t.v. time...

the past few weeks have marked the beginning of a new chapter to my life: the 2006-2007 television season. no, i'm not that sad of a person that my life revolves around the t.v. line up. it's just that this year there are quiet a few new shows that i was eagerly awaiting all summer. so when premier weeks began it was like somebody showed up on my doorstep with a free bag of entertainment. (unfortunately, with the beginning of a new t.v. season also comes the beginning of a new phonathon season at work. so i'll actually be DVR-ing most of the shows i watch.)

anyway, so after seeing all of the new show's season premiers (i am still anxious for LOST to start) i have come to a conclusion: television is getting smarter. i guess it's not really t.v., but more so the writers, but either way, i feel like there is more thought put into the shows this year. almost like the creators are pushing us to consider things and look at life the same way a professor would hope you draw something important from a 45 minute lecture. most of the shows that i have latched onto leave me questioning things when they end. not necessarily in the "deep thoughts" sense, they are just generally thought provoking.

for example...

six degrees: a show about how everyone is connected in some way or another. watching the season premier (a) made me wonder about all of the people i have affected without knowing it and (b) got me thinking about how other people have been the cause of certain things in my life going bad or getting better. i like that not only are we getting to peer into the lives of people (it's the voyeur in me), but also being forced to think about us. what if it was me that changed the future of some lady's life i bumped into the other day on the sidewalk?

heroes: a show about how every day people can (and do) evolve into superhuman beings. this show really sparked my interest with the "girl walking through fire" preview all summer. i just had to see how that cheerleader did it. granted, they never answered that question in the first episode, but i imagine they will. and for that, i will return. after the premier ended i was again left with questions about human evolution - are we eventually going to become a species with the ability to teleport? or regenerate cells at a rapid pace?

jericho: a show about what life is supposedly like after a nuclear holocaust. i think it's the "what if" fear that snags you in this show. it makes you think about what really would happen if all the major US cities were blown to bits and vaporized. how would we survive? should we all prepare? do the television networks know something we don't? should i be taking notes? but even if it is playing off america's fears of the potential future, it's a well written show that addresses an issue that for a long time people assumed only happened in other countries. maybe it's a wake-up call to those of us that think the USA is immune to attacks?

studio 60 on the sunset strip: a show about "NBS" and it's fight against the media and other networks. my favorite. many of you know that i am an addict when it comes to researching, scrutinizing, and studying the way american media functions. so naturally this show was a winner with me. it's "network" in t.v. drama form - and updated to modern day life. it exploits everything wrong with network television and the media. it just puts it out there. granted, i realize that it's not 100% true or even 50% based on truth, but i don't care. regardless of that it makes you question how it really does work behind the scenes.

we go through t.v. eras, i think. we’ve been through the “i love lucy” era that started what we know today as sitcoms. it morphed a little, as life in america changed over the decades, and sub-eras ran through them with certain types of humor (seinfeld and frasier) and specific subject matter (couples, marriage, etc.). there’s also been a crime & law drama theme with shows like CSI, NYPD blue, and many others focusing on the repercussions of f’ing with the law and how the criminal profiling process works. then there was the political stream with the west wing type shows. and i really think LOST is what caused the shift into what we see today. it’s the info-loaded, multi camera angled, voyeuristic/reality age of television. we want more than a story-line now. we want to know backgrounds on people, what they do when the cameras aren’t there. We want to know the story before the story line. we want something we can feel, understand, and think about.

maybe i’m wrong…or maybe these are just the reasons i like the shows on today. either way, and regardless of why, i'm looking forward to a season of good ol' mind stimulating television viewing. don't be surprised of any/all of these shows pop up in another future post.

the smell of nostalgia is in the air...

this month has been the month of re-connecting and catching up with people i haven't seen in a while. i don't know if it has to do with the fact that i've been out of high school for 5 years now, and maybe everyone at this point starts to get curious about those people that they haven't seen in forever. or if it's all just coincidence that i've personally had this many experiences lately. it's like the 5 year curiosity itch.

i've had dinner with 5 people i went to high school with. my ex-boyfriend (first love/high school sweetheart.) called me to announce his engagement (congrats again, graham, if you're reading this). i found out my best friend from 7th grade is moving to san jose in january. and several other people have suddenly emailed me out of the blue, just to see what was up. see, i told you there was a pattern. if september was a themed party it would be "blast from the past" where everyone wore what was in style the last time we saw each other. thankfully nobody actually did that...

i digress.

actually, i don't digress, that's really all i had to say on that.

daily comic...

nearly every morning tim e-mails me a cartoon. this was today's.

notes on the weekend...

* rabbits frighten me. especially the one in the new skittles commercial.

* is it wrong that after watching "murderball" i was very thankful i had full use of my limbs? and that i laughed when tim got up and ran around in a circle?

* joe rogan is my new favorite commedian. i saw him friday in the city and laughed my ass off. reminded me how healthy it is to laugh, it's so good for you.

* i was "forced" to watch "march of the penguins" over the weekend, thinking i was going to hate it and that it was just a dumb movie about birds. but i nearly cried...and i laughed...and morgan freeman is the best narrator ever. i have thus changed my mind about the movie.

* tim and i also watched "the wild parrots of telegraph hill." it's a film about this guy who lived in san fancisco and cared for this flock of 40-something cherry headed parrots. he was definitely an odd ball, but the documentary was pretty interesting.

* i could never be a professor or teacher. i learned that last night at training. when they all just stare at you with glazed over expressions you wonder where they go. i mean, i know where my mind wandered in class, but it's different when you're the one standing up in front of everyone. you just want to spontaniously yell out random things just to see if they are still alive.

at the risk of violating life lesson #72...

i have three things i want to touch on tonight. but first, (a) i'm not drinking merlot and (b) i'm not sure if blogging counts as e-mail. and if you don't get the reference, please visit this site.

number one: facebook. i'm not sure how many of my loyal fans are members of this social networking site or have even been following the recent news surrounding it, but oh well, i'm going to talk about it anyway.

recently facebook launched this new feature called the "news feed." it provides a minute by minute feed of what all of your "friends" have been doing - from updating their profile to breaking up with their boy/girl-friend to writing on somebody else's "wall" to leaving/joining a group. everything. nothing on this "news feed" is information a user couldn't already find, but it was never this easy. never this easy to stalk somebody, watch their every e-move, and know exactly what they we're doing at 8:37pm friday night. oh, and also, each personal page includes a "mini feed" highlighting what that specific person has been up to. it also includes the ability to minimize sections on profiles and know what aspect of a person's profile was updated.

i guess though what i find most interesting is the response. many people are outraged, upset, confused, and miffed as to why facebook implemented this change. and they used facebook to talk about it. what better way to say "we're not happy" to a company, than to use the company's product to tell them. can you imagine if people hated some new car that ford made. and instead of not buying one or protesting, they bought a car, got together with other ford owners, and drove directly into the ford headquarters? i just find it all amusing.

i am also interested in why people are so upset. i know what i don't like about it (i just want the option to turn it off), but over 500,000 users aren't happy, according to the largest "anti mini feed" group on the site (number as of 10pm PST). that's a lot. why are people so resistant? is it the ease of being able to know somebody's every e-move? is "generation facebook" (stolen from this time article) resistant to change? is it just that somebody (facebook) finally put it out there how dumb we all are for putting our own information out there; are we just pissed that somebody put the facts into our faces: people can follow you, stalk you, watch you when you live your life on line.

anyway, this subject has been written and rewritten about in the past day or two so i'm going to end it there. i just had to put my 2 cents in.

number two: project runway. on labor day i sat on my ass and did nothing. except watch a 7 hour marathon of "project runway. season 3." and i got hooked. hell, if i watched 7 episodes of anything in a row i'd probably be hooked - it's freakin' brainwashing. anyway, after catching up with one of the many pop culture phenomenons that i have been missing i have a few random comments:

first, laura got pregnant fast! hell, it was like 2 episodes ago that she just found out she was having her sixth (yes, S.I.X. sixth) child. (i was amused that she announced it to her mom on national television.) and now all of the sudden she's tying up her button down shirts, pushing down her capri pants, and complaining about not being able to drink and having swollen feet. at least tonight they confirmed that she was 3 months along, and not just abnormally large for having a baby that she just found out about 3 episodes ago. but it makes me wonder how must time passes between challenges...

second, can i contact the designers who got kicked off and ask them to make me an outfit? i think there should be a "win a fitting with ______ from 'project runway'." how fun would that be - your own fitting, personalized clothes, and day of glamor?

and finally, i want to thank vincent for my most recent "i say it way too much phrase." if i say "it gets me off" one more time i swear...at least he got kicked off tonight, so maybe it won't stick for much longer.

number three: work. phew...i forgot the energy it takes to interview, train, and prepare for the new calling season. ten hour work days suck and i'm looking forward to my 1pm-8pm work days again when all of this preparation ends. until then, please forgive me if i fail to post as often as i would like.

i find this interesting...

and i'm not going to say much more than that. (click for full article.)

"A majority of Americans surveyed -- and a higher percentage than recorded during the same time last year -- said things in the United States are going 'badly.' Among this year's respondents, 29 percent said 'pretty badly' and 25 percent -- up from 15 percent a month ago -- answered 'very badly.' By comparison, 37 percent described the way things are going as 'fairly well,' and 9 percent answered 'very well.'"

happy labor day!!

Yvonne’s wedding (or, how I ended up looking like an abused girlfriend)…

so i’m sitting on a plane back to california after spending 48 hours in the great state of texas for yvonne’s wedding. it was a beautiful wedding and a great time – short and sweet ceremony, too much booze after. great food, fantastic band. (the lead singer had a thing for lindsey.)

it was the first time in a while that all of my crew was back together, and even if it was just for 20 hours, most of it crammed in a small comfort inn in bastrop, tx or drunkenly dancing, it was the best. i was reminded of why all of those girls are my friends (not that i had forgotten, but you know, i just needed a memory jog i guess. and i suppose they aren’t “girls,” i think we can all be classified as “women” now, huh?).

i’ll spare you all the details of it all, but do want to share a few key highlights and moments. first, there was getting ready. it’s been too long since i had proper girl primping time, spending more hours than we need getting ready for an event that we didn’t know anybody at. but it was great – especially going to walgreens and the liquor store with laura ann in curlers.

the ceremony was nice – pretty church. and the reception site was beautiful as well. it was all about the colored butterfly chandeliers hanging from the 20 foot ceilings. we started with a 100% free cocktail hour, sucking down as much free liquor as we could (free crown and coke? yes please.). then we moved to eating, which is usually a good idea when consuming alcohol at a high (and semi-unhealthy) rate of speed. it was a shame that later in the night the tasty food decided to reappear in the toilette. (sorry…bit too graphic perhaps?)

anyway, i think my favorite memory of the night was dancing. not just normal dancing, but the kind of dancing that only a group of 6 girl friends who have known each other for five years do. the kind of dancing that calls for a lack of concern of other people’s opinions and thoughts. the kind of dancing that I used to do in the privacy of my own apartment with the speakers blaring. and we did it to “walking on sunshine.” the song was practically made for us to dance to. like they knew that one day, a group of friends was going to need a theme song. (i’ve always wanted a theme song…)

so yes, i had a great trip. minus one part that i will, for some strange unknown reason, share with the internet now. and with my sharing, i will lose all pride. so of course, i don’t dance without a few drinks in me (if you know me, you know this). and when i do dance, i put my heart and entire body into it. and i flail my arms and kick my legs and shake my head until i can’t see straight. (i do this because i have no rhythm and it’s accepted because i’m white.) well, during all of said dancing i managed to become an old lady and pretty much throw out my back. not like, “ouch, my back is sore.” more like “FUCK! my back is spasming, i can’t stop it, and it’s about to give out.” and when it did, i fell. outside. onto my wine glass.

feel free to laugh here. i did.

now most people standing around (which i have no idea how many that was) probably thought i was “that girl” at the wedding – the one who drinks too much because she’s not the bride and has to do something to make up for the fact that she’s not the center of attention. but i’m not, i’m nowhere near that. i’m rather happy and know my day will be here eventually. i was just having a good time, celebrating a good friend’s marriage to the love of her life. i fell because of my back, but you try explaining that to people who don’t know you. (ask tricia about this, it was her responsibility to try.)

anyway, yah, i feel onto my wine glass. and that managed to leave a nice mark on my chest, right on my sternum that’s shaped like half of a wine glass. it’s hot, i swear. i also, at some point, managed to nearly break my nose (it is believed that this occurred during my visit to the bathroom later that night, but was not witnessed by anybody but myself who was too worried about preventing the hangover from hell the next day to remember). and while i’m pretty sure it’s intact still, it sure does have a lovely bruise right in the middle, right between my eyes. it makes me even sexier.

i can’t imagine what the people on this plane think i did this weekend. actually, i can, and i don’t want to think about it, because i know what i would be thinking about me if i were somebody else. but regardless, it was a good time. and besides my nose and chest being bruised (not to mention my ego), it all went without a hitch- with the exception of yvonne and aaron’s, of course.

and on a random note, i’m reading a great book right now that i recommend to all of my female readers (or male readers who want to get inside the mind of your average 20-something year old woman). it’s called “why girls are weird.” it's by this woman. she rocks, so go buy it.