Wickedly Good

I read Wicked by Gregory Maguire my freshman year of college. I can’t remember how I found out about the book or where I bought it exactly. It’s not surprising that I stumbled upon it somewhere and somehow, though. For as long as I can remember, The Wizard of Oz has been a part of my life. Every year around Easter it used to come on TV and we’d watch it as a family. (This was after my parents split up, though since I can’t remember much from when they were together, it’s possible the tradition started then.) We didn’t have a VCR and a DVD player was way out of our league, so we had to wait until it came on network TV to watch it, but I always looked forward to it. I can remember one year where I was running late for it, having gone somewhere with a neighbor or something and I started getting frustrated that they didn’t care that I was going to miss part of the best movie ever. When we got back to our apartment building, I ran upstairs and sat myself right in front of the TV, with my coat and shoes still on, just in time to see Dorothy and Toto running down the sepia lane. Due to my obsession with the movie for birthdays and Christmases and just because, I’ve gotten figurines, books (original and derivative), towels, ornaments, note pads, pens and even a string of Wizard of Oz themed lights. I have almost a full set of the original L. Frank Baum books, but to my slight shame have not read all of them. One summer I intended to read them all, but I think I got scared of the sadness that would ensue once I finished them. I still haven’t read them all and I think that’s why. It’s kind of silly because I have always been in love with the world Baum created (and MGM was only partially able to capture, though they created one of their own), so why would I deny myself the pleasure of reading further? I have a few of the books in Russian and French, too, though they may be abridged. Wicked was bound to find its way onto my bookshelf sooner or later.

I have a very vivid memory of sitting on one of the tables in the laundry room in my dorm hall, reading the book and waiting for my clothes to dry. It was fall and the little windows in the room were open, but it wasn’t chilly. I was wearing a pair of denim overalls and a long sleeved shirt – red or light blue, I believe. My hair was down because I remember I kept pushing it behind my ears, though there were times I let it fall down, trying to create a sense of mystery or somesuch for the non-existent cute, well-read and nice male passers-by. I don’t recall the storyline at the time I was reading this in the laundry room, but I wasn’t too far in. I had only started the book a few days before.

I don’t know why I recall that moment so well since my memory is generally crap. But every now and then there is a moment that stands out like it was just yesterday. Maybe it was the aspect of feeling grown up and hip and cultured. Maybe it was encountering these characters I had known since I was a young child in a completely different way. Or maybe it was a bit of both, seeing the correlation between how the characters were getting a fresh start in a way and how I could as well.

I loved Maguire’s telling of the story before Dorothy dropped in. I cherished it and the book took residency in my headboard. I don’t think I knew it was a musical until Kyle and I saw a banner for it in Los Angeles in February of 2007, five and a half years after I had read the book. We briefly considered catching it there, but there wasn’t enough time. As soon as we got home, I looked to see if it would be in Denver and sure enough, there were shows in June. We talked about going, but never actually bought tickets. The production left Denver, completely sold out every night from what I heard. I was sad and upset and vowed that I would see it eventually. I started looking at touring production dates in nearby cities, but none were really close enough to drive to, even for an overnight stay.

I bought the soundtrack about a year ago and listened to it a lot in the ensuing months. “No Good Deed” found its way onto a mix CD of mine and my workout playlist. “Popular,” “No One Mourns the Wicked,” and “Dancing Through Life” got stuck in my head all the time. And I loved it. I knew the story so I could extrapolate how things happened and one song lead to another, but I still desperately wanted to see the performance.

In April I got an email from the Denver Center for Performing Arts announcing that Wicked tickets would be going on sale soon. I marked my calendar and bought 2 tickets the morning they went on sale. The show date I chose was October 17th, six months away, but I couldn’t wait. I managed to get box seats, which everyone said would be awesome. Especially since they were the same price as balcony tickets. I had the tickets mailed to me and pinned them to my cubicle wall, longingly staring at them during slow times at work throughout the weeks until the show date. I pulled them down last Monday, sticking them in my purse’s secret compartment (okay, it’s not that secret, the zipper gives it away) so I wouldn’t forget them for Saturday.

Kyle had to juggle work and ghost tours and such to make sure he’d be available Saturday night (which he originally made sure nothing else would interfere with, but bad weather the weekend before made it a little more difficult), which was awesome. The thought of not being able to go with him was disheartening. I mean, I still would have gone, of course. I’d waited far too long to not. But everything worked out and off we went.

We planned on getting downtown around 5:45 so we could park and get to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We got there around 6pm instead so we figured we’d park at the Performing Arts Complex and then walk around the area to find a restaurant instead. We came up on Sam’s No. 3 which had Broncos signs and such in the windows so Kyle felt it was a safe bet. We put our name on the waiting list but after awhile we asked if we could sit outside on the patio instead. The hostess obliged, took our name off the list and followed us out with cups, silverware and menus. It took quite a while for our waiter to come out, but we had fun people watching in the meantime. Kyle had a burger which he said was very good and I ordered fish and chips. The fries weren’t that great, but the fish was good. We finished up our dinner with plenty of time to walk the short distance back to the theater.

When we walked in, the lady scanning our tickets complimented my necklace which was nice and then gave us very detailed instructions on how to get to our seats, though I think we both glazed over after awhile. When she finally released us, we walked around the lobby for a bit, checking out some of the schwag available for purchase at the several Oz Dust Boutiques that were set up. I really wanted to get something but there was so much to choose from! I grabbed a brochure from the first booth we stopped at and pondered my pending purchase. We walked around some more and both used the restroom. I don’t know about the men’s room but the ladies room was not well constructed. The sinks didn’t have any mirrors over them, which I can understand because when women are touching up their makeup and not using the sink it’s a waste of a sink. So they had mirrors up against another wall where women could primp. But they still could have had mirrors above the sinks. Also, the paper towels were behind you when you were at the sink so you had to drip on the floor to get to a paper towel, which was messy and seemed like a safety hazard.

Back in the lobby, we meandered back to the schwag booths and I bought a water bottle, which I had ogled a few months ago on the website anyway. I also think I want to get the Defy Gravity perfume, but they didn’t have any on hand so I’ll have to order that from the website. The Popular perfume smelled nice, but a little too sweet. From the description on the website, the Defy Gravity perfume will not have that problem.

We went up the first flight of stairs to the Mezzanine to wait for the doors to open. When they did, we grabbed some programs from the usher and then went back out and found our way to our seats in box 5. The box seats were pretty awesome because they’re not in rows or stuck to the floor. It’s a box and there are some chairs in there. There were six when we first got there, but I suspected there were only 4 tickets sold for the box. We waited until the lights went off and when there were only four of us in the box (we were with an older couple), we kind of rearranged our seats so we could see better and were more comfortable. During intermission I also didn’t feel any apprehension about leaving my schwag in the box, like I would have if we were sitting in the balcony in the middle of a row or something.

From the moment the performance started to the final bow, I was captivated. They managed to incorporate humor and deep questions about the nature of people and fantastic dancing and amazing costumes and wonderful songs all in one fascinating show. Kyle was looking forward to it and expected he would enjoy it, but he wound up liking it even more than he thought he would, due in part it seems to the lack of any dull moments. The pacing was great. They dropped in a lot of references from the movie and from Baum’s original book which I delighted in (the Quadlings especially). There were a few parts which clarified some questions I had from just listening to the soundtrack and those were great to see to have it all come together like that. Also great was seeing Fiyero dancing through life. Once the cast left the stage I looked at Kyle and told him I wanted to see it again. Right then would have worked, but anytime within the next year would be awesome as well. It’s just too good not to see it again and again. I’d love to see it in London and New York and San Francisco. If I ever get to Sydney, I’d love to see it there, too.

If you haven’t seen it, I wholeheartedly recommend it, if that weren’t obvious from my glowing recount. It will definitely take you over the rainbow.

Update!

Wow, it’s been six weeks already? Sorry about that! It’s been busy. A good sort of busy, but busy nonetheless. I will try to do better with blogging here going forward.

The move into Kyle’s went well, and aside from the trouble of figuring out where to put everything, is continuing to go smoothly. It’s wonderful coming home to a houseful of awesome people instead of an empty room I can’t even call my own. It’s also nice that most nights dinner is already ready for me when I get home. Hehe!

The weight loss goals have not been going too well since my last post about them. BUT I haven’t gained more weight AND I just bought an elliptical off of craigslist last night. I’ve used it twice already, though just for a short time each (less than 10 minutes last night and 10 minutes this morning). It’ll take some getting used to just because I’m so out of shape, but I figure I’ll work up to it easily and hopefully by mid-November or earlier I’ll be doing 30 minutes a day. I’m thinking I might try to do 10 minutes tonight, just to keep it up and then maybe go up to 11 minutes twice tomorrow, etc. Since I bought the elliptical, I’m going to cancel the gym membership because it’s just not worth it. And it’s SO much easier to get out of bed and get on the elliptical at home than get out of bed, get ready to go to the gym, drive over there, work out and then drive back. In-home gym equipment definitely wins out. Tonight we’re going to see a man about a punching bag for Kyle, which is something he’s really wanted for awhile but especially so recently.

I’m trying to eat less sugary things or refined things or anything high in carbohydrates because I’m trying to lower my triglycerides which were pretty high last week when I got my bloodwork done, evidently. Eating less junk will only help with the weight loss goals, I’m sure. Also, now that we live together, it’s easier to make food at night than eat out, which is hugely helpful.

The Accutane treatment is going well. My side effects haven’t been too bad (dry skin, dry lips, dry hair) and all have been manageable so far. I started Month 2 this past Saturday and I’m finally starting to see improvement. I had last week regarding blackheads and the week before regarding the amount of oil my skin was producing, but this week I’m actually seeing my skin get softer, smoother and once the acne I have heals completely, I will likely only have red marks and scars to deal with. (And I will.) The birth control pill which I’ve been taking in conjunction with the Accutane (I’m taking Amnesteem, actually) is screwing me up more so, I think! The mood swings when I get to my placebo pills are horrible and I hate them so much. I’ve been lucky so far to not take it out on anyone, but I think it’s because I know it’s coming. It does take a considerable amount of effort to not go ape-shit on people, though, which wears me out and causes more stress anyway. Stupid hormonal contraceptives.

With the change in weather I’ve picked up knitting again. It’s pretty awesome, really. I’m making most of the gifts I give for Christmas this year so I’ve gotten a head start on that. And currently I’m knitting myself a pair of fingerless gloves for the office since it can get really cold in here and as I type all day, it eventually hurts my fingers. I was originally going to use one pair of gloves for the office and for home, while doing crafts or something, but now I think I might make two pairs so I can just leave one at the office so I don’t have to worry about forgetting to bring them in or anything.

Now that I have a full kitchen at my disposal (technically I did before I moved into Kyle’s, too, but I never wanted to use it too much), I’m making more things and getting back into bento which is awesome. I made a homemade chicken pot pie last weekend, and some brownies. And I’ve done a few bento lunches last week and this week as well. Hopefully as I get into a better routine in the mornings with working out, showering, eating breakfast, making lunch, etc, I’ll be able to do bento more often and better.

All in all things are good. Still need to unpack some boxes and get things properly arranged in the house, but that will all come in time. =)

Giving Notice

I gave my landlord/roommate 30 days notice yesterday. I was thrilled to be able to do so. She wasn’t a horrible landlord/roommate, I’m just tired of renting a room in a stranger’s home (even though it was great because it was cheaper than renting a one bedroom or a studio apartment). I’m tired of having cramped living quarters and feeling like my adult life had been put on hold. But! That is all over now because my wonderful fella asked me to move in with him and the kids by October 1st. I’ll probably start moving things over the last week or two of September. It’ll be so nice and we’re really excited.

I moved some of my kitchen stuff over last night, but it’ll probably be a pretty big undertaking to get the whole kitchen rearranged and combine all of our stuff. I’m looking forward to it, though. The bathroom will be a little easier to combine, especially since I already cleaned it up and got us off to a good start there over the weekend (while he and his best friend were at a football game). I’ve got a lot of boxes in storage from when I downsized from a two bedroom apartment to a one bedroom apartment in 2007 and then to a bedroom in a stranger’s house in 2008. It’ll be like searching for treasure when I go through all the boxes since I don’t completely remember what’s in all of them. Clearly stuff I can live without, though I think a lot of it will be handy or helpful in our house.

Our house.  hehe.

Diabolical Indeed

Last week I got an email from Nintendo telling me that Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box would be released on August 24th. I didn’t realize that was the ship date and got overly excited when Monday rolled around because, dammit, I was going to get that game as soon as possible. Three stores later in the evening, I found out that that was the ship date and that it should be available for purchase in stores Tuesday, the 25th. My fella had predicted this because he is used to games being available on Tuesdays, not Mondays. But I was naively optimistic and expected to be able to buy it on Monday, the 24th, even though I wasn’t going to be able to play it because we had a bowling game to make up for next week and I had swaps to get done and sent out for today.

Today, I went to Wal-Mart on my morning break to see if they had it – no. A friend at work had gone to Target on his break and looked for me (without me asking, which was swell!) – not there either. I looked at the Gamestop website, though I was hesitant to buy it from there anyway because it was pricier and the manager at the store last night was creepy as hell, to see if any local stores had it in stock – no. I eventually meandered my way to the Best Buy website and the store in the town I work in said it had it in stock – score!

I went on my lunch break and scanned the shelves, not seeing it. An associate asked if he could help and normally in these situations I just say, “No, thanks” but I wanted that game so I told him what I was looking for. He walked away, ran into another associate who knew exactly where they were (on a cart, not actually stocked yet). The second associate brought me the game and I nearly skipped to the register.

As soon as I got in my car I took a picture to announce to the world that I got my game.

Victory! I <3 Best Buy today.

I can’t wait to get home to play it. I’ve got a ton of stuff to do tonight with pen pal letters and swaps and browsing through pictures and such, but I’ll probably spend most of it puzzling with Hershel Layton and Luke because I am a geek and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

Weight Loss Goals

Along with my horrible skin, I’ve struggled with my weight for most of my life as well. There was a period of about 4 months between June and October of 2006 that I wasn’t worried about my weight or obsessing over it. I didn’t have a car (or a license yet) and I was walking a mile each workday to the bus stop in the mornings since February so I had lost weight by June and it carried through to October. Then I got a car and my exercising became nonexistent. Since then it’s been a struggle to get back to a comfortable weight for me. I’ve tried the alternate day fasting diet – didn’t work for my schedule at all. I’ve tried a reward schedule program with a friend – we each came up with things we’d get rewards for (if I didn’t drink any soda that day for example) and then we made reward envelopes for each other so that when we met a goal, we’d get to open a reward enveloped. It’s an ingenious program, I think, but it didn’t work so well for me. If we lived closer together and saw each other for motivation or were able to workout together and open envelopes together and hold each other accountable that way, I think it would have worked wonderfully. I’ve signed up for websites – sparkpeople, thebestlife, etc. They haven’t worked for me.

My boyfriend and I signed up for a gym together and we haven’t really gone but maybe three times together in the past four months. I’ve gone by myself about 15 times, but in four months, that’s not enough. I do enjoy that feeling of getting up early in the morning before everyone else, but when I’m groggy from not getting enough sleep the night before, I don’t remember that part of it, so I just hit snooze and go right back to sleep.

I do know that this is the only thing that’s going to help, though – eating better, and exercising more. I’ve read that changing so many things at once will never help and you’ll just get overwhelmed and revert back to your old ways, discouraged and disappointed and unwilling to try again for awhile. I recognize this from my own experience. So instead of changing everything all at once, I’m trying to start small.

This week I’m trying to drink at least 120 oz of water each day. This may sound like a lot, but a) more water means I feel less hungry throughout the day and have noticed I’m less prone to overeating and b) more water means my skin will be more hydrated, which will be a good habit for when I start the Accutane. So far, so good. I’ve also started adding in more monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) to my meals, but this isn’t a specific goal, so if I don’t manage to do it, I’m not upset. I ordered the Flat Belly Diet book in a fit of desperation last week and if I like it, I’ll keep it and try to incorporate it into my goals and such as well.

Eventually I’d like to work up to going to the gym 5 days a week. But for now, drinking more water is my goal and I’m sticking to that and being successful which is bolstering my motivation to tackle bigger goals to reach my ultimate goal of 160 pounds! (That’s 60 pounds or so for me to lose, by the way.)

Next week I think my goal will be to continue the 120 oz of water per day and then add walking around my office park (which takes about 15 minutes) once a day as well.

I really hope that I can lose some weight over the next few months, even though I know that it will be difficult (not only by itself, but because of the birth control and the Accutane as well). I’ve got a wedding to go to in April and at some point next year I’ll have my ten year class reunion and as silly as it seems, I’d really like to look a lot cuter for that, you know? (I know it’s petty. But whatever.)

I’ll get a ticker and all that good stuff going on in later posts, but for now I just wanted to get some ground work laid out.

Half Birthday

Today is my half birthday.  Nothing spectacular about it, I just recognized it when I was thinking about what day it was.  I used to think it was something special when I was a kid.  Now that a half birthday means I’m closer to 30, I’m not quite sure how I feel about it.  There’s a part of me that wants to celebrate it or do something silly for it, just because.  But then there’s a part of me, that closer to 30 part, that thinks it’s juvenile and dumb to even notice a “milestone” like a half birthday.

I was browsing around on Twitter yesterday and came across a profile for some kid who was born in 1984.  Orwellian jokes aside, I always feel like anyone born later than me is still in high school.  Even though it’s a completely illogical and irrational assumption or preconceived notion to have, considering my ten year reunion is next year, there are plenty of people who were born later than me that have also graduated high school and are in the working world.  That kid guy from Twitter is 25, or will be by the end of the year.  It’s people born in the 90s who are still in high school, or just barely out, now.  And that’s crazy to me.  Those kids probably may not even know who Kurt Cobain is.  Whoa.

Perhaps if I would have prepared better for it, I would have something to do for my half birthday today, other than contemplating my age.  I think next year I will plan something though.  Now just to think of what would be appropriate.

Summer Spread in District 9

My fella and I have seen quite a few movies recently so I thought I’d do another review post for newly released movies.

(500) Days of Summer

The only thing I like better than this movie is the poster standalone thing in the movie theater which has a billion images of Zooey Deschanel and is adorable beyond belief. (I’m a huge Zooey Deschanel fan, if that wasn’t obvious.) I really liked the movie a lot. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was really surprising here – mostly because I kept thinking of him from 3rd Rock From the Sun and his character is very different (not an alien, to start with). It was funny and charming and heartbreaking in all the right ways and I will probably buy it when it comes out on DVD, even though I haven’t bought a DVD in ages.

Spread

This is just in limited release at the moment, and Denver is one of the cities it’s in so we went to see it yesterday. Mostly so my fella could podcast a review on it, but also because we like movies and will see almost anything. This wasn’t a great movie, but it was okay. There were some sexy parts of it, which was fun, but it was also annoying in a lot of ways. Maybe it’s because I’m not from LA and don’t know anything about the LA scene, but the fashion and attitudes and trendiness was irksome. I think Ashton Kutcher did a good job, but I think Anne Heche did a better action job. That’s probably because I felt I could relate to her more, even though I don’t think any of the characters were particularly relateable, except for maybe Nikki’s friend Harry. I liked that Nikki’s love interest was feisty and sassy and knew what she want instead of being an innocent naïve girl, even though in the end it painted her as a selfish, materialistic bitch. Nikki looked most attractive at the end, when he was presumably being himself. It was just an interesting observation for me.

District 9

We went to see District 9 Saturday night. It ended up being a pretty full theater even though when we bought our tickets there was still 87% of the seats left. (Our sales clerk was obsessed with math or something.) It was a really good movie, even though it took some time to get used to the South African accents. I really liked the relationship that formed between Wikus and Christopher Johnson, even though at one point I wanted to smack Wikus over the head for being an asshole. The setting was really fascinating and I liked that it wasn’t in NYC or Los Angeles or London or Paris. The documentary aspect was neat at the beginning and faded seamlessly into the rest of the movie. Even though the prawns were very strange looking I found myself being able to relate to them better than some of the humans in the movie, which I found interesting. The little one was adorable, too! I would heartily recommend this.

Prepping

Preparation work for my course of isotretinoin (Accutane)

I just looked up what this will cost me on a monthly basis and if I can get the generic *crosses fingers*, it’s only going to be $60 a month.  If I can’t get the generic, probably because the laboratory has stopped producing Accutane, it’s going to be $220 a month.  That would be on top of the money I have to cough up for the birth control (about $60 a month) as well.  Fun!

It will cause dryness, lots and lots of dryness, evidently.  The physician’s assistant told me that they would give me some Aquaphor for my lips, so I’ll wait for that, but I will need to get into the habit of regularly moisturizing my skin (other than my face, which I do regularly already).  My face is oily as a mofo, so I’m not sure how the dryness will affect that – maybe it will just end up feeling normal or something?  But my skin everywhere else is the right amount of moisturized as is, so I will have to put lotion on. I have to figure out what to get – I use Aveeno at work for my hands, but it’s more expensive than I’d like to spend for stuff that I’ll probably use up very quickly (I’ve got a lot of surface area, and all).  It may cause bloody noses and dry eyes as well.  Not such a huge fan of those possibilities so I might have to start using a humidifier every now and then.  If my hair dries out, I’ve still got plenty of Jungle Conditioner from Lush which I bought before I went to using just baking soda for my hair.  I’m also a little concerned and curious to know if the drying up will affect my lady bits.  I’ll have to make sure I’m prepared for that, just in case.

It will also make my skin more sensitive to UV light, so I need to get in the habit of using a sunscreen.  I know, I should be using one already, but I don’t.  Lush has a sunscreen moisturizer which I should try out.  Otherwise I’m not at all sure what I could use for sunscreen on my face because of all the crap that will be going on with it.  I was going to say that it’s lucky that it will be fall and winter when I’m going through the course, but I think I probably spend more time outside during fall and winter just because the temperature’s nicer.  And just because it’s not a bright summer sun, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the same UV effect.  So that’s not helpful at all.  Unless I want to use it as an excuse to buy and use a parasol.  How quaint!

I cannot get pregnant while on the medicine, but I wasn’t planning on it so that’s not an issue.  But hey, maybe it’ll mean engaging in alternative forms of intercourse more often. Hehe. (Actually it’s funny, because even though I wasn’t planning on it, the second I was told I couldn’t get pregnant I started getting annoying rebellious twinges telling me I wanted to, which is not true!)

I may also want to invest in a pillbox or some sort of pill organizer since I’ll have to take both my BCP and the Accutane each day.  I will probably end up carrying them around with me to make sure that I have them all the time, even at Kyle’s so I might just get a cute little pillbox from some online indie shop.  Or I could make one.  Hmmm.  That would also, if necessary, enable me to take the pills at work during the day, if that timeframe will be better for my schedule.

As soon as I get back from Memphis, I have to go get my bloodwork done.  And I mean as soon as.  In fact, I have to start fasting while Kyle and I are on the road, about 4 hours before we get back home.  I will then sleep and get up shortly thereafter because I have to be at the Boulder hospital lab at 7am to get my bloodwork done.  Then I have an appointment at 8:30 at the dermatologist’s office.  I won’t be able to start the Accutane that day because the bloodwork has to come back first, so they’ll call in the prescription for me once it does and I’ll pick it up later in the week.  I will then have to go each month following for the entire course to get bloodwork done again.  Out of all the inconveniences and possible side effects, I’m looking forward to getting my bloodwork done the most. Yes, the most. I love having my blood drawn and getting to know what’s going on with it.  I will not be able to donate blood while I’m on the medicine so I should go for a donation sometime soon before I start.

There are warnings in my patient booklet (which is really a book, actually) about depression and psychotic episodes.  I’m not too concerned about the depression, even though I possibly should be, but the possibility of psychotic episodes (seeing and hearing things that aren’t there) is kind of off-putting.  Obviously not enough to make me not want to go through with it, but out of everything, that’s the only thing I’m even slightly worried about.  Everything else is manageable.  But if I start hallucinating, I’ll have to stop the course regardless of how far I’ve gotten already or if it’s done any good yet.  That would be too frustrating I think.  Of course I value my mental health more than my complexion, but still.  Part of my mental health currently and for the past 14 years has been affected by my complexion though, so there’s a part of me that wants to be like, “Hallucinations? So what?” if it happens.  I won’t though, because that’s just dumb.  Just saying.

I think that’s about it, though I haven’t read through my entire patient book yet, so something else might come up I suppose.  A significant portion of it is talking about birth control methods considering the potential for birth defects if a female patient gets pregnant.  In fact, my book is specifically for female patients, which makes me wonder if the male patients get a little pamphlet or something.  But I’m holding the image of a clear, mostly oil-free complexion out in front of me like the proverbial carrot on a stick.  It’s working.

Rent and Refrigerators

Currently I rent a bedroom in someone else’s house. I found her on Craigslist (just like the roommate/landlord before her) and it works out pretty well.  A few months ago she mentioned something about how she deposits my rent checks directly to her savings account.  I was kind of miffed that she doesn’t actually need my rent (and it is actually kind of high for just a bedroom and bathroom, though it’s loads cheaper than my own one bedroom apartment), but have tried to forget about it since.

Until she informed me she was buying a new refrigerator.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the old refrigerator.  I understand the appeal of shiny new appliances, I really do.  And honestly if I had an opportunity to make some extra money each month just by having some relatively quiet and mostly absent stranger rent a room in my house, I probably would (though I wouldn’t charge nearly as much if it’s just extra money for me).  So again, I tried to let it go.  And then I saw the fridge this morning.  It doesn’t even match the kitchen!  Or indeed anything in the rest of her house.  It’s a fantastic stainless steel fridge with lots of space and the freezer on the bottom which is awesome.  In fact, Kyle and I were looking at fridges like it just the other day (as part of a window shopping adventure).  But her kitchen is all warm wood and Americana.  It’s none of my business and I shouldn’t care a damn bit, but it’s just annoying.  And possibly, there’s a bit of envy in there somewhere, but whatever.

I just can’t wait to move out.

A Varsity League of Their Own Blues

Having my “To See” movie list on my blog came in handy this weekend. My fella and I were at Blockbuster trying to figure out what movie to get and so we looked at my list and decided on A League of Their Own. We watched it and I really really enjoyed it and was glad to have finally watched it.

Sunday, we were hanging out with some friends and they decided to watch Varsity Blues, which Kyle has been trying to get me to watch for years. I’ve just never been in the mood for it because in general I don’t like sports movies. After I had such a positive reaction to A League of Their Own, though, my defenses were softened a little so I agreed to watch Varsity Blues. (It also probably made a difference that there were more people who wanted to watch it instead of it just being me vs. Kyle, and I’m much less likely to make a fuss over something if it’s me against more people. That was phrased very confrontationally, though it isn’t really like that.)

So we watched Varsity Blues. And I didn’t like it at all. When we settled in to watch it, every one else remarked on how they knew a few guys like Scott Caan’s character in high school. I kept quiet because I didn’t. I didn’t know anyone like any of those characters in high school. I certainly couldn’t identify with any of them on a meaningful level either. I think that’s why I’ve always disliked high school movies and sports movies, which generally take place in high school. That stereotypical high school experience is nothing like the one that I had so it doesn’t mean anything to me and I can’t relate to those characters or situations or movies in general.

I like movies with characters that I can relate to. I’m sure I’m not alone in that, but I think I turn into a royal movie snob when I can’t relate and ignore any of the other good parts.  Even if they have funny parts or those heroic, taking-a-stand moments I just don’t care about those as much as I would if I related to the characters.

It’s easy to say “I can’t relate” to any of these characters but I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that enables me to relate to a character because it isn’t always a shared experience. I love Remember the Titans, for instance, and feel like I can relate to those characters more. Even though I haven’t really dealt with any sort of racial strife or again, football situations. I don’t know what makes those characters more relatable than those in Varsity Blues, I just know that that’s how it worked out for me.

(We also watched Mystery, Alaska this weekend which was also very good.  Again, because I felt like I could relate more to the characters.)