Nothing Like Being Prepared
Dear Suburban Town I Call Home:The news has been reporting today's storm for over a week. There should have been no surprise that we got the amount of snow that we did. So how is it possible that not one plow has been out? Not one ounce of salt thrown on the ground? Not one train platform cleared?I understand it's cold and quite a mess and the last thing anyone wants to do is go out in this crap, but as a taxpayer I am really quite fed up with all of this. It's not as though this is the first time you have stuck it to us town citizens and I highly doubt it'll be the last.Thanks and all,MoC----------------------------------------------------------Dear Management Company:I pay association fees so little things like snow removal are taken care of during these crazy winter months. Since you have not removed the snow, not one little shovel-full, in an expedient fashion--today and any other day that dumps more than an inch of snow on the ground--please advise if you will mind so very much if I keep that $200 a month and put it to better use.Because really? I do mind so very much that you're taking my money and giving me nothing in return.Bitterly (cold / yours),MoC---------------------------------------------------------I'm hoping the upshot of trudging through today's mountain of snow is that my thighs and ass appreciate the impromptu workout. I am also considering hiring some neighbor boy(s) to shovel. I think the meth house out back has several (able-bodied?) men who may be in the market for some day work. My association fee money in action.
The Beginning of Change
I am, for the most part, one of those people who embrace change. It's not as though I'm out there looking for it, but it seems easier to accept it than fight it kicking and screaming. Diva Niece moves to California in 4 days. This is one change that I'm finding hard to embrace. But denying it or disliking it isn't going to stop it from happening. She doesn't understand that I'm not coming along with her. She doesn't understand that the only time she will see me in the next few months is via web cam. I know this because she tells me so.It just breaks my heart.
I surely didn't. Heath Ledger of all people? Really? Dead at 28... Such a shame.
The Low Hype Golden Globes
I knew it was coming. I tried to prepare myself for it. No fabulous designer dresses. No champagne-swilling celebs. No long, occasionally drunk speeches. I knew, really, that this year the big kick-off of awards season would be the antithesis of all things Hollywood. And I thought I accepted it.I boycotted the reading of the silly press release. Really, did anyone care what Billy Bush had to say? Instead, I found the list of winners and without much fanfare skimmed them, looking for where my kudos (Tina Fey) and jeers (there were several questionable judgments in my humble opinion) would have been placed had there been a real ceremony. I thought I accepted all of this and would move on. I was wrong. I have a sense of loss. It wasn't just those stars who lost their chance to shine (and really, that should be enough...but since this is about me...), but it was also all of the fans (millions and millions) of the annual program that lost their one night of the year to indulge in a guilty pleasure. I support the WGA. They're right for what they're fighting for. There couldn't have been a real ceremony due to picket lines actors refused to cross. I respect that as they stand in support of their writers. I do. But selfishly, I do worry about where this leaves us for the SAG awards or the Oscars. Can we really have a celebration of movies via a press release? Again? I fear not. (Yes, shallow, I am aware. And a tad self-absorbed at times (like now). But I am one of the aforementioned concerned guilty-pleasure-seekers.)
Loose Ends
Diva Niece's dad is home for the weekend befor returning to SoCal for week 2 of his new job. He made my day yesterday when he told me they would be living with the 'rents the last week of the month since they needed to give the movers a chance to drive their stuff across the country. I am already blocking off that week for plenty of time with the little one before she leaves for sunnier playgrounds.*****************************The big news I was waiting for this past week didn't really come as I was playing phone tag at the tail end of Friday with the person who was supposed to give me the big news. In anticipation that the news is what I suspect it could be, it's time for my mental pro/con list to be put on paper. The confusion of it all just gives me one big headache. It will also make for an interesting Monday.*****************************I am still coming to terms with the fact that our annual Golden Globes party has no reason to happen this year. So much for snarky comments and finger food. I fully support the writers and understand the strike and why the start of awards season is not just toned down but really quite nonexistent. But my entertainment-and love of finger food- is suffering here. Hollywood better be working on a solution for the Academy Awards.
Smokey Revenge
Really?!? Being fired because you don't smoke? Crazy Berliners.
Side Job
Working in a store, eh? Is that what they're calling it now...
Pushing Past the Post-Holiday Malaise
Welcome 2008! Over these glorious 8 days, I have been easing back into the work scene (boy, this first 5-day work week in over a month is going to be a tough one) and trying to stick to some of my "goals" for the new year (my Ballys card is still staring at me urging me to throw on the sweats and get my butt in gear tomorrow).The first few days of the new year were spent enjoying every possible moment with Diva Niece. I'm sure there will be one, maybe two, times in the next few weeks when I will see her before she departs for California, but since I have no firm confirmation on that, the best I could do was front-load the month with time with her. Of course I enjoyed every last minute of it.And then came this week. It's a big one as I'm waiting on news of something potentially fruitful. And while I wait, I have been watching sadly as The (currently former) Crush heads down a path of self-destruction. I don't think he came out of the holidays so well and it's beginning to show. We all sometimes feel as though we have too much to bear in life, and sadly I think he has taken a fuck-all attitude about the entire thing. Over the past few days in particular I have become a visitor to his dark emotional state and a keeper of his equally dark thoughts. All of which is very UNsexy (but very scary), which has conveniently nipped in the bud any sort of existing lust. However, I am still deeply concerned about him. On a much lighter note..* No Golden Globes ceremony this year? As much as I support the writer's strike, I am a selfish person come awards seasion and I need an official kick-off and this is usually it. I bet Rumer Willis feels the same way, as this was to be her big Hollywood debut--to celebs and us regular schmoes watching at home--as Miss Golden Globe 2008. Poor Rumer. Whatever will she do?* I heard a fantastic little snippet of gossip that The Mole is returning this summer (and with real people, not D-list celebs)!
