Times I Tried Something New and Liked It

1.      Fantasy and Sci-Fi – In undergrad, I ate, slept, and breathed British, Irish, and American Lit. I wrote dissertation after dissertation on Catcher In the Rye, Flannery O’Connor, James Joyce, and Thomas Hardy. If you tried to throw your Jules Vern or Frank Herbert in my face, I would tell you to shove your broomstick in your butt. Then I watched “Lord of the Rings,” and at that point my life changed. It turns out the fantasy genre is not all glitter fairies and woodland nymphs! Fantasy has wars and politics and hot hot hot Orlando Bloom on a horse! I converted to fantasy. But I didn’t stop then – then I watched Battlestar Galactica and then I felt dumb for hating sci-fi so hard. I always assumed these niche genres neglected character development in favor of playing god with physics or robots. I believed the plot would bend to the whims of alternate science theories and pseudo-physics and the “writer” would try to make up for it with some “thousands and thousands of light years” nonsense. Battlestar Galactica proved otherwise and how. Battlestar develops characters; they have their good and their bad, and people you love do things you hate and don’t agree with. When President Roslin makes tough calls, you think she’s doing the wrong thing, but then you don’t know, maybe it’s right, but at the same time it is so WRONG! About three episodes from the end, I started having that depressed knot in my stomach you get when a novel is almost over and you don't want to be done reading it. And ohmygosh that show is amazing and I can’t wait to watch the whole series all over again.

2.       Horror Movies – I saw The Ring when it first came out and I could not watch another scary movie, or have a television in the same room where I slept, for a long time. Then I got coerced into watching Paranormal Activity and I had so much fun being scared, we went and saw the second one at the midnight show. So fun! But sometimes I still jump into my bed from 10 feet away because I’m afraid there’s a demon under there who’s gonna possess my toes.

3.       Zombies – They are super gross, but like the stereotypes of fantasy and sci fi that turned out not to be true, zombies aren’t all gore and braaaaaaaaaaainnnnnnsssss. They’re people struggling to maintain society in the face of an unknown and surprisingly strong enemy. They’re families watching each other die and either standing by someone who is no longer the person you love and might be trying to eat you, or shooting them between the eyes. My favorite zombie things are World War Z, Fido, The Walking Dead (comics AND the TV show), and Zombieland.

1.       Eating Things With Weird Names – Pork Belly. Didn’t want to try it, tried it, and now I want to eat it every day, even though it has the word “belly” in it.

(Don't) Wish it (were) Sunday

I feel like I should update this thing, but I'm feeling too lazy to write a real blog post. So here's a list of things!

Today I lost my first trial. I feel like a real lawyer now.

Almost Attorney at Law! That's an official title.

I tend to buy stuff to make salads, and then I don't make them. When I clean out the fridge, I get so mad at myself, and I throw that brown lettuce in the garbage like I mean it.

Speaking of food, I spend this weekend cooking, as well as cleaning and doing laundry. I have no interest in doing this full time. When I got to work today, I was so happy to be in that courtroom and not chopping carrots, even if I didn't win my case. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking, and I love cooking for others, but I can also get tired of it. Quickly.

Cooking, cleaning, and laundry among other things, like mirror painting! I knew I wanted to hang this is my living room, but the black felt too heavy.

So it's pink now! Watermelon Pink, but I call it Malibu Dream House Pink, and I also tell you not to look too closely. It needs some touch ups.

I was one of those girls you (maybe) hated in high school. I had perfect skin. Don't worry, I was a total inept nerd in other ways. But anyway. My skin broke out really bad right before my undergrad graduation ceremony, and then it cleared up in 3 days. A couple of months ago, it broke out again. It's always on my chin! I cried a couple of times, then I went to my dermatologist and rethought my skin care. I stopped buying new products all the time and now I have a regiment I really like. I also stopped wearing mineral make up and went back to old fashioned liquid foundation, and I love it.

I hate being complimented. When people tell me my skin looks good or whatever, I worry they're telling me that because they think my skin looks awful and they feel sorry for me.

Mulder, looking off in the distance, contemplating his crazy Mom.

For a long, long time, like up until extremely recently (last week. just kidding, but almost) I could not for the life of me accept a compliment. If you say "I like your hair," you're going to regret it, because I will tell you that my hair sucks and I spend a small fortune on hair products, or I will tell you that you're wrong and my hair is ugly and the worst hair ever, and then we will feel awkward. Not fun. Finally I learned to smile and look pleased and say "thank you!" But I feel forced if I say "I like your hair too!" I don't want you to think that I'm just saying that. I am secretly trying to race you in your compliment, so I can make sure you think I like you and maybe I can avoid receiving one. It's a sickness. I'm sorry.

 You can tell me you like my new nightstand, though. I'll say "thank you!" and then we can talk about mid-century danish teak furniture. Or I can talk and you can nod politely, as you do with an obviously crazy person.

Now that classes are totally completely forever over (except for the bar, whoops!) my main goal (after getting a solid tan before moving into the library full time) is to update this blog much more regularly. Can you stand the wait? Well, good news, it's already started! See you soon!