mea culpa, Oscars edition

Dear Twitter followers,

I am so sorry about my endless nattering on about the Oscars last night. I literally can’t help myself. Apparently I felt the need to share my every thought about what, in my opinion, was a wretched ceremony last night.

Lo, it was so bad. And yet. I kept watching, the full, 3+ hours, mostly because my Twitter feed was so endlessly entertaining. (Not my personal contributions, I mean. Everyone else’s.) Social media has so much become the icing on the cake for big pop culture events, hasn’t it? Especially if you follow very funny, clever people, as I do (I am talking about you. And you, especially.) I mean, did you see that Angelina Jolie’s LEG had its own Twitter account by the end of the night? Amazing.

So, you know, apologies. But, of course, I can’t say it won’t happen again. The Tonys are up in June.

With love,

A Tweet-Happy Pop Culture Mega-Junkie

weekend update.

Well, hello! As promised on the Twitter, I took a bit of a blogging break. When there’s nothing to say, you can’t force it, right? But it’s Friday so I thought I’d return for a little weekend update action. Here’s what’s up:
Friday: Tonight I am going to see my friend Dan’s improv group perform. Excited about this – haven’t been to an improve show in a long time. I will be joined by my friend Lisa, who wants me to talk about her more on my blog. So there you are, Lisa. Are you happy now? Do you feel famous?

Saturday: My friend Jaimy is hosting a workshop for women dedicated to a friend of hers whose daughter was murdered by her boyfriend. So I am happy to support her for this event, which takes place in the morning, and includes breakfast. Yay, breakfast! After that, I’ll be taking Jane to a gymnastics birthday party in the afternoon. After that? I think I will take copious amounts of Tylenol. Have you been to a 5-year-old’s birthday party? Headache-inducing. Guaranteed.

Sunday: Ah, Sunday. My usual Friday night moms’ happy hour group is going out to brunch. Will there be mimosas? Oh yes.

What are you up to?

I should really quit while I'm ahead(ish).

I am starting to get antsy.

I am so ready for spring. I know this winter has been easy, I’ve said it before, but I am READY.

I want to be outside.

I want to feel the sun.

I want to stop wearing coats.

And gloves.

And shoes that aren’t sandals or flip flops.

I want to smell sunscreen.

And grilled food.

This winter has been kind of a fail anyway – so why can’t we just quit it early and bring in the spring weather a month (or two) early?

I am sick of watching TV.

I am bored of the internet.

I haaate the dark. (Even though it is getting lighter. I know. I know. Just not fast enough for my seasonal affective disorder.)

My blog is boring. I can’t even pretend it isn’t.

In particular, this post.

But I have nothing to say.

(I’m not depressed. I mean, not really depressed. I feel the need to say that.)

I’m just ready for something different. Something new. Something fun.

(It’s clearly time to do another show.)

How’s your week going?

2/13 randoms

Happy Monday, friends!

Some bits and pieces:

I am so sad about Whitney Houston. Hers was the first concert I ever saw, back in 1987, at the Hartford Civic Center. (Side note: Kenny G opened.) I loved her so much – and in those days, she really was an excellent role model for my nerdy middle school-self. What a waste of a life, of such great talent. When I was watching her videos that were running all morning on MTV yesterday, I found that I remembered the lyrics to almost all of them, some that I have not heard in years and years. Bobby Brown ruined her life. (I know, it’s probably more true that she ruined her own life, but I think it would have gone much better if she didn’t get mixed up with him.) I’m much more upset about this celebrity death than I have been about any other, including Michael Jackson, and I think it’s just because I looked up to her so much during a particularly vulnerable time of my life. I feel like she betrayed my 12-year-old self. Weird, right?

Did you watch the Grammys last night? I didn’t. But I sure did enjoy reading everyone’s Tweets about them. I’m finding these days that I enjoy big pop culture events (Grammys, Oscars, Super Bowl commercials) much more when having a stream of clever comments about them to read on Twitter and Facebook. I didn’t have to watch a second of the Grammys to know what happened. Things I know I have to YouTube today are Adele’s performance and Jennifer Hudson’s tribute. Things I know I’m just fine with not wasting a second of my life on include anything Grammy-related having to do with Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown. Ooooh – I hate that Chris Brown. What a tremendous douchebag, and one that we should not be awarding. Ass. (Another side note: I stopped watching the Grammys in the late 80s, when Jethro Tull got the Grammy over Metallica. My hair band-loving high school self DID NOT APPROVE.)

Our New York plans for Saturday fell apart, as you know, so I ended up going to the movies with some friends on Saturday night. We saw The Vow. It was an adequate chick flick, and hell, I enjoy just going to the movies at all, never mind what I am seeing, but that Channing Tatum isn’t much of an actor, is he? It didn’t matter, we had lots of fun, and even closed down the restaurant bar we went to after. How bout that?

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, so I am sending love and virtual candy hearts to you all. I loved Valentine’s Day the most as a child, and so that’s how I approach it. Just a fun day, a little bright spot in the dreariness of winter. I’ve always enjoyed it – even during the many, many Valentine’s Days I’ve spent single. It’s a Hallmark holiday, yeah, but so what? IT INVOLVES CANDY. And who doesn’t love candy? And isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about? LOVE OF CANDY? It is for me. Tonight we will be making cupcakes for Jane’s class and getting all of her valentines in order for her friends and teachers. I am sure I will have to taste test one of the cupcakes. Or three. OK, not three. Probably.

What’s up with you?

I am a whiny bitch/weekend update.

Note: I am a whiny bitch in this post.

You guys. I’m so bummed! I came here to write my weekly (probably boring to everyone else, but whatever) weekend plans post, but I am looking at this space with very little to say. See, tomorrow I was supposed to go to NYC with my friend Lisa and get into all sorts of mischief, and instead, it’s going to snow so we had to reschedule. Sunday I was going to do all of the chores I normally do on Saturday, and it was going to be busy busy, but now I am looking at two days where, yeah, I have to do laundry and stuff, but I have no other real plans. Sunday is supposed to be exceptionally cold, so overall, it looks like we’ll be indoors all weekend as well. Bah. Humbug.

I’m just over it. I am so ready for spring. I don’t even know what else to say. I’ve been good about trying to stay positive this (admittedly, very snow-free and mild-ish) winter, but I’m just plain ready to move on now. I’m – dare I say it? – bored. I want to do a show. I read a possible script for a show we might do this spring. It got me really excited to start up another theater project again. I want to be outside. I want to go to New York. I want to see my friends more. I want I want I want. (I realize I sound like Jane right now.)

So this weekend I will do some reading, and we will watch some of season 7 of Entourage, which I am looking forward to, and I will try to prevent all of us from going completely stir-crazy.

It should be noted that I had a most excellent lunch today with my friends and former work peeps Dwayne and Beth. They make me laugh and laugh. And I had happy hour tonight, so that’s another friends fix. I just don’t like to do all of my weekend socializing before 6 p.m. on Friday, you know? (I’m selfish.)

What are you up to this weekend?

ALERT: Since I wrote this, but before I'm posting it now, Greg has decided he is coming down with a stomach bug. I am surely guaranteed one of those weekends where I desperately wish I could go to work.

hey girl, and other nonsense.

I had a fabulous weekend up until the point I threw up on Sunday night, shortly after returning home from our Super Bowl festivities. No, it wasn’t from drinking; I seem to have a bit of a stomach bug. I stayed home from work yesterday but went back today, despite not quite being 100%. Thing is, as the new girl, I have to wait until I complete six months of employment before I can use any time off (sick, personal, vacation), so either I will make up my hours from Monday or take them unpaid. Let’s hope March 14 comes quickly (my six monthivarsary).

I spent a good deal of my weekend catching up on Downton Abbey, my absolute favorite new show. I know it’s not new, really, but it is to me, and I am completely and totally obsessed. I just want to live in 1900s England now – is that too much to ask? (Of course, this is obviously not really true, as the life of a woman during those times – whether you were a fancypants or a servant – was not ideal, but everything was so proper in a way I find very appealing. Obviously, I am in no way proper in my real life, so maybe this is just the stomach bug talking. Either way, I adore this show.)

 I recorded Smash last night, and I certainly don’t have to explain to you what this is, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show more heavily promoted. What I will say is that it seems like it was created just for my own personal nerdtacular Broadway-loving entertainment, so I have extremely high hopes. I heard it starts off a bit slow, but picks up after a couple of episodes, and ratings were good last night. Never mind – if I can stick with the shitstorm that is Glee, I can certainly stick with this. And I know, I know, I could have watched it on iTunes for the past month, but I never got to it, OK?

 And, oh hell, now that this is obviously just an update on my television watching, I will tell you that I am counting down the days until I get my Don Draper fix on March 25, when Mad Men returns after an EIGHTEEN MONTH break. Did you hear the premiere will be two hours? One hundred and twenty minutes of Don Draper? Please and thank you.

 And speaking of completely hot guys, has anyone seen those Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” memes around and about? This is my favorite favorite (as it speaks to my past job quite well, and my current one in terms of marketing and PR, and has made me laugh an inordinate amount over the past few days).

Hope you’re having a healthy start to your week. What’s shakin’ in your neck of the woods?

weekend. update.

Well, I thought I’d lighten up the joint after the post about religion the other day with a little weekend update. Things are a little busy up in here this weekend. Here’s what’s up:

Friday: I worked, ran errands (including a trip to the mothership) and am soon off to happy happy, joy joy hour. Tonight we’ll probably watch Hangover 2, which I know isn’t supposed to be that great, but eh, we have it, and I refuse to keep these movies sent to me from Blockbuster in my house for more than a week before I send them back, watched or not. I was getting into the habit of hanging on to the movies for months at a time, which made no sense financially and, really, if I don’t watch something within a few days, I probably don’t want to actually see it. Anyway, after that it would not surprise me even a little bit if I watched another ep or two of Downton Abbey. That show has got me hook, line and sinker, as expected.

Saturday: Well, Saturday morning starts off bright and early with Jane’s first swimming lesson! Hopefully it will go better than the kindergarten meeting on Wednesday. (Short version: she really, really didn’t want me to leave her in the classroom alone with the teacher and kids. She bawled. She was the only kid in that class who bawled! Those other kids have nerves of steel! So I stayed. There we a couple of dads who stayed too. All of the other parents, including Greg, went to the cafeteria to learn more about HOW. IMPORTANT. IT. IS. TO. READ. TO. YOUR. CHILD. (spoiler alert: very.) At one point, while the kids were doing an art project, I told her I had to go to the bathroom and hung in the hallway for about 20 minutes, and she did fine. Baby steps with this, as I suspected. But UGH.) Anyway, swim lessons! Tomorrow night I am going to a fundraiser for a friend (actually, an ex-boyfriend now friend) who had to have  a very unexpected heart transplant this year. He’s doing well, thankfully.

Sunday: Well, church. But you already knew that. And then Superbowl! Yay! My friend Heather is having her annual party. It will surprise you not at all to know that I don’t watch the game, really, but am obsessed with the commercials. The one with Matthew Broderick reprising his Ferris Bueller role makes my head explode with joy, never mind the VW one with the dogs barking the Star Wars theme.

And you?