Saturday, June 30, 2007

Best Friday Ever

I don't have words to describe how great my bachelorette party was. All I can say is my best friend, Monique, and my sister Elizabeth are two of the best people on the face of the earth and accordingly, they threw me the best bachelorette party in the history of bachelorette parties. I had so much fun, and I felt so blessed to have friends from all parts of my life (Los Angeles, undergrad, and Grad School) to celebrate with. Plus, I now know what the inside of a Cadillac stretch limo looks like, so you know, I can like die happy.




And apparently CH had the best bachelor party ever. We got home to find him sitting with his brother-in-law and Monique's husband, Brian. They informed us that they not only had as good of a time as we did, smoking cigars and drinking amazing wine at a local fine eatery. But CH also received a handheld GPS -- of which I'm quite jealous. Then a couple of his friends gave him a frickin' I-Phone!!!! Yes, I screamed when I saw the much-hyped mystical device that I had only ever expected to see pictures of and hear about -- I was that surprised -- I mean it had only been released that morning. Brian told us that a ton of pictures were taken of other guys from the party just posing with the phone, in the way other people might pose with a celebrity.



Still, CH is drastically hungover right now, and I'm feeling great, because I pretty much danced off my massive champagne and wine consumption last night. So I guess I win. On to the Bridal Shower and Rehearsal BBQ tonight.

110% Best,
etc

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Another Long Day

But three things make it worth it:

1. Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles tomorrow. This place is like manna on crack. I can't wait.

2. The fact that I wasn't hurt in the car accident. Thanks to everyone that reached out about that.

3. Me in a green seersucker dress for my bachelorette party tomorrow.

And because I hate to leave you with that much positivity. Here's an article that Ima Gitcha, another black derby chick (though I think she's still skating) posted about a year and a half ago, about Bud Dwyer, who basically committed an American version of seppaku in 1987. Random I know, but for whatever reason this story has really stayed with me for over a year and half. And not in the usual writer way. I haven't come up with any deep connections or metaphors for this one. I'm just kind of vaguely haunted by it. And I think you should be to. So read Ima's blog on Bud Dwyer here.

Okay that's all.

110% Best,
etc

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

To tired to really blog

1. Did a lot of last minute stuff for the wedding.

2. Got into a car accident. Not my fault, but still....

3. Made 150 fan wedding programs using spray-on adhesive glue (which I wasn't even aware existed until tonight), so now my hands look like shit and I feel like shit.

4. Going to bed now.

5. Tomorrow will be better -- it has to...

That's all,
etc

P.S. -- Acetone rocks

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

'Tis Official...

Today I ....

Woke up at 6:30 in the morning...

Fetched my sister from the airport...

Felt bad because she missed her connecting flight from the night before, had to spend the night in the Dallas airport, and then came into Los Angeles to find that her luggage had been lost. Great sister that she is, the only things that she had carried on was her purse and her bridesmaid dress. Yea, Liz!...

Taped my last show with Ryan until I get back from my honeymoon...

Ate one chocolate Sprinkle cupcake -- it was as yummy as hyped!

Talked with Kelly Clarkson, who's guest-hosting our show, for 15 minutes about my upcoming wedding and why it might be better to elope (I'm not kidding), I don't care if you like her music, buy her album. She's awesome people...

Bid adieu to my workmates until I get back from my honeymoon...

Went to the Beverly Center and bought my entire vacation wardrobe from H&M and XXI for about $100, because most of my old summer clothes don't fit me anymore -- damn 15 pounds, I'm starting to regret losing you...

Kept low-grade arguments going with my sister the entire day -- I'm so happy she's here!

Split a bottle of wine with CH when we got home from the Beverly Center.

Ignored my sister's request that I not talk about her in future blogs ... hi Elizabeth!

Wrote this blog, before going to sleep around 10:30....

'Tis official... I'm old and getting married in T-minus 5 days!

Woo-hoo!
etc

Monday, June 25, 2007

A week from now...

CH and I will be in Hawaii on our honeymoon. That's what I have to keep telling myself, b/c I feel like a walking robot at this point, I've been working so much to prepare for a week and a half off, that my brain is just fried, as evidenced by the fact that with an M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing I cannot come up with a better adjective than the completely cliche "fried" to explain why this is not a very good blog.

Zack, thanks for tagging me. I was beginning to feel like the least popular kid on the playground -- which I actually was growing up, so there was some retro-not-so-good-feeling going on -- though some (bad people) might argue that after not blogging for six months, I did not deserve to be tagged in a timely fashion. Either way, I'm trying to come up with eight random facts that people don't know about me, which is kind of hard, since I talk way too much. But I may have a few fun tidbits tucked away. I'll try to tackle this tomorrow.

Okay, 21 satisfied -- though again, not very well.

Sorry Sorry,
etc

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Powered by 100% Vegetable Oil -- Please help!



So as many of you know, CH is in the midst of trading his sporty convertible for an even more kick-ass 4-door 1982 300SD Turbo Diesel Mercedes, which he's had converted, so that it can now run on vegetable oil.

We're lucky enough to live within walking distance of the one of the few places that actually performs these conversions. I won't try to explain how they're done, b/c it's nearly impossible for me to give a mechanical explanation without using the words "thingamajig" and "magic," but if you want to find out more, you can check out their website at www.lovecraftbiofuels.com.

The coolest thing about this conversion is that his new-to-him car can now run on diesel, which is cheaper than regular gas. But it can also run on vegetable oil or waste vegetable oil (WVO) after the first 600 miles. Now being able to run on WVO is a real deal, b/c this is basically the stuff that all restaurants produce, but usually have to pay a $1 per gallon in disposal fees to get rid of. So it's a win-win sitch for both the driver and the restaurant that doesn't have to pay to dispose of their used cooking oil.

CH has almost hit the 600 mile mark, and he's getting very excited. In fact he bought the below fuel filtration thingamajig to run the WVO through before he puts it into his car.



Only problem is that since we live in Silverlake which is like the #1 home of Lovecraft converted cars, the restaurants around here are pretty much tapped.

So if you have a restaurant, catering or even taco stand connection in Los Angeles, please let me know about it. Because CH would love to help them out by taking their used non-hydragenated cooking oil off their hands. And even more importantly, it'll allow us to tool around town, feeling cool AND envrionmental, so definitely hep us to any place you might know of.

Thanks!
etc

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I don't know what's more shocking...


That she can do this, or that she obviously got her hair done right before this picture was taken in anticipation of lots of people seeing her do this.

Here's the AP Caption: Jalisa 'The Eyepopper' Thompson demonstrates the skill behind her nickname as she arrives for the grand opening of the Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium Thursday, June 21, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Thursday, June 21, 2007

More on my Appendicitis

So though, my appendicitis turned out not be appendicitis -- just constipation; apparently, CH's main boss, Jimmy Kimmel, actually did have appendicitis at the exact same time that I thought I had it. And the poor guy even had to have his appendix out as I feared (for about 6 hours) I would have to right before my wedding. You can read more about here.

Spooky. Mayhap I'm not the hypochondriac that bad people (family, non-writer friends, and CH) often accuse me of being. I might just be a vessel harbinger of things to come. Did you ever think of that naysayers?

Oh Cassandra!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

So you know how you sometimes say, "I'll go to so-and-so movie, even though it looks bad." And then you go in with super low expectations only to be pleasantly surprised, because it's totally better than you thought it would be?

Fantastic Four is not that movie.

Turn back from this road of evil.

That's all,
etc

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Having the worse day...

And I think I might have appendicitis. Am headed home to decide whether or not to go to the hospital. But wanted to get a blog in for the day. So here's my blog.

21 satisfied -- though not very well.

etc

Update: Okay, after an informal examination from CH, we determined that I did not have appendicitis, b/c it didn't hurt on my right side. Then we took an incredibly romantic trip to the Rite-Aide and pick up some Ex-Lax. Ah.. that's amore.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Once Upon a Day

Five random Monday thoughts:

1. I finished cooking for the week late last night (I make all of our dinners for the week on Sunday), so this morning I smell like garlic and dish washing soap. I've become a pretty good cook over the last year, but I doubt that I'll ever become a great cook, because a) I almost always measure everything within an inch of its life, and b) I don't taste as I go along -- don't even have the desire to do so. There's just no poetry in it for me. Still, CH thinks I'm a great cook, but I think that's the warm fuzzy talking.

2. I wonder sometimes if my blog isn't quite vain, because I mostly talk about myself. Then again, I don't really blog about politics or anything like that, b/c I don't really think I have many thoughts in that regard that haven't already been blogged or spoken about (better) by others. The best I've been able to come up with is saying "But there's no such thing as global warming, right?" whenever someone from back home in the Midwest says that it's been an unseasonably warm day during the winter. Talking politics used to be so much fun, but nowadays, it feels like nothing less than a deliberate blood pressure spiker. I just get mad, and that's no fun. Anyway, I worry that blogging is just a vain endeavor in general, as I do no particular service. How do other bloggers deal with these feelings?

3. I still miss TV, but I got so much done this weekend, it's kind of scary. I mean I hit ALL of my weekend goals. And I never hit all of my weekend goals. Nobody does. That's the nature of weekend goals. You promise to do all sorts of stuff, and then you watch TV instead. It feels very weird to be in this good of a place on Monday.

4. Yes, Audley Yung is oddly young to be making fire bombs. (For further explanation, see thought # 2 re: my ability to talk about real issues).

5. I miss TV, but I miss Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker more.

This book is really hard to logline, but it's basically about a Hollywood couple that has something really bad happen to them, then he kidnaps their two children, and the three become serious isolationists in Arizona. This book is mostly about what happens before and 20 years after the kidnapping. I listened to Once about a month ago, and even thought it was an audiobook, it hit all the cliches about reading hard. It was a page turner, I didn't want to put it down, I didn't want it to end, I could have stayed with these characters forever -- all that good stuff. But I did eventually finish it, and now I'm trying to forget it, so that I can move on to other books without always comparing them to Once. Still, I supposed it's better to have read and lost, than never to have read at all.

I know all the puns and metaphors in this post are pure genius. You don't have to thank me.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Once

Okay, "KNOCKED UP" wasn't showing at the Arclight yesterday, so CH and I decided to see "DAY WATCH" instead. Then we found out that movie is over 2 hours long -- which was a bit of a long haul for what had already been a busy Saturday, so we ended up opting for an indie that's been getting a lot of buzz: "ONCE."



I knew 2 things within 20 minutes of watching "ONCE":

1. This is my favorite movie of the year so far. And
2. I shouldn't have drunk all that water before the movie, because I had to go to the bathroom.

Anyway, even with the pit stop, the movie was AMAZING. It shows what you can do with a little scratch, if you have good writing, good story, and a novel way of telling it. I don't want to say too much about it, b/c there are a ton of lovely discoveries in this film. But I will say that it actually made me nostalgic for my starving artist days, and that I'm so HEARTing The Frames right now.

That's all.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Good News Deserves a Good Movie

CH just got cleared to enter the 600 (aka The Director of Photography) union -- yea! It's a big deal, and I'm exceedingly proud of him. So instead of doing something scintillating like assembling our rehearsal dinner invitations, we're going to dinner and a movie to celebrate. Which reminds me that I haven't done any movie reviews in like a year. Luckily this summer is making it very easy for me.

SPIDERMAN 3: Sucked and was long and was unnecessary. But the last 15 minutes were good.

28 DAYS LATER: Had MASSIVE nightmares that night. So good. So scary. Still think about it from time to time and shiver a little.

SHREK THE THIRD: Both 1 & 2 were better. But I wouldn't mind a fourth. Even just-okay Shrek is better than most animated movies coming out these days.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: If urban sprawl could form itself into a pirate movie, this would be it. But I liked it, just because I turned off my inner-critic after the first 5 minutes and enjoyed the ride.

OCEANS THIRTEEN: Better than Ocean's 12. Not as good as Ocean's 11. Beautiful cinematography. Worth seeing.

Sorry, that's all I've seen so far. The 21 days of "not spending" kind of threw my movie-watching for a loop.

But right now am leaning towards "KNOCKED UP" for tonight. Partly because my boss has a cameo in it, but mainly because I've heard it's like Woody Allen good -- if Woody Allen's movies were a tad bit too long.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

TV

As regular readers of this blog know, I didn't have a TV for like a year and watched everything exclusively on Netflix -- which limited my viewing. But then I met CH and I got re-addicted. His upgrading to HD the first winter after we started dating didn't help matters much. And soon I started watching way too much. I watched at home. Then after I got my office, I started watching any show that was broadcast on the Internet by ABC, NBC, CBS, and CW and when I say any, I mean ANY -- yes, I know how the first and last season of Daybreak ended. But I knew that I had hit rock bottom after the normal television season ended, and I found myself watching ABC's "The Ex-Wives Club" and the CW's "Hidden Palms." Trust me, if you've seen even a minute of these shows, you would not understand how a person could sink so low. I feel filthy just thinking about it.

So for the metaphysical part of my 21 days I decided to give up TV and video all together. I usually try to do something practical and something Lent-y for these 21 days. For example my last 21 was writing my pilot script and not spending any money on anything that wasn't for survival (food for cooking) or for the wedding. I thought not spending any money was very hard, and it was very, very hard.

But I miss TV. I miss it so much, even though I know it's no good for me -- especially in the summer.

Still, not everything about my descent into total TV Junkiedom was bad. Here are some of the great programs I would never have discovered if they hadn't been streamed on the internet:

1. Friday Night Lights: Now, I actually went to school with and genuinely like and respect Gaius Charles, the actor who plays the ridiculously cocky Smash Williams in this outstanding drama, but I swear I barely remember I know him when I'm watching this. I'm so engaged, I really don't understand why this program is having ANY problems with ratings.

2. How I Met Your Mother: In another strange coincidence, one of the writers for this show, Kourtney Kang graduated 2 years before I did from the same writing program, and is one of the first people my class met when we came out from L.A. In another strange coincidence, my sister and I discovered this program seperately, and both LOVE it, especially Barney. The only downside of it is that almost everyone -- including the guest stars -- are more interesting than the main character, which is why I almost resent any storyline that actually revolves around him, because ironically, I've ceased to care how he met his kids' mother.

3. Jericho: I loved watching a town get built from nothing during the first season of Deadwood, and I enjoyed watching a town disintegrate in the first season of this show. Hope they do wrap everything up with a 6-ep stint as is being hinted around.

4. Dancing with the Stars: Laila Ali doing the Mambo. I don't think anything else need be said.

5. 30 Rock. The only thing better than Tracy Morgan and Alec Baldwin, I've discovered, is Tracy and Alec in a scene together -- especially if Kenny the Page is involved.

Have I mentioned that I really miss TV? This is going to be a long 21 days.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Updates

Okay, I know for those of you who haven't seen or heard from or read about me in a while, that you're probably most interested in updates. Well, here's the quick and dirty lowdown.

I LOVE MY JOB: Being a full-time writer is even better than I ever expected. I actually seem to be writing MORE of my own stuff, and my propensity for going overlong -- that's like gone. However, I can't really talk about most aspects of my job, like by contract I can't talk about it. So suffice it to say, I've learned a lot, and I will NEVER EVER go back to dayjob. Never, never, never. Plus, I have my own office -- which is nice.

THE WEDDING: Is about two weeks away. CH and I are getting married on July 1, and if you weren't invited, it's not because I don't love you, it's because planning a wedding is an insane, expensive bitch of a time, and not everyone would fit. I'll spare you the details of all of the wedding plans, but I will say that it's a little like having a baby. At first you're really excited, but by week 37, you just want the damn thing out, so that you can spend the rest of your life with it already.

MY LIFE: See the first two updates. That's pretty much it -- which is probably why I haven't been blogging so much.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

21 Days Later

I'm baaaackkkk -- at least for 21 Days. I'm hoping if I blog for 21 days, it'll become a habit. Now anyone, who's talked to me since March knows that this is the latest in a long line of 21s. Basically 21 is my new religion, based on that old adage, "It takes 21 days to create a habit." So far, I've exercised for 21, eaten well for 21, worked on my novel for 21, and worked on a pilot script for 21. The result being, I've lost 15 pounds, am seriously almost done with my novel, and have a kick-ass pilot as a calling card. Nice.

Eventually, I hope to write a book about this -- yes, I plan to write at least the rough in 21 days. But I just wanted to establish the 21 thingamigig, so that you won't be confused when I reference it in blogs to come.

Also, I want to say that, 21 days straight is a lot for a blogger as sporadic as me. I cannot guarantee that my blogs will be funny or even good. But, of course, the utmost thing that a blog should strive to be is a blunt instrument of procrastination, and in that regard, I hope I serve you well... at least for the next 21 days -- save Fridays, because that's when I write the post for my work blog, which can be found at here. If you've ever wanted to see me channel my inner Meg Cabot -- and I know ALL of my guy friends do -- then this is the place to go.

Okay, let's do this.