So Cool

Growing up, I watched a lot of movies. In elementary and middle school, I would watch movies about teenagers and young adults and only hope my high school experience would be like theirs. They were female lead roles in these movies that I wanted to be like. They were so pretty. So cool. Had tons of fun. Tons of guys. And just lived a great life. I wanted to be like them when I got to high school. These chicks were the shit.

Cindy Mancini (Can't Buy Me Love). Cindy was so freaking cool that she got paid $1000 by a nerd so he could hang out with her. He took him from "totally geek to totally chic". She was such a leader that just by hanging out with her, he became cool by association. She was captain of the cheerleading squad (something that NEVER interested me) and had her college football playing boyfriend. Her style was impeccable and she had a good relationship with her mom. And not to mention, she secretly wrote poetry. Girl was not one-dimensional. No wonder everyone wanted to be like Cindy.

Put Her in the Pic?

On occasion myself or a friend will meet a cute guy that we are attracted to. We don't know much about him. Maybe a mutual friend or two, and of course his first (and hopefully last) name. And what do you think one of the first things we do is when we get back home after being a little smitten? Why duh, its look them up on Facebook of course! We want to see their picture(s) or any other info we can get. Specifically, we want to see if there is another woman in that picture (literally and figuratively). Does he have a girlfriend? We can all safely assume he isn't married if he isn't wearing a ring. One would hope so at least. And lets be serious, at my age, one of the first things I do when I meet a guy is look directly down at his left ring finger. Is there a ring? Please no, don't have a ring on. And if he does, bummer. And if not, there is always a glimmer of hope.

Random Dance Scene, Yes please!

I am not a fan of musicals at all. Shows or movies where people just automatically burst into song and dance really freak me out and are not entertaining at all. I will either walk away or turn them off immediately. Therefore, I usually avoid them. I prefer movies that have totally random song/dance scenes that are so unexpected, that they are that awesome.  They don't interrupt the flow of the movie, but because of their randomness, they increase the value that much more. Below are my top song/dance scenes from non-song/dance related movies.

1. Revenge of the Nerds. This is quite possibly one of my favorite movies ever. And quite possibly one of the best music sequences in a movie. It's no wonder the Lamda, Lambda, Lamda's won the contest with this one. And yes, I do sing along and know all the words.

Thank You Friends!

This past year has not been the best one on record for me health-wise. First I broke my foot, then I had a Colitis flare-up followed by a bad bacterial infection resulting from medication to treat the flare-up. Then I re-hurt my foot because I started exercising too quickly after healing. On New Years Day, I came down with strep throat which I hadn't had since high school, and just recently I had a very bad Colitis Flare-up again. For a girl who considers herself pretty healthy, these incidences one after the other with little reprieve in between have been just plain annoying. Every time I get better from one thing, something new happens. I am just hoping that this last bout of illness, because of its severity, will be my last for a while. It really takes a lot out of someone physically and mentally, to be sick for so long.

This recent Colitis flare-up began about three weeks ago while I was on vacation. All my usual symptoms started mildly and I immediately contacted my doctor and we began to try and get it under control.  After trying two medications that usually work, things actually started to get worse for me. A new type of pain and discomfort began to occur. The doctor had me come in and he ran some tests so we could get ahead of this. By this time, I was about 2 weeks into being sick and my pain was pretty bad. Try going to work everyday in almost excruciating pain, all while trying not to shit your pants in front of a group of high schoolers. Not fun. Wouldn't recommend it. I was pretty much miserable day after day and trying to hide it to the best of my ability while at work. But after throwing up at school, and toughing it out for one more day, I called the doctor again to try something new and had to call in sick the next two days hoping that those days off and the upcoming weekend would give me the rest and time with new medication to get me starting to feel better. Didn't happen. After my parents and friends tried to get me to go the ER for the past 4 days, I finally conceded, and trekked across the street to the hospital. (I am very lucky one of the very best hospitals in the area is so close to my apartment.) I have not been to the ER since I was first diagnosed with Colitis eight years ago, and even then they kept me as long as they could without having to admit me. That was traumatic enough of an event being so sick without my parents, but at least I could go back to my apartment at the end of the day. This time around I was not so lucky. They were admitting me to the hospital. I really couldn't believe it. I thought I'd get some IV fluids and antibiotics and be on my merry way. No such luck.

The Madness is here!

March Madness is possibly my favorite sporting time of year! It's one and done time. A time of Cinderella teams. A time of miracle shots. A time of celebration. And a time of defeat. I cry more in these three weeks watching college basketball than I'd even like to admit. The stories of the athletes, their triumphs and tribulations that you just don't realize are so inspiring. Not to mention tons of great basketball being played.

I remember once in college I was at the rec center working out on the elliptical machine and one of the stories came on TV (A Road to the Final Four special) before a game of an athlete overcoming a tremendous odds to becoming such a success, and there I was, working out with tears streaming down my face, trying to catch my breath because I was so moved. I have also been known to cry, and fall into a day or two long depression when my team loses, especially unexpectedly. However, most of the tournament is about those great games that come down to the wire. The final shot. The game-winner. For one team, its the greatest thing ever. And for the other, its complete despair.

Maintaining Friendships

BFF's. Like totally. Um, that's really not reality for many of us. Best friends FOREVER. I think not. There are people who are lucky enough to have had the same best friend since they were a little kid. My dad actually is one of those people, but I honestly don't know anyone else who has had that kind of luck and friendship. The truth of the matter is, friends come and go. Some of us still have our college friends in our lives, some us even are close with our high school friends, and then there are some of us who have even maintained relationships with our grade school friends. Many of these relationships have been consistent through the years; however, some saw years when you didn't speak at all, but somehow renewed that friendship again. Then there are those friendships that you thought were real and they totally fall apart. Whether it was distance and/or just a slow growing apart or a big falling out that ended the friendship, we've all been there.

Gone but not Forgotten

I have been watching Reality TV for a long time now. I still enjoy many of the old standby's like Survivor and Real World...and even the Bachelor on occasional seasons. However, there are some reality shows that were on just a few brief seasons and then were never to appear again. And you know what? I miss some of them. A majority of the shows were were very popular in their day but just ran their course...very fast. However, it would be great if some network would show re-runs of them or even recreate one.

1. Average Joe. This show premiered in 2003 on NBC and its premise was to take a very pretty girl and put her in a Bachelor-type dating show but instead of handsome, buff men, she got a bunch of "Average Joes." She didn't know this when signing up for the show, so was essentially bamboozled. However, in my opinion, these so-called Average Joes were more on the nerdy side, then on the ordinary side. The girl was obviously duped from the beginning, but sucked it up and went with the flow for the remainder of the show. And just like the Bachelor, the relationships at the end of the show, were not long-lasting.

Why are You Single?

I recently read an article on Jezebel about a 32 year old single woman who is constantly asked why she is still single. Usually by her married friends. I obviously forwarded this email to my mother and another 30-something single girlfriend of mine. My friend, like myself and the author of this article, constantly get asked "So, why are you still single?" It's such an annoying question and one that I get asked that quite often. I guess I can take it as a compliment (can I?) that people are shocked that I, being as awesome as I know I am, still haven't snagged me a man for good. So why am I still single?

There are a number of reasons that I am single. First and foremost, I am NOT going to settle. Period. I know what I want in a man, and I am not just going to date someone, or even take the next step and marry them for the sake of pleasing everyone else. Yes, it would get a lot of friends and family members to leave me alone, but would I be happy? Probably not. But they would be. Right, mom? Finally, your friends would leave you alone about your poor lonely, single daughter out in NYC. And really, that's the only reason for me to land a man. Just to please you and your friends. 

Hungry for the Games

It's almost here. March 23. Random date, huh? No, it's not anyone I know's birthday or anniversary. I'm not heading anywhere exotic on vacation. And it's not the day that I am certain I will meet my future husband. Why its the opening of the Hunger Games movie. And I absolutely cannot wait. I know, I know, I sound like a huge loser making that statement, but I haven't been this excited to see a movie in a while.

I was first introduced to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Triology last year by a good friend of mine and a student of mine at different times. On separate occasions both of them told me what an amazing series this one and how I must, must read it. They both explained what the books were about to me in their own words, and my response was "um, that sounds dumb. It's so not for me." I mean, did I really want to read about a futuristic world where people are voted in once a year to fight to the death for others entertainment? No I did not. And when I was at the movie theater a little while after that and saw the trailer for the movie, I straight up didn't get it.

Welcome Back to Me (yes!) and Lindsay (not so much)

Well, I'm back. After a two week hiatus, I am back. When I took on this project in late August, I knew it would be hard. People start blogs all the time, and then stop after a few months, or even weeks. I honestly didn't want to be one of those people, and it was looking like I was going to be after 6 short months of writing this one. At the least, I wanted a solid year out of writing this blog so I will do my best to get to that. The problem is, I am afraid I will run out of material. (It's starting already.) And after being on vacation for a week, I think I came back a little too relaxed and lost my creativity and desire to write. So I took off another week.

This blog has been a good outlet for me thus far to voice my opinions on certain topics, make my random observations in life, and kind of just ramble sometimes. And it was sort of cathartic.  So here I am, ready to start again. I think. Hopefully more exciting things will start happening in my life, funny things will occur and more ideas will come to me.  And if they don't, hopefully there will be enough trashy TV and celebrity gossip to at least earn me a few more blogs.