This was one of our weekly topics about six weeks ago, and I never wrote on it.
"Today on MSN". This is the little side column that shows up on the web page when I log into Hotmail...(the account that I have been trying to phase out for about four years, but it just never happens). It has little blue links to the day's top stories. Here are today's.
Confessions of a dating...
Gossip: Meg Ryan's new...
Is it time to dump your bank?
Games: Try the 'Potter' puzzle
and then, under the red "Only on MSN" header:
America's riskiest real estate markets.
Who could resist these tempting morsels?
If it's eating you alive, I have now clicked on three of the five topics and can fill you in. Incidentally, MSN stories come up more slowly than almost anything else on internet. I've downloaded entire movies faster. But perhaps it was worth it to discover
"Confessions of a dating late bloomer." A guy starts dating in his twenties, and after some initial anxiety, realizes that everyone gets nervous about dating, adn that there really are no set rules in overcoming this.
Meg Ryan is rumored has a new boyfriend. I already forget who it is. I rebember that they described her as the "pillow-lipped actress" though.
Los Angeles is indeed one of the riskier real estate markets, while Indianapolis is one of the least risky. The article suggests that one should consider buying a house to be investing in a home, not a get rich quick scheme.
Thirty minutes later, I am armed with mundane bits of information I mostly remember from some after-school special in the 8th grade, and a kind of regret induced nausea as I realize that there's thirty minutes (or two hours, depending on how far I follow a chain of links)I'll never get back again. That I could have used to write something amazing, or volunteer at a soup kitchen...or at least read the CNN feed instead.
So, guilty? Yes, I think so. Pleasure? That's one to think about. Certainly I feel compelled to click on the links, but now I have done so enough to know how empty the results will be that the disappointment actually begins when I move the cursor. Kind of like a chocolate sundae ruined by the thought of all the calories. Where's the joy?
I don't know, but maybe if I "try the Potter" puzzle, I can rediscover it.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Honorable Mention goes to
I don't think I ever mentioned the results of our applications to the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium. We did not get in, but Paul and I both got wait-listed, which is not bad, as apparently there were only five people on the waiting list for grad students. However, it is apparently extremely rare for someone to give up their space, so no one is holding their breath around here.
Then the results of the Princess Grace Foundation Film Awards were sent this week. This is the grant application that tormented me for a good couple months. Paul was not an Award "Recipient," which means he did not receive the $24,000 dollars needed to produce the film concept he applied with, but he was named one of the Film Honoraria. He will recieve $2000 toward a film, we haven't yet heard details of what the expectations are for an end product.
So these are outcomes that evoke mixed emotions. I'm definitely happy and grateful to know we are at least "almost" there. It's very encouraging, and a salve to the ego. But while it's nice to be recognized for what you have done, the big prizes these days are the opportunities to do more, or more specifically, the opportunity to have something be easier. So I guess the end result is, that I think...yes, we should persevere, but oh man, it's still going to be all uphill and I'm tired already!
Oh, well. On to the next!
Then the results of the Princess Grace Foundation Film Awards were sent this week. This is the grant application that tormented me for a good couple months. Paul was not an Award "Recipient," which means he did not receive the $24,000 dollars needed to produce the film concept he applied with, but he was named one of the Film Honoraria. He will recieve $2000 toward a film, we haven't yet heard details of what the expectations are for an end product.
So these are outcomes that evoke mixed emotions. I'm definitely happy and grateful to know we are at least "almost" there. It's very encouraging, and a salve to the ego. But while it's nice to be recognized for what you have done, the big prizes these days are the opportunities to do more, or more specifically, the opportunity to have something be easier. So I guess the end result is, that I think...yes, we should persevere, but oh man, it's still going to be all uphill and I'm tired already!
Oh, well. On to the next!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
And you are getting old when...
Ohhh...I don't feel so good. I feel little hung-over actually.
Why, you might ask. Did you party the night away and drink too much?
Ummm. No. I stayed up 'til 4 AM sitting in the stinky papasan chair reading Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex.
And I ate too much cake yesterday at a birthday day tea. The better I get with limiting sugars in my diet, the more falling off it impacts me. In fact, it might have been the sugar high that influenced me to stay up the extra two hours. My stomach is not thanking me today.
Another reason for my malaise. Today is my official start date on draft two for the screenplay. I want to do it...in that same way you want to go back to the gym after a long hiatus. You know that once you're there, you'll feel better, and feel better about yourself, but from the pleasant distractions of other pursuits the task only looks arduous and painful.
Why, you might ask. Did you party the night away and drink too much?
Ummm. No. I stayed up 'til 4 AM sitting in the stinky papasan chair reading Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex.
And I ate too much cake yesterday at a birthday day tea. The better I get with limiting sugars in my diet, the more falling off it impacts me. In fact, it might have been the sugar high that influenced me to stay up the extra two hours. My stomach is not thanking me today.
Another reason for my malaise. Today is my official start date on draft two for the screenplay. I want to do it...in that same way you want to go back to the gym after a long hiatus. You know that once you're there, you'll feel better, and feel better about yourself, but from the pleasant distractions of other pursuits the task only looks arduous and painful.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Done Got Old
Ever notice how some days seem to have a theme?
I was driving around the other day when the radio played a version of that Junior Kimbrough blues song, Done Got Old, which starts out with the phrase “Done got old, can’t do the things I used to do.”
This was shortly after a discussion where someone quoted somebody, saying that if we really lived truly in the present, each second, all the time, we would be able to feel the incremental decay of our own bodies.
Coming home to our housesit I picked up the mail and found this catalogue “First Street—for Boomers and Beyond.” Flipping through, I found myself laughing in that “shit—it’s so sad, but it’s funny cuz it’s horrible and completely common and true,” kind of way.
As you get older, you might need this:
It’s a clock that tells you what day it is. Say you don’t have much sense of time anymore, but your son comes to visit you on Sundays. You can just sit and watch the clock until Sunday rolls around.
And what if you get lonely while you’re waiting, but you can’t bend over anymore to clean a clean a litter box or put food in a bowl? No worries, you just need one of these:
With the help of two double D batteries, they actually “breathe” so you can take comfort in that feeling of having another body in the room, just like when your spouse was alive, and your family lived with you…
The catalogue of course frames it’s products in a less doleful light.
A Day Clock is for those who don't have to worry about punching in or out at work, who don't have to report for meetings at a specific time, who aren't tethered to a day planner and who need only remember which day to head to the golf course or grandkids house. Basically it's for those for whom time simply means leisure!
Put it that way, it sounds pretty good.
I was driving around the other day when the radio played a version of that Junior Kimbrough blues song, Done Got Old, which starts out with the phrase “Done got old, can’t do the things I used to do.”
This was shortly after a discussion where someone quoted somebody, saying that if we really lived truly in the present, each second, all the time, we would be able to feel the incremental decay of our own bodies.
Coming home to our housesit I picked up the mail and found this catalogue “First Street—for Boomers and Beyond.” Flipping through, I found myself laughing in that “shit—it’s so sad, but it’s funny cuz it’s horrible and completely common and true,” kind of way.
As you get older, you might need this:
It’s a clock that tells you what day it is. Say you don’t have much sense of time anymore, but your son comes to visit you on Sundays. You can just sit and watch the clock until Sunday rolls around.
And what if you get lonely while you’re waiting, but you can’t bend over anymore to clean a clean a litter box or put food in a bowl? No worries, you just need one of these:
With the help of two double D batteries, they actually “breathe” so you can take comfort in that feeling of having another body in the room, just like when your spouse was alive, and your family lived with you…
The catalogue of course frames it’s products in a less doleful light.
A Day Clock is for those who don't have to worry about punching in or out at work, who don't have to report for meetings at a specific time, who aren't tethered to a day planner and who need only remember which day to head to the golf course or grandkids house. Basically it's for those for whom time simply means leisure!
Put it that way, it sounds pretty good.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The House Sit Begins
The most comfortable chair in the house is this one
A papasan chair with a decent cushion, red and velvety soft.
One of the few not infused
with dandelion fluff fibers
Of cat’s fur.
There is a reason for this.
A story of how the cat once peed on this chair, on this very velvety cushion.
How they took it outside (the cushion not the cat)
and hosed it down
and cleaned it with a special product (it’s under the sink if I need it)
You can’t smell it, can you? they asked
And I agreed I couldn’t.
When the cushion was dry, they sprayed it with another special product
(it’s also under the sink)
That keeps the cat away,
which is why this chair alone
is fur free.
So I sit in it, but can’t help wondering,
what chemicals do I loll in
That so repel another species?
And although I spoke the truth in the moment I was asked
I am haunted now
by what could be a figment...
or could be
the faintest,
ghostliest,
scent
of cat piss.
A papasan chair with a decent cushion, red and velvety soft.
One of the few not infused
with dandelion fluff fibers
Of cat’s fur.
There is a reason for this.
A story of how the cat once peed on this chair, on this very velvety cushion.
How they took it outside (the cushion not the cat)
and hosed it down
and cleaned it with a special product (it’s under the sink if I need it)
You can’t smell it, can you? they asked
And I agreed I couldn’t.
When the cushion was dry, they sprayed it with another special product
(it’s also under the sink)
That keeps the cat away,
which is why this chair alone
is fur free.
So I sit in it, but can’t help wondering,
what chemicals do I loll in
That so repel another species?
And although I spoke the truth in the moment I was asked
I am haunted now
by what could be a figment...
or could be
the faintest,
ghostliest,
scent
of cat piss.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Party All the Time
Had a BBQ last week end. Sent it out to the whole listserv at school. It's the beginning of the term for the new incoming teaching assistants, so figured the new could meet the old. The party started at six. The rain started at 5:30.
Not a lot of new people, but other friends were very sweet, came, and alternately stood in the rain or sang karaoke til midnight...good times. Ended up with more food than we started with, so my neighbor Ginger suggested a leftovers dinner yesterday, which helped alot--I can now open the fridge door without fear--plus I got to get to know some of our neighbors better.
And during the daytime these days--reworking the script, which now feels liek the most boring tired piece of shit on earth...This, I am told, is part of the process, so I am plugging through, while periodically doping myself with episodes of Entourage.
Entourage is great, though not probably the best subject matter to be watching right now. It makes me a little angsty to watch the vicissitudes of the movie biz while writing something that could only be useful in the movie biz....
Oh well, I'll have some more left over pasta salad and try not to think about it.
Not a lot of new people, but other friends were very sweet, came, and alternately stood in the rain or sang karaoke til midnight...good times. Ended up with more food than we started with, so my neighbor Ginger suggested a leftovers dinner yesterday, which helped alot--I can now open the fridge door without fear--plus I got to get to know some of our neighbors better.
And during the daytime these days--reworking the script, which now feels liek the most boring tired piece of shit on earth...This, I am told, is part of the process, so I am plugging through, while periodically doping myself with episodes of Entourage.
Entourage is great, though not probably the best subject matter to be watching right now. It makes me a little angsty to watch the vicissitudes of the movie biz while writing something that could only be useful in the movie biz....
Oh well, I'll have some more left over pasta salad and try not to think about it.
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