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January 26, 2005
Moving Moving Moving
My life is filled with boxes. And scattered junk. And an amazingly helpful boyfriend.
So, I've been packing and moving since Saturday. Also since Saturday, I've had difficulty sleeping through the night - I'm nervous and anxious and fearful of not having all my stuff moved by Monday night. Add to that the fact that I'll be away this weekend, and my life is truly running away from me.
Plus, there's drama at my current abode. My roommates snap at each other and I avoid involvement, hopeful that my silence gets me my deposit back and leads to less tension while I'm there.
On the positive side, mi chavo has already moved two car loads of my stuff. So there's really not that much left. And I put in a reservation for a U-Haul on Monday for my bed and other furniture. I'm just left wondering if my move three months from now will be this stressful. Somehow, I doubt it.
Posted by cj at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2005
Smart, Sassy TeeVee by Women
Sunday's NYT features an interview of Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator and executive producer of "Gilmore Girls," by Virginia Heffernan.
Now I understand what appeals to me about the show. Like me, Amy is a Jewish woman from the Valley. We have all sorts of quirks, including an intense desire to be more connected to our community and a fantasy vision of what places with four seasons feel like. Hence her setting her show in a small Connecticut town and making her main characters WASPs (cause frankly, without a lil fam money, what's the use of a fantasy family?
Posted by cj at 08:32 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2005
The Weather Outside is Frightful
Last night, mi chavo and I went to Crobar's Anniversary Party. We were lured by its "invitation only" status, and the free drinks from 9-11. Of course, first we had to get ready. For me, that started during the afternoon. I went to Marshall Field's to pay my credit card bill and pick up a few "necessities" at the Lancome counter. Upon arrival, I was offered eyebrow shaping for $20. I've always wanted to do it, so I agreed. Little did I know it would take 30 minutes(!) Oops.
Later, I went to Milo's for a haircut, on the recommendation of my roommate. The stylist was extremely nice, knew exactly what I needed and even gave me a discount for being referred to her(!) Ironically, that made my eyebrow shaping cost the same as my haircut. Adding on the cost of Product for my hair, and I had just enough cash to pay for the event. (It always seems like an event when I get my hair cut because it drastically changes my appearance.)
I came home, got ready, changed because mi chavo didn't approve of my first outfit choice, ate some tasty pasta (I heart Trader Joe's tomato sauce), and went off into the wild, white yonder with mi chavo. Thank goodness we didn't last that long at Crobar - we got into the coat check line at 10 to midnight, were out the door at midnight, and fifteen minutes later had our car from the valet. It was a truly frightful drive home. I hope I never have to get into a cab in a snowstorm b/c they were swerving all over the place. Thankfully, mi chavo grew up here and was able to get us home in one piece.
It's still snowing. There's now only a small bit of my car visible. (It's parked outside my building - about a foot of snow on top of it and the snow on the ground reaches half way up my tires.) Right. Well, I should get back to that packing thing....I just hope it stops snowing before tomorrow when we're scheduled to move most of my stuff out of here...
Posted by cj at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2005
Morgan Freeman Wants to Put First Run Movies On Your TV
According to an article in WSJ by Sarah McBride, Morgan Freeman, his movie company Revelations Entertainment, and Intel Corp. want to sell first-run movies over secure internet connections directly to your home theatre system, bypassing theatres entirely. Freeman believes this is a way to halt piracy (apparently its more difficult to jack a secure connection than it is to copy a DVD), and put more moolah in the pockets of the studios (whilst screwing the theatre owners).
Apparently, somethine similar was recently tried: late last year a movie, "Noel," starring Penelope Cruz and Susan Sarandon was released on disposable DVD and in theatres, but the theatre owners hated the idea of competing with the DVDs and the movie screened in a few theatres for a short amount of time.
Whose gonna make the buttered popcorn and sell Junior Mints when mi chavo and I screen first run movies in our living room?
Posted by cj at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2005
When Your Mom's Biological Clock Starts Ticking
Awhile ago, before I met mi chavo, my cousin asked me whether or not I plan to raise my children Jewish. I told her I honestly hadn't thought about it. In my mind, finding a man whom I could love as much as my parents love each other seemed so improbable that the simple idea of marriage seemed remote, so no need to think about kids. Plus, I always thought I'd have my career securely in place before starting a family and I'm nowhere near having any certainty on that front.
Juice (my cousin) was surprised at my answer. After all, I was the "Super Jew" of our generation. I was a Bar Mitzvah tutor from the moment my Bat Mitzvah ended (two months before my 13th bday) until the day I went off to college. I was on the e-board of my temple's Jewish youth group and even had a couple of regional positions. And I was in the youth choir and then the adult choir until the summer before I left for college. So how could I, Super Jew that I am, possibly raise my kids anything else?
Quite honestly, there's two reasons: first, I'm bothered by organized religion. I'm bothered by the fact that unless you pay a certain amount of money, you aren't considered a member of a Jewish congregation. I'm bothered that my parents didn't attend my students' Bar Mitzvahs because they felt unwanted at a temple whose dues they couldn't afford. (Part of the reason I reached out for religion was that my fam was going through a difficult financial time when I was a teenager, as my father was unemployed for five years.) And second, recognizing that I gave up on the "Jews only" dating game when I was in high school, the possibility of me marrying a Jew went waay down. So how could I expect my husband to simply give over the moral/religious upbringing of his offspring simply because my tribe has an incredibly huge chip on its shoulder?
Jump forward a few years to the present day. Enter me and mi chavo - the most amazing man I have ever met. He treats me so well, he is such an amazing human being, we have so much in common, and oh yeah, he happens to be a Catholic Latino. (Hence using the Guatemalan term for boyfriend when referring to him.) Honestly, his religion and ethnicity never factored into my decision to date him or fall in love with him. Okay, so maybe being a hot latino in a football jersey in his online profile did make me want to meet him, but that's not why I fell in love.
Right. So enter stage left The Overbearing Jewish Mother. My mom has been on my case nonstop about my nonexistant children's religion ever since I told her about mi chavo. Let me be clear: it's the first thing she talked to me about when I mentioned that we started dating. Randomly, I have let my mother's biological clock tick its way into my convos with mi chavo. It got to the point where he thought I was the one bursting at the seems to pop out a baby. These convos with mi chavo escalated recently when we were discussing going out West to meet my folks. My mother was highly offended that I told her she could not ask mi chavo about his religion or his preferences in child raising. I told her we simply are nowhere near that point in our relationship and she said "if he's in my house, I'll ask him whatever I want. And it doesn't matter that you're not starting a family now, it's a possibility down the road and therefore you should be discussing it now."
This is no longer about me, my preferences, or my boyfriend. This is about my mother's irrational fear of baptised grandchildren. This is about the fact that my mother *never* questioned my sister-in-law about her religion (she's Christian) and it is about the fact that my mother never bothered to have her second grandson converted nor has she bothered to get my nephews into Hebrew School. (My brother and sister-in-law agreed to raise their two sons Jewish.) Why should I bear the brunt of her fears of the end of the tribe? Why doesn't she worry more about her grandkids that exist rather than bothering me about decisions that are years away?
For me, the issue is resolved (for now). Mi chavo wont be meeting my rents anytime soon (flights are too expensive) and we wont be discussing this topic again for many years to come. Unless of course, he complains about me posting about it. The thing is, this isn't about mi chavo or even our relationship. This is about my mother accepting that I can make my own decisions when it comes to my religion. This is about my mother letting go of control over her child's future. And this post is about me looking for clarity and compassion on how to deal with my mom's biological clock.
Posted by cj at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2005
An Explanation for My Absence
Apologies for my lengthy absence from frivolity. I've been consumed by becoming a Contributing Editor of P! (pronounced P Bang). Please check us out - it's a collaborative progressive blog.
I've also been battling an infection and a flare up of fatigue and wrist pain. Arg. Hopefully, I'll have my physical problems dealt with by the end of the week.
Join me in watching Lost and Alias tonight (and taping West Wing).
Posted by cj at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2005
Soaps Are A Stepping Stone
Blind Boy Grunt pointed out that Kevin Spacey has been attached to the new "Superman" film.
That led me to IMDB, to see all the rejected directors (unfortunately, Tim Burton dropped out; fortunately, McG did as well).
So who will put on the blue tights? Why, Brandon Routh of course! Who is Brandon Routh? He played Seth Anderson on "One Life to Live," one of those silly ABC soaps I occasionally follow. I admit it. I still watch soaps. I've been watching since the womb (literally) - did you think I'd give up so easily?
Routh's mini bio on IMDB must've been written by him or someone close to him.
Posted by cj at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
Say It Ain't So!!
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have split. The rumor I heard was that he wanted kids and she didn't. Sigh.
Deets from the AP on ABC News. Randomly, "Troy" isn't mentioned in Brad's credits. Perhaps because that would refute their analysis that he's "long one of Hollywood' most bankable film stars."
More gossipy version from an Australian site.
Reuters gets in on the action. So they're the people behind the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" remake. Not clear why they're bothering to remake a true classic, but I do hope they make the sequel so I can take my mom up on a movie date she promised me when I was a wee lass reading "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator."
Posted by cj at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2005
First 100 Domains
Interesting to note - Apple.com was #64. Microsoft is not on the list.
Found via Outside the Beltway.
Posted by cj at 03:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2005
Books I'd Love to Own
Here's a link to my Amazon wishlist.
When it's cold out, don't you just want to curl up with a good book? Me too. I'd love to curl up with one of these books...especially the nonfiction ones.
Posted by cj at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)
Positively Putting Women in Their Place
Found via Today's Papers, which caught it in "In the Loop," by Al Kamen in WaPo:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel cannot sue a Web site that published a photo of him with two women above a caption reading 'You're never too old to be a pimp,' a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday. The term 'pimp' was probably intended as a compliment, the court said.Isn't it nice to know that pimping is a good thing these days?
Posted by cj at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2005
Irreverant TeeVee Via Al Gore? Yeah Right.
So INdTV (pronounced Indie TV) is looking for some free labor to help it move forward in securing more money to blow. That'd be the cable news channel created by Al Gore and cohorts. Full deets from Richard Leiby at WaPo.
Posted by cj at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
Boys Are Creating Magazines for Co-eds
First they created websites - annoying affairs with a new medium. Now they're creating beer drenched mags for the collegiate masses. Co-Ed is on sale now and Cheat Sheet is in development. Full deets at NY Daily News. I suppose all the females interested in the market are either (a)writing for college newspapers or (b)interning at Ms. magazine.
Posted by cj at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
New Editor at Publisher's Weekly
FYI, there's a new publisher at Publisher's Weekly, the trade mag of the book business. Brief account at the NYT.
Posted by cj at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)
"The Most Overrated FIlm of the Year"
From A.O. Scott's review of reviewers regarding "Sideways:"
It both satirizes and affirms a cherised male fantasy: that however antisocial, self-absorbed and downright unattractive a man may be, he can always be rescued by the love of a good woman. (What's in it for her is less clear.)Amen, brother. Amen.
Quote found via Blind Boy Grunt.
Posted by cj at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2005
Career Tips
These tips are from Marty Nemko at Bankrate.com:
1. Act like a star at work.
2. Talk more crisply, listen more intently.
3. Follow the World's Shortest Management Course. Create a vision, inspire your supervisees to achieve that vision, don't micromanage, fire the bad quickly and take the time to hire great employees.
4. Get your job description changed to suit your strengths.
5. Request a special project that you'd find fun, would impress your boss and the results of which would be visible to many employees.
6. Forgo State U for You U. (Create your own mentor-based system of learning new skills rather than wasting time and money getting another degree.)
7. Job seekers, use the one-week job search.
8. Procrastinator, overcome that career killer with this three-step method: (a)Be aware of the moment of truth (b)Start with one-second tasks and (c)Only deal with stumbling blocks for one minute.
9. Remember the serenity prayer
10. Remember Nemko's father's story. (Holocaust survivor who refuses to give another minute to the Nazis; personal motto is "Never look back; always look forward.")
Posted by cj at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2005
Happy New Year, Go Away
See, I just got back from a long weekend in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin with mi chavo. Omigod. It is amazing to have the opportunity to leave everything behind you and focus on nothing but your love.
We stayed at The Barbican, in the Villa Suite. Sigh. It was great to have that much space for ourselves. It was so peaceful. It was so perfect.
Except, of course, for the parts that weren't. The mattress was springy - clearly hadn't been changed in years. The whirlpool tub's jet system made an annoying high pitched sound when turned on. And like every b and b, the Barbican doesn't have DVD players in the room. Right. But we took my laptop up and were able to watch some movies that way.
Now the food is quite amazing. Thursday night, we went to The Inn at Cedar Crossing for dinner. I had the most amazing food. I ate elk (elk!) with sun-dried tomato and the most amazing strudel ever (it included cheese, grilled onions, and mushrooms). Mi chavo had the duck confit and enjoyed it. The only bad part of the meal was the initial wine we ordered. We ordered a bottle and it tasted sour. Mi chavo tried to get them to take it back, and when they refused, we decided to just order another two glasses. Then they decided they could take back the unpoured part of the bottle and just charge us for two glasses. So we paid for four glasses of wine and drank two. Eh. The dessert was good too. Afterward, we went back to our suite and had some champagne while watching Beauty and the Beast (in honor of Jerry Orbach).
Friday, we had lunch at Perry's Cherry Diner (with good malts) and watched a bunch of What Not to Wear. Then we got dressed fancy schmancy and went to Sage Wine Bar. Giggle. Here's where mi chavo became my saint. First, we had crab cake appetizers. We ordered a Cote du Rhone wine, which was beautiful. For dinner, I ordered a veal chop with mashed butternut squash and mi chavo ordered quail with mashed sweet potato. Partly because we both drove up to Sturgeon Bay, my hands were hurting a lot. So, mi chavo cut my veal for me. While he was cutting, I tried a bit of his quail and felt like I was in heaven. I was overwhelmed by the meat I had already eaten (a cheeseburger at lunch in addition to the elk the night before) and when I told mi chavo that I preferred his quail to my veal, he asked if I wanted to switch meals. So then, because my hands still hurt, he proceeded to cut up the quail for me. Oh my goodness. Afterward, we had coffee and mi chavo tried the creme brulet. Then we went back to our suite and um, I fell asleep. But I did manage to wake up in time to kiss mi chavo on the stroke of midnight (CST), helpfully counted down by Conan O'Brien.
Saturday we had soup at the Inn at Cedar Crossing for lunch and um, I was having stomach issues. So we watched True Hollywood Story for several hours and then tried to find a simple place for dinner on New Year's Day. By simple, I mean meals less than $20 a piece. The only place fitting that description that was open was Applebee's, so that's where we went. Afterwards, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean.
Today, I was still able to watch Meet the Press and The Chris Matthews Show, despite the strange channels we were dealing with. Unfortunately, we were not able to see Ebert and Roeper, but mi chavo was a perfect gentleman about it.
He continued to be a gentleman when I insisted that I wanted to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Now, the only Cracker Barrels I've ever eaten at were in the South on my drive to DC from LA, and they were amazing. Well, it turns out there aren't so many Cracker Barrels in northern Wisconsin. In fact, there are none. 170 miles later, on the outskirts of Kenosha, WI we found a Cracker Barrel with a 20 minute wait. We waited, eagerly anticipating our lunch. I ordered Vidalia onion rings, and the Sunday Special Chicken Dinner. Mi chavo ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken dinner. Per usual, mi chavo made the better choice. My chicken had too much breading and no gravy, while his had gravy to spare (so of course, he spared some for me). So, after sorta stuffing ourselves, we left the infamous Cracker Barrel. Yes, I was disappointed and yes, mi chavo laughed at me because he knew the poor quality of Cracker Barrels in the Midwest.
My roommate just confirmed that Cracker Barrels in the South are good stuff. Oh well. At least I got a lil bit of nice smelling lotion made with goat's milk.
I'd say more about how amazing it is to spend the weekend alone with your love, but frankly, I'd rather get back to being with him.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Posted by cj at 05:48 PM | Comments (0)