I finally bit the bullet and bought a domain name of my very own. Check it out here:
How I use it will probably change over time, but for now it’s a little house for my 2014 movie project. It’s a project not thoroughly defined, other than my goal is to use it as a way to write more. Write more about anything.
Funny how the biggest struggle for a writer is writing anything at all.
So I did something pretty awesome today. But first, a little backstory:
I love bread. I love it more than that green eggs and ham guy loves green eggs and ham. I’d eat it on a train, for sure. Basically I could live off bread and pasta and potatoes and so I have nightmares about Atkins and Paleo diets.
While at lunch today, for the first time in my entire life, I turned down the free bread at the restaurant. No, not my second piece, my first.
I didn’t even regret it very much. I was just all, “no thanks” LIKE IT WAS NO BIG DEAL.
Of course, I was eating pasta for lunch, but it was multi-grain angel hair which barely even counts.
Anyway, I’d like to report back that as of January first, I lost TWO pounds, and my body actually looks significantly trimmer. I mean, this is bra hook moving from the first to the third hook kind of improvement (TMI?). Not to brag or anything. But, BRAG.
And now to celebrate, I’m off to all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ for dinner.
Since it’s so close to the Oscars, I guess I’m trying to get in as many nominees as possible. Watched “Silver Linings Playbook” and even though (because?) the guys I saw it with all call it a chick flick, I think we were all surprised with how good it was.
Saw “Les Mis” – our theater was packed! – and turned into a puddle. Wow. Not sure why everyone says they were underwhelmed. I actually enjoyed it more than the live performance. Is it weird that when Hugh Jackman was carrying around the little girl for like 30 minutes it made me want to have ALL HIS BABIES?
Rented “Pitch Perfect” and liked it (even the boyfriend said it was pretty ok!), though it did seem to have an awful lot of “Bring It On” in its DNA. So not the most original movie of the year, but definitely well executed.
Caught up on “Parks and Recs,” and guys, I think Ben Wyatt single-handedly confirms I’m a geek. I know he’s fictional, but he’s totally my BFF for life.
Also convinced the boyfriend to watch “Wicked” with me for Valentines day!!! I think it playing across the street from where we live helped up the appealing factor. This will be my third time, so someone please stop me if I ask you to see it with me. I think I have a problem.
All in all, not the most life-changing or productive weekend, but it was full of friends and musical theater so no complaints.
Spoiler Alert: I watched up to the first episode of Season 3. If you’re behind or don’t watch Downton Abbey, read at your own risk (and reward!).
Downton Abbey’s season 3 premiere beat its season 2 premiere ratings by 98%. It’s PBS’s biggest success in decades (ever?). I decided to jump on the bandwagon before it leaves town.
It’s good, but a couple things that always get to me when I watch Downton Abbey is the lack of three-dimensional characterization and tepid love stories. For a nighttime soap opera, it lacks romance.
Yes, it’s a different time period and a different culture, so I’m not expecting a ton of sexy times or anything, but you can still have a romantic story (Jane Austin, to name the obvious, is an example of that).
“You’re so nice.” “No, YOU’RE so nice!”
Example #1: Bates and Anna are super duper in love because… they’re both nice? (OK, even though one’s a self-righteous maybe-murderer?)
Example #2: Sybil and the chauffer run off together because… they’re both liberals? AND it took her half a season to realize she was in love with him. When she decides she finally is, there’s no real explanation as to why she’s suddenly made up her mind.
Example #3: Mary and Matthew “will never love another as long as the other still walks the earth” because… they’re the main characters? The only reason I give this couple any merit is that the actors have pretty good chemistry together. Other than that, they are incredibly boring together.
I just want… better. Throw a girl a bone, won’t ya? The first time I read Mr. Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice I think I literally screamed from excitement and feelings of pent-up sexual tension. I don’t get any of that vicarious thrill with Downton Abbey. WHERE IS MY VICARIOUS THRILL?
This, of course, goes back to my other point about the lack of character development. I think from DA I’ve discovered a little trick about creating dimensional characters in fiction:
1. If you have to have characters repeatedly spell out the virtues (or vices) of another character, you’re clearly not creating a strong enough character in the first place.
2. If you have characters repeatedly spell out the virtues (or vices) of another character, it’s only interesting IF they are extolling different ones.
I’m kind of dashing, in a dull way. Rawr.
Take Matthew for example. He’s young, handsome, and very honorable. He wants to stay humble despite the fact that he’s going to inherit a fortune. OK, interesting start, but… HE IS VERY, VERY BORING. He’s like Leading Man 1.0, with lots of money but not much personality. People are ALWAYS saying: “Oh Matthew’s great. He’s GREAT! Matthew and Mary are MEANT TO BE.” And I’ll accept your argument, but it doesn’t make for great television.
Now look at Mary. I may be a bit biased because Michelle Dockery (the actress) is, I think, beautiful, but she’s much more interesting to watch. In the first episode I kind of hated her. She was a judgmental bitch to everyone, and seemed very cold hearted. But as the season goes on you see her more as pragmatic, and loving but guarded. It’s so subtle, that you can see why some of the other characters still see her as just a judgmental, uppity bitch. And those haters make it very clear they don’t think very highly of her one bit (DA is nothing if not heavy handed with their messaging).She’s uppity, for sure, but what do you expect from the heiress of Downton Abbey?
So while you have some characters always talking about how much Mary rocks their socks, a lot of other characters are like “UH, SHE MOSTLY SUCKS.” You can see why they would think either way, based on their relationship with her. That’s interesting.
I think one of the reasons it’s so hard to really get under the skin of a lot of these characters is that so much time passes between each episode/season. Can you imagine how much you’ve changed in 5 years? How much your viewpoint changed especially on the brink of adulthood like a lot of these characters? By glossing over so much of their lives, it’s hard to really capture change in character without having them starting to act seemingly out-of-character. I understand the benefits of having a lot of time pass quickly, however it also give the show some of its weaknesses.
I like Downton Abbey a lot, but sometimes to enjoy it I have to accept it’s not necessarily going to tell the story I’d want it to.
UGH. Dieting is the worst. So hungry… so so hungry…
Tonight I made a dinner of baked salmon, brown rice, creamed corn and broccoli, with an apple for dessert.
Now I just want some cake.
Oh, and Happy New Year! I guess.
For our new years resolutions, J and I are going to commit to being healthier. Our approaches are extremely different, but we’re both hoping for the same outcome.
Here’s J’s plan:
1. Cut down on pizza. Load up on Subway.
2. Go to the gym a lot and get super muscle-y.
3. Do this to the extreme for 3+ months. Um, not sure what the plan is after that…
4. By 2014, be James Bond.
Here’s my plan:
1. Add more fruits and veggies to my diet. Use my NEW JUICER (WOOT WOOT) to help me accomplish this.
2. Cook at home more. Less sodium and sugar, more whole grains!
3. Exercise every day (every other day?), alternating between weight lifting and cardio.
4. By 2014, be Wonder Woman.
My plan is clearly the more long-term oriented one, but also the more expensive and time consuming one. WHO WILL COME UP ON TOP?
To help keep me motivated, I loaded my Google Reader up with a few new blogs, including…
You had me at “nerd.”
It’s a fun, uplifting kind of site that takes fitness and health, but not itself, very seriously.
I’m no Rachel Ray. I don’t have a signature meal, I tend to burn recipes and I never remember where anything is at the grocery store since I rarely go.
I’ve never really followed food blogs before, but I’m desperate for healthy, cheap recipes and don’t want to put in a whole lot of effort looking for them. So I’m starting with one of the biggest blogs around, and from there I hope to branch out. It’s a sister site of Apartment Therapy, which lead me to all the current interior design blogs I currently read (and I stopped reading Apartment Therapy – ha) so hopefully the trend will continue
I’m also open to any and all suggestions!
What’s your favorite food/fitness/inspirational/nerdy blog?
There’s nothing much I can add to what’s already been said about the tragedy in Sandy Hook, but in the effort of trying to capture all of life’s most important moments, I wanted to take a moment to remember.
I’ve never lost a child, or a parent, or even a very close friend. I can’t imagine… and so I won’t pretend to know like what it must feel like for the loved ones of the victims. But my heart remains heavy nonetheless.
I think it’s hearing about the little things that hit you the hardest. Like the teacher who died trying to save her students – a young woman who was planning to see “The Hobbit” with her boyfriend that night, and had baked cupcakes decorated with the characters’ faces in celebration. Or the mother who bought her six year old cowboy boots for Christmas – what will she do with the shoes now?
If you’d like to do more than just post a Facebook status about the tragedy, you can always do a bit more. Donate to The Sandy Hook School Memorial Scholarship Fund at the University of Connecticut, for example, which will will cover college costs for any students who currently attend the elementary school, as well as siblings of those killed in the assault and dependents of teachers and other adults who also lost their lives, who are accepted to attend the University in the future.
Also reflect on the tragedies we CAN prevent and show others the same compassion you’d expect from them.
Pakistani children light candles to pay tribute to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Dec. 15, 2012.
There will always be evil, sadness, and inexplicable acts of violence. Be a force against it.
A much delayed post… I’ll summarize in photo:
11/23: Day after Thanksgiving build-your-own pizza lunch with bro at Pieology. Realized I don’t do well with an overwhelming amount of options. I got the #3, no changes.
11/24: A few Christmas decoration projects (& more!)
11/24: 4rd birthday celebration of the week, 4th time I celebrated with wine. Oh, my friends know me so well!
11/??: Random Monday eating Korean food and watching basketball. Note to self: don’t expect dinner conversation when going to a restaurant that has TVs.
12/1: LA & BEEEEEER samples. This place was seriously hipster heaven.
12/1: Blake Griffin signing autographs at the LA Auto Show
12/2: Company Holiday Party
There was food, drinks, casino games…
And guess who came to dinner…
Okay, it was MC HAMMER. (not Sidney Portier)
Can’t touch this.
Today I’m 24 years old, and I feel too old to be all…
And I’m more…
(Old and don’t give a fuck. WOOO!)
It’s pretty nice.
But enough with the goofiness and profanity. Today’s also got me thinking of something more important. Something important regarding my New Year’s Resolution: PICTURESSSSSSSSSS!
Last night the BF took me out to dinner. I totally failed to take any pictures so I’ll post a picture of us from a couple weeks ago at “The Book of Mormon:”
most unflattering pic EVER 😦
Anyway I guess it’s important to think about WHY I’m making it my mission to be a better picture-taker. WHAT do I want to remember?When you’re truly enjoying life, recording it tends to fall by the wayside. Sometimes I don’t even bother because it’s the worst when you try to immortalize an awesome moment and just end up capturing the fact that you look sort of like the creature from the black lagoon.
As I go about my 2013 mission, I don’t want to take a picture for the sake of… taking a picture. What’s important to me is what I want to remember not just at 24, but 24 years from now.
And I think it’s tempting to forget that with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, whatever, 90% of what you do doesn’t matter. All those social media things seem to emphasize the fleeting, and while ordinary daily life is great to capture, its not my only concern. Oh, and if you’re not careful, it can get you fired (cray cray, right?!).
So in conclusion, how do I want to remember my young(er) years? Trying to remember every single little detail isn’t important. What I want to do is collect and save the moments, big and small, that I’ll most care about when I’m 100 years old. Kind of like a physical version of my life flashing before my eyes right before I die.
My mom asked me earlier today why my NYR wasn’t just updating my Facebook more. I wasn’t really sure how to explain it at the time, but I think I just feel like the Facebook me isn’t the real me.
I think Facebook Me drinks more than Real Me, watches too much YouTube, and has a weird tendency to hang out with the same people all the time (thanks to those few friends who just loooove to check us in everywhere).
I think Twitter Me is too flippant.
I think Tumblr Me is a crazy feminist-goth-TV writer.
If you just looked at the type of blogs I read, you’d think all I care about is interior design, hipster weddings and having 100 kids.
And if you just know me in real life you would only know whatever Me I decide to show you.
We are all greater than the sum of our parts, and I hope to somehow wrangle in the Internet versions of me for something more representative of my whole.
So maybe this blog is best described as the “Edited” Me.
Take what you read here with a grain of salt.
P.S. In the spirit of the holiday, I’m thankful for people who make me laugh, people who buy me wine, and people who are kind.
I go on Pinterest on and off. I have boards for a bunch of girly things, and there is honestly only so much girliness I can handle!
BUT I noticed a funny thing when I signed onto my dashboard today. I have between 20-60 views on any given day even though I haven’t written anything for months. When I researched into this phenomenon, I discovered where all my traffic was coming from – Pinterest. I had written a home design kind of entry over a year ago, and apparently it’s been “pinned” a few times. I don’t think this translates into regular readers or anything, but I find a bit amusing.
So I thought I’d post some of my favorite pins over the past year or so, to celebrate that weird little site. Enjoy!
DIY tile coasters – the first project I ever made off Pinterest. I gave them to my aunts as a Christmas present.
I bought a vintage book to do this DIY, but couldn’t bring myself to destroy the book. It’s currently sitting on my nightstand half read.
This is totally going to be my wedding dress. Someone please, please make it for me.
I am obsessed with herringbone pattern and spray painted chandeliers. My dream entry way, fo’ sizzle.
IT’S AN EWOK TODDLER. MY GEEKY HEART JUST EXPLODED.
It was really difficult to pick out these few, and so now I’m kind of glad I’m such a mediocre pinner. If you want to see what else I’ve pinned, you can check it out here: http://pinterest.com/kiweesplash/ Happy pinning!
all that poetry & all those songs 