someone expect me to WORK when I haven't seen all of Kate's dresses yet?!) for work at 8:50 am. I had meetings all morning and afternoon but have been checking into new developments since I returned to my office at 2:30 pm.  I rarely consider myself a romantic and quite frankly am not a huge fan of weddings, but I felt so elated this morning at the romance and pageantry of the service.

I have seen so many people hating on those of us who were into the wedding. I UNDERSTAND there were tragic, horrible, horrific tornadoes that hit the southern states this week. I KNOW there was horrible devastation and many, many people died and the count will unfortunately probably get higher as they continue search & rescue/recover missions. As someone who routinely follows currents events, I know that things are BAD in a lot of places of the world. I understand, I really do. Sometimes I understand so much that I start to believe the Mayans and get really philosophical and contemplative and ask myself "What does it all mean?", "Why are we here?!" which aren't awesome internal conversations to have when you live alone and are chronically single in your early 30s.

The nice thing about the wedding, aside from the beautiful outfits, horses, carriages, cars (how DID they get them so shiny?!), people, etc. is that it was a chance to believe in a real-life fairytale. Sorry I'm not sorry for eating up every moment of it.

I kind of want to slap MSN.

I see this caption:
Bristol Palin's Life as a Single Mom
She weathered scrutiny as a pregnant teen during her mother's vice-presidential campaign. Now the 19-year-old is forging her own path as an independent adult.

No, I did not read the article (I'm really supposed to be doing something else - go figure!) but the term "independent adult" made me snort with contempt.  Bit**, please.  How is she independent?!

Stay tuned.

Things have been a bit hectic here, which has resulted in me having lots of things to mentally complain about, but no energy or semblance of coherence for writing.

I will state, however, that the season finale of Gossip Girl was so horrible and ridiculous on so many levels that a new term for urbandictionary.com should be created.  I mean, the show jumped the shark about three times in five minutes, which I'm sure is a new record.

Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments.  I'm going to spend some time mulling this one over in the shower tomorrow.  I only have six unique words on urbandictionary.com and I'm shooting for ten!

Closing thoughts.

April, and my pledge to blog every day, comes to an end today, which means you probably won't hear from me for about a week or so.  I'll act as if this was totally taxing when it really isn't.  If I had blogging standards or high expectations for my blog content it might be taxing, but since I was clearly about quantity over quality I really have nothing to bitch about.

Oh wait!  I do have something to bitch about, but it's not blogging related.

I'm starting to think that if a guy is in a relationship he should have to wear some type of visible marker letting all the single women he comes in contact with know that he is, technically, not available.  Sure, girlfriends are not wives, but if you are a God-fearing woman like me, the presence of a girlfriend makes a man unavailable.  One would think relationships could be easily discarded, but when a man lives in Chicago and is over the age of 30, he's generally cohabitating.  Their relationship might be horrible and loveless and could now be a relationship of convenience/laziness, but cohabitating makes it challenging to get out of.  There are usually possessions to split and custody arrangements to draft up over pets, Wii's, or flat-screen televisions.  That shit takes a lot of effort and energy and is probably the reason why so many people are in bad relationships.  Or maybe I'm just ASSUMING many guys are in bad relationships since some of them spend a good couple hours seemingly flirting with you to only FINALLY mention the fact that they are in a relationship right before they ask you for your phone number so you can give them career advice.

Did you see Inglorious Basterds?  By the way, that movie title is awful because I have a hard time spelling things improperly on purpose, but I digress.  You know how they mark people?  I'm not thinking anything drastic like that, but you know.  Along those lines.

The Big Picture.

When I love a television show, I love it with a passion usually reserved for trashy romance books or Celine Dion songs. I know all the details about the characters; their hobbies, their family members names, the names and details of their ex's, etc. and honestly hope things work out for them.

From August 2001 until February 2004 I lived with roommates, making splitting a cable bill a pretty natural decision.  Prior to that, I either got cable at home or in my various college lodgings.  In February 2004, while setting up utilities for my own apartment, I decided "Shit...this cable business is expensive."  Since I had never been a frequent television watcher, even though I was (past tense, yes) a voracious consumer of pop culture, I decided to go on a trial run for a couple months to see how much I missed it.  Turns out, I didn't, and here we are more than six years later and I watch digital television through a converter box on a cheap TV purchase for under $200 at Sam's Club (one of the companies I refer to as an "evil empire").  When forced to miss my favorite shows I program my VCR so I can watch it later (unless I can get the episode for free online the next day.) Retro much?!

The first show I can recall falling madly in love with was the Cosby Show (I have to say "recall" because apparently I was a big fan of Sesame Street and Wonder Woman, but details are fuzzy).  The Huxtable's seemed like such a fun family and I wanted my dad to wear crazy sweaters like Cliff (he kinda does now).  In the latter years of high school, I was OBSESSED with Friends and was pretty sure Chandler Bing was the PERFECT man for me.  This obsession lasted throughout college, which probably explains a lot of my college crushes.  During my last few months of college and into my first couple years post-college, Pacey Witter became my definition of a perfect man (this reflection is so eye-opening) and Dawson's Creek was a show I obsessed over with close friends.  Another favorite was the OC, but that didn't last many seasons (but was, of course, an all-encompassing love, especially for early-Seth Cohen).

I didn't start watching LOST when it first aired, but caught the series when ABC ran it in the summer.  I was sorta like "This is wacky...Matthew Fox is sooooo hot" and kept tuning in week after week.  Soon, I was a total Lostie.  The day after an episode I would read recap blogs in order to see what hidden meanings the reviewer got out of the episode and poured through the comments on the post to see what other people came up with.  While I never really got into thinking of my own theories, I really enjoyed reading other peoples and spreading what I read to other fans of the show.

As we are four episodes away from the FINAL! EPISODE! The SERIES! FINALE!, I am a little put off.  What the hell is happening on this show?  I find it weird that I'm getting so frustrated, as I never batted an eye when there was a POLAR BEAR on the island or a SMOKE MONSTER that would seemingly take pictures of people's souls or a GIANT LOWER LEG STATUE or TIME TRAVEL or the fact that Hurley NEVER once seemed to lose a pound although the food selection was not always up to par with a four-star hotel.  I sorta would be all "Oh Lost!  You crazy beast!" and geek out thinking of what the blogs would have to say the next day.

I think my frustration is partially the faulty of the Gossip Girl writers.  GG was another one of my absolute favorite shows, not only for the eye candy actors but for the clothes, great music, the funny parties, and the overall moral casualness of the characters.  It's always been a little smutty in the most delicious way.  This season, however, has disappointed me.  Not only are the clothes not that great, but the GG music supervisor seems to look through my old mix CD's in order to pick music for the show.  Yes, this does make me feel totally cutting edge, but I wish I was getting some sort of finder's fee for my good picks.  Also the writing is HORRIBLE and I can generally predict what will happen every second of the episode.  But yes, I'm still watching, as I am a little intrigued by the potential Serena/Little J showdown.

Do any of you watch Lost (or Gossip Girl?)  What do you think?  Are you sticking with it/them to the bitter end?

Things I hate.

1.  Breaking in new shoes.  When you "break in" new shoes, you're supposed to wear them for 11 hours straight, right? That's how I do it.  Then I get hot spots (not necessarily blisters, but spots where the shoe rubs, thereby leaving your skin delicate and sensitive) and can't bring myself to wear said shoes for another couple weeks.

2.  How your skirt rides up when you are walking and carrying a bag. Like the bag rubs against the skirt, making it bunch up.  I hate that.

3.  Almost forgetting to blog, thereby ruining your April pledge, on a day where you can't use the excuse "But Jesus was resurrected from the dead...you can't expect me to blog on a day like this!"

4.  Not getting to use the word "thereby" on the regular.

5.  Blogging about things you hate on a day where you promised two of your Twitter people you would join them on their mission to "leave negativity behind" and have a #positiveday.  Whoops!

Do not play this at work.

...but totally play it in the privacy of your own home if you feel like laughing!  Adult language contained.  Also: LOTS OF SASSINESS.

Female sabotage.

I find it fascinating how women judge, criticize, back-stab, etc., one another.  I'm sure you all know what I mean, perhaps you've even experienced it yourself (what woman hasn't been totally dogged out by someone they thought was a friend?).

You know the scene all too well...you're out with a group of friends and you're trying to catch the attention of the cute guy across the bar.  Maybe you talk to him a little, maybe not, but then you see him talking to another girl.  You may be crestfallen, and then your girlfriends will chime in with something like "Ohmigawd, look at her shoes.  Who wears that?!" or "...did she get dressed in the dark?" or "...she's got on so much makeup, she looks like a tranny." 

I'm not trying to get on a high horse and say I have never done this, or don't do it from time to time.  I will say I've become much less tolerant of this kind of behavior as I've gotten older.  If my friends are judging girls because they might be dressed more provocitively than we might dress, I say (sincerely) "Good for her for having the courage/self-esteem to wear a shirt/skirt/dress like that."  Or if someone says something rude about adult entertainers (aka - strippers), I say "Maybe they are stripping because they are trying to pay for their college education...they could be in law/medical school.  Or maybe they are a single mom who has had a rough life but wants to provide a better life for her children.  We don't know, so we shouldn't judge."  I know...it's horribly annoying, but my purpose is to get people to not judge someone based on what they do, dress, say, etc.  All that aside, yes...I've been known to say snarky things, or flirt with a guy who I know has a girlfriend (but my definition of me flirting is so subtle that it probably wasn't obvious).  Please accept my apologies.

All that aside, I would never, ever, ever, ever cross a line with a man who I knew was taken.  I would especially not sleep with a man who I knew was married so I could 1) say I did, or 2) possibly make money off selling the story to the tabloids.  You might know where this is going.

In the grand scheme of newsworthy events, the Tiger Wood's story should not be leading news.  However it is, and we can all expect to see many more women come forward, talking about their exploits with Tiger, and we can expect to see this all played out in the press.  Overall, media in this country is shit, and if you didn't know that already...well.  I'm sorry for crushing your dreams.  While I'm at it, Santa and the Tooth Fairy aren't real either!

What makes me SO MAD about this story (Tiger cheating on his wife and not taking the sanctity of marriage seriously, while millions of American's routinely try to prevent a minority group in this country from being able to get married, with the argument of trying to "protect the sanctity of marriage" aside) is that these women KNEW he was married.  He's like one of the most famous people in the whole entire world.  His courtship, engagement, wedding, and the birth of he and Elin's children were all covered by all the same media outlets who are now voraciously covering his indiscretions.  You'd have to be Amish to not know who Tiger Woods is.  Wouldn't that be hilarious if an Amish woman stepped forward, claiming she had an affair with Tiger Woods?  If so, I'll forgive her.  BUT ONLY HER.

Why do women do this?  Don't people ever put themselves in another person's shoes?  I love David Beckham, and think he's one of the hottest things around, but even if he were begging and pleading, I would not sleep with him.  Maybe if Victoria Beckham called me up and said "Kristen, go ahead...we have a list of five, and you're #1 on his list", maybe I would.  But I'd have SERIOUS reservations.

One of the funniest (and yet saddest) things about this story is this post.  That is SO LIKE WOMEN.  "OMG, I can't believe he slept with another woman who wasn't his wife when he's involved with me..." Don't they get it?  If he's willing to cheat on his wife, the mother of his children, there's probably no limit as to what (or who) he'd do.  I always find it hysterical when women are messing around with a guy who has a girlfriend, and then get all shocked and confused if he cheats on them.  HELLLLLOOOOO.  I love this line "...starting to make Uchitel wonder if Tiger is really committed to their adulterous relationship."

After everything women have been through together, like gaining the right to vote, or continuing to fight for wage equality, you'd think we would have each others backs a little more.  In the words of 702 "Where my girls at?!"

"Bowgate, Part Deux"

Why do so many people find it to be a problem that President Obama bowed to the Emperor of Japan?  Is our nation that ethnocentric that we don't think we should adapt to local cultural norms when in other countries?  Have they not heard the term "When in Rome..."?

I get so frustrated with the media and general public when they focus on such minute, insignificant issues.  Some people say he shouldn't have bowed at all, some say he was right to bow, but he bowed too deeply.  I think it is wise, not to mention kind, for him to adapt to the cultural norms of whatever country he is visiting.

What do you think?

Day late, dollar short?

I can't believe I didn't post yesterday!  In my defense, my dad is in town (see earlier posts about mouse invasion...I needed my dad to help make me feel like I wasn't going to get attacked my angry mice in the middle of the night), so computer time has been almost non-existent.  In order to make up for it, I'll post twice today.  So, just pretend for a minute that it's Friday, not Saturday, and we can move on as if this never happened.

Recommendation of the day: Yogen Fruz.
Song of the day: Waterloo, ABBA.

Vicious cycle

Okay. I'll put it out there...Heidi Montag and her husband Spencer Pratt bug me. I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I just wanted to admit it. While I think Anderson Cooper's clip is funny and scathing, it's also exactly what "Speidi" want...coverage. The more we talk about these people on major media outlets, the longer they are going to stick around. I wish people would just not bother (but then look! I'm writing about it!) I wonder if journalists think that their criticisms and mockery will shame Heidi and Spencer into submission? Clearly they have never watched "The Hills". They don't care what the nature of their coverage is as long as someone's talking about them.

What other "stars" do you wish the media would just stop talking about? Lindsay Lohan? Paris Hilton (although we must admit, she's been "quiet" lately)?

Let's come to a resolution.

Everyone knows what January 1st means. A fresh start, a new beginning, a chance to redefine yourself. Whether the year before was the best year of your life or the worst, January 1st gives you the chance to pledge to work on an aspect of your life or personality you'd like to improve.

I know a lot of people don't agree with new year's resolutions. "Everyone always breaks them", "they are quick fix", "they aren't realistic", etc. Well bugger to them. I dislike when people try to steal the joy of others, or basically imply the person is going to be a failure at something. Even if someone's dreams are maybe a bit unrealistic, at least they are striving for something. A life without dreams is a life without hope. If someone's dream is something you might view as superficial, there is no reason for you to voice that. People dream for what they believe is attainable, maybe with a little extra effort, extra luck, whatever. It's like, I'm never going to say "I dream of being a superstar NBA player", because 1. I'm a girl, 2. I'm not that tall/fast/coordinated, 3. I know myself well enough to know I do not have the drive or determination to ever make that possible (nor the funds for that sex change operation I'd need to make the dream a reality). I might, however, say "I dream of being really fit and athletic". While this probably requires more effort than I really want to expend, it is ATTAINABLE.

Yesterday, along with about 114 million of my fellow American's (according to the last census, that's how many people there are between the ages of 18 and 45), I went to the gym. Yesterday was January 2nd. What do you think I expected to see at the gym? That's right, I expected to see TONS OF PEOPLE. Because these people, like me, are trying to right some wrongs of 2007 and start 2008 off on a good foot. Most of these people (but hopefully not me), will continue this for about 3 - 4 weeks and then fall off the wagon. Maybe they will injure themselves from pushing to hard the first couple weeks. Maybe they will get busy with work/school/family/etc. It's just a simple, proven fact most people will not be able to maintain their resolutions for the whole year. This is not to say they will fail. At least they've tried. When I walked in and saw all the machines occupied, I did not sigh in disgust. I was elated! Look at all these people trying to better themselves! I had a hard time finding a locker for my things. I did not complain! I found it refreshing.

So for the next couple weeks, let's try to be positive. If someone is going on and on about their goals for the year, please do not tell them they are "crazy". Let them live the dream. It won't hurt you to encourage them. Don't let your own insecurities stand in the way of you being a cheerleader for someone.

"I want to see your ASS in the AIR..."*

*today's post title brought to you by the fantastic movie "The Cutting Edge".

Okay, let's settle this once and for all. YES, if you are an able-bodied person, you should offer up your seat to someone who is female/older/more frail/managing small children/carrying a large number of packages, while on a train/bus/in a crowded room/at church/etc. I don't give a rat's ass where you are, but if there are no empty seats in the place and someone walks in who either NEEDS it more than your or SHOULD BY RIGHT get to sit down before your lazy bum, offer it to them.

If someone ever offers you their seat, do not get offended. Do not think "Do I look old?", "What's their motivation...?", "Does that man think just because I am a woman I need to sit down more than he does?". SERIOUSLY people. Can't we just accept a nice gesture for what it is? If people would start giving total strangers a break every now and then, maybe this cold, hard world would start being a sweeter place to live in.

Wastin' time

I find people like to be really judgemental about how other people spend their time. I'm sure you've all heard someone say "He's got too much time on his hands..." or something along those lines. Now, I'm not a scientist or a physicist, but I'm pretty sure everyone gets the same amount of time. Regardless of where you live, no matter your color, ethnicity, sex, religious preference, sexual preference, we all have 24 hours in the day, seven days in a week and 365 days in a year. So why must we pass judgement on how other people choose to use their time?

The time-hating generally seems to happen when a person witnesses someone doing something really fun or clever that happens to be time-consuming. Just this week I was telling someone I accidentally dropped my brand new carton of eggs, thereby cracking five eggs. Well, I didn't want to just throw out the eggs, so I went online and looked up recipes. I was trying to be resourceful. My story was met with "Have a little time on your hands?!" and a snide chuckle. Um. I don't know if they aren't familiar but the internet is pretty fast (Thanks Al!). It doesn't take long to look up something. The whole process of trying to find a recipe probably took me less than 10 minutes and I got a tasty, albeit eccentric, meal out of it.

Everyone has things they like to do. Whether it be an extreme amount of television or movie watching, a voracious appetite for celebrity gossip, a fanatical devotion to exercise, a passion for reading blogs, bird watching, reading, stamp collecting, working (that's so not me), sleeping, drinking, ho'ing...whatever it is, it's how they want to spend their time. Why do other people find it necessary to weigh in on whether or not they think they are using their time wisely? We are only in this life, in this skin, once. We might as well get as much pleasure from it as possible (within reason, of course).

So, the next time you find yourself thinking "Gosh, they must have a lot of time on their hands if they were able to alphabetize their 1,000 CD's/color coordinate their closet/scrapbook their college memories..." or something of the like, remember the day you spent on your couch watching a marathon of "The Hills". Or the time you spent 8 hours at the mall trying to find a pair of jeans that made your butt look awesome. Or the day you slept for 13 hours straight. Or every time you look at stupid blogs. Remember these times are because you have a CHOICE, and who are we to say someone's making the wrong choice?