I'm Sore...and Bruised...and Tired

This weekend I went swimming and was able to live my dream of being to go swimming with my pooch. Unfortunately, she didn't take to the water as much as I was hoping and proceeded to kick the living socks off of me. And I tried a few times, so the end result was a battered me. Then last night, despite having not picked up a softball in three years, I played in a game. I was outfield and the lowlight of my game was when a grounder came to me, and I tripped, on nothing, got the ball, and threw it to god-knows where. The highlight was when a grounder came to me, a little to the right, and I slid on my knees, scooped it up and tossed it to second. Between the falls and all the running, my legs are sore and I'm pretty sure my knee wants to disown me. I was playing on the team from my new job and am going to feel quite silly limping into work this morning.

In other news, I went to The Abbey in West Hollywood for dinner and drinks on Saturday and a newly married gay couple walked in. The whole place erupted into cheers and clapping and it was such a wonderful moment that tears pricked my eyes.

My parents are coming to stay with me this weekend, actually sleep in my apartment and everything, and I'm thinking it will be a good weekend if it doesn't end in divorce or manslaughter.

Funny how time flies when I'm writing on this thing. Must go get in the shower. Have a pleasant day.

Oh and I hate to report this but Spark, for those of you who may be checking in, is not quite done yet. I feel like such a jerk for not finishing it yet but it's been a busy couple of months. It's coming soon-ish. I'm sorry for the wait.

I'm Late, but... WOO!

This makes me happy to be a Californian!

A little late but, congrats to the gay community in California, and everywhere! As I once told a close friend of mine, she will be legally able to get married in her lifetime! Woot, woot!

Had to include this! It says it all!

Work Sucks (Which Means My Social Life Will Be Heating Up Soon)

For as long as I remember, I've had this odd balance---


I'm stopping midsentence to say that due to overdosing on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", I've started branching out on my late night television to discover that VH1 actually plays videos late at night. And Pink is on right now with her "Dear Mr President" song. And wow, I love it. I really like Pink. I have some questionable music tastes but I defend this one. Her voice is amazing. She stands for something and doesn't care what people think. She's kinda badass and I love her. I love this song and the video is so touching. Funniest line: "You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine." Damn girl. You tell 'em.

Man, this song is really making me speechless.


Okay anyway, back to odd balance. Either work or social life is always booming. It seems when work is sucking the most, I'm enjoying some social fun times. When I'm getting promoted or something good is happening at work, I'm being stood up or a friend gets mad at me or something that puts me in the dumps. I've had a lot of work success in the past few months, but now, all of the sudden, work is totally going foul. Possibly I have spring fever now that I've gotten a promotion that doesn't quite kick in yet, but last week and present one I've managed to mess up quite a few things, or have quite a few things mess up on me.

Example? An output that used to take 2 hours, now is taking an average of 5 because of some odd graphics issue I'm having on one of the episodes. A reoccuring one that I can't figure out. I have to use a 3 hour work around. Another example? I got new footage in for the music video I was working on this fall, only for my computer to freak out, (bad hard drive maybe? this one is still a mystery), causing half of the footage to be lost. And I've made a few dumb mistakes, which has gotten my editor to be a little more short with me and not quite as warm as he once was. All these things could only mean one thing. Something fun is about to happen. Let's hope it's not got anything to do with the blind date I'm being forced onto while I'm home.

Funny story. My mom and her friend, who has a son that lives in NY, thought it would be a good idea to set us up on a blind date while we were home for the holidays. Get this: Mom wasn't even going to tell me about it. She was going to see what color shirt I was wearing and call his mom and tell her to tell him. Yeah, it was supposed to be a big secret. Luckily, my mom couldn't hold it in and told me. She's pretty serious about it, telling me that maybe if things work out I could move back to New York and get married. And hey, she adds, he makes enough money that you wouldn't have to work and could start popping out babies. She asked me, completely serious, why I was laughing.

Oh dear. My 25th birthday is looming and she is starting the fun pressure games already. Not to mention the completely inappropriate and awkward "date" she has arranged. I may ask him if he got the goats my father sent. I make a mean baked ziti so I think I'd be worth quite of few. Good news? As my friend and I were joking earlier in the evening, I could accidentally get pregnant and my mom would probably clap her hands and jump around screaming, "Finally!". Not that that is even close to being a possibility right now. But then again, work is sucking lately, so we'll just wait and see.

Full circle. I love it.

The Night Before, (And Other Random Thoughts)

It's officially the night before one of my best friends' wedding. I just got home from all the rehearsal hoopla, and I'm nervous! I'm in the wedding party, which means I have to walk down the aisle, which means all eyes will be on me and I won't be able to tell a joke, which means I'll be nervous with none of my usual defense mechanisms at my disposal. I'll also have to stand still for a semi-long period of time, which makes me nervous because in such situations I have been known to lose my equilibrium. Besides all that stuff, SHE's getting MARRIED. This girl in which I grew up with, and from my middle school circle of friends, was certainly NOT the one we thought would get married first. It's all just unbelievable in that way that's hard to describe, (and I only realized it was hard once I started trying to explain it).

The night was interesting, to say the least. There are four of us that ran in the same circle for years and years. We hardly ever get together, all being in different places, metaphorically and physically. It's me, the bride-to-be, and friend A and friend B. Well tonight, friend A and B decided they hated each other after an incident. Me, always forced to play peacemaker/babysitter/go-between/middleman/what have you, had to try and explain to riled up friend A, (who no joke was ready to fight, FIGHT, in the middle of the parking lot of the rehearsal dinner-now that's classy-[ahh, I love coming home]), that by fighting friend B, bride-to-be would certainly have a memorable night, and not in the good way. So, there was that. I think the situation was diffused and hopefully things will work out tomorrow. (Although, I have a feeling my peacemaking job is not done.)

Another interesting thing is that when I come back here, I feel like a superstar. Now, I know, my job is pretty modest. I'm an assistant editor for a little tiny reality show and when I'm in LA, I'm major small fish in major big pond. But when I'm here, it's like a new ball game. Someone introduced me to the groom's mother as, "This is Betsy. She's works in television in LA." After humbly revealing the teeny-tiny little show I am merely an assistant editor on, I was surrounded by people. It was a little crazy actually. And I assure you this is not a huge show. The only reason I'm not saying the show name is for my own privacy purposes, but it's not that cool. When and if people have heard of it, I usually get a nod, and sometimes a, "Oh interesting." Well apparently I found this show's audience. Embarrased and shy, one of the relatives approached me during the evening and just wanted to talk to me about the show. It was pretty crazy. I had to tell the grandfather a couple of times that no, I've never been on the show, but he was convinced he had seen me on it. That's one amazing thing about working in television: it's just a job, but the fact that so many people can tangibly see your work on such a large scale, it makes it impressive. Such a small scale, but I can only imagine how actors and actresses must feel. It must be like that all the time for them. Just blows my mind!

I saw "Superbad" last night, and wow, it's amazing. I would say not to watch with anyone who you would potentially be embarrased around with any sort of mention of sex, because the entire movie would be squirm-worthy. I have pity on those who thought it was a good idea to take their mom with them. Squick! But wow-fantastic comedy. Best comedy, short of Wet, Hot, American Summer, I've ever seen.

Well I need to get some sleep so I'll catch you guys up more later. Goodnight!

I Smell A Blog Entry

Sometimes things happen in life in which you are powerless to do anything except write a blog entry. Such an event happened to me yesterday. I was riding with my friend around town and spotted possibly the most intriguing billboard I have ever seen. It read: "Life is Short, Have an Affair" and then gave a website. My friend and I were stupified at the prospect that this billboard was actually ENCOURAGING people to have affairs. I immediately stated, "I smell a blog entry."

Because what kind of society do we live in that makes it okay for people to publically try and convince people to lie and cheat and damage your family for their own gain? And actually say, "Hey it's okay to do all this horrible stuff that, let's face it, never turns out well for any parties involved, because life is short, and hey, that means it's all okay."

Surely this was a misunderstanding. Me and my naive little heart decided that when they said "affair" they actually meant vacation. (I chose to ignore the intimate position of the two people on the sign.) But I looked up the website, because honestly, wouldn't you? If for no other reason than to just make sure that this is not as horrifying as it sounds. And look up I did. And it wasn't as bad as it sounds, right? Wrong! It's worse! If you thought "Life is short, Have an affair", is in poor taste, try these. "When monogamy becomes monotony." "People who are inclined to have affairs are usually more attractive." "It's stimulating, naughty, and fun at the same time!"

Yeah that's right my innocent little creatures. Our world sucks! This site is even more horrendous than the giant billboard. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that this site is trying to convince you to have an affair. Telling you it's going to be fun, the people are really attractive, and hey, what a great escape from normal day to day life.

So basically, yeah. It's a horrifying prospect that people actually use this service enough that they can afford a giant billboard in Hollywood. They even brag about how many people have signed up with them: clocking in at one million, three-hundred ninty-five thousand! (Wha--!?!) What a sad state of affairs. (Pun intended.)

On a more exciting note, another billboard I saw yesterday was promoting the show in which I make my LA editing debut! Woo! "Murder" premieres on Spike TV, next Tuesday night, July 31st, at 10pm! Yippee!

My Uncle The Romantic

This is the uncle with whom once looked me straight in the eye and told me, "A woman's job is to raise children and take care of her family. That should be your number one priority, whether it means putting your own career on hold or not."

Don't get me wrong. He means well. Yes, he has a twisted view of the world and would probably agree to that old famous line, "A woman belongs in the kitchen", but he's a good guy.

Since I announced that I was moving to LA, this uncle has been particularly interested in my life. Surprising, as it seems, he's just as interested in me succeeding as he is in me bearing children. He's done everything since my announcement including giving me the name and number of all his business associates in LA, and calling at least once a week to check on how my job searches are going.

Today was no different. He called and asked how I was settling in and how the job hunt was going. We chatted for a while and I told him I was actively searching. He then proceeded to give me good old fashioned advice, including to exploit the fact that I was a woman, and therefore a minority. Which is fine, I guess, as he told me that in a joking manner. He told me things like, "Don't take no for an answer" and "Never give up." I appreciate the sentiment, and even more so when he tells me how he knows I'll do well.

The conversation drifted to more casual conversation when he decided to give me an update on his step-daughter. She a little older than me. Divorced, with three children. He told me she had been talking to some guys an eHarmony, and by his tone, I could tell he was trying to convince me to do the same. "It's great how they match you up by your background." Slyly then turning the conversation back to LA and how when I meet someone I need to know their background and make sure I know their true intentions. If he was trying to sell eHarmony to me, he failed his conquest when he mentioned that one of the guys she's talking to told her, "You can learn more about me by watching 'The Notebook'". Gag. Amazingly, she swooned. I swear, if a guy ever said that to me, I'd say something to the effect of, "You can learn more about me by watching 'Fatal Attraction'".

Anyway, I digress. We then continued talking about how I can present myself to find a job...I think. He starts saying that no matter what they say, whether it's I'm too short, or too tall, to not give up. He continues to list attributes which seemed to me to be more fit for a Dating Game rather than a job search, but never came right out and said it, still working under the pretense of a job search.

The guy is smooth. He's a saleman, and is good at his job. But I caught on. I guess it didn't take a genius, but he was talking just as much about me finding a potential husband and seed-bearer than he was me finding a job. (Of course, in hindsight I do remember him saying something about there being lots of people with a lot of money here, so maybe he was grouping the two.)

The conversation went on, unfortunately. Not that I don't enjoy talking to him, it's just the man can talk and talk and talk and say about three things fifty million ways. He went on to tell me the story of how the CEO of Bank of America got his first position in the bank. The story goes, he interviewed and didn't get the job. He went back home to his father who was furious. His father had some big connections at local banks, and according to my uncle, called the bank and demanded they give his son a job. He went back, and got the job. I guess the lesson I learned here, is if at first you don't succeed, get a parent on the phone to tell the prospective employer how independent and self-sufficent you really are.

Or of course, as he pointed out, he has some clients in NY who are, "Italian with some sketchy connections." I kid you not. In all seriousness, he told me that if I had a problem with someone, let him know and they can, "Take care of it". What?!! I may be naive, but I think the least effective way of getting a job is somehow harming your potential employer. He went on to tell me that they claimed to know where Jimmy Hoffa was. When he asked me if I knew who that was, and I answered in the affirmative, he went on to tell me anyways. Because that's just the kind of guy he is.

I know he has nothing but good intentions, but the last 45 minutes I spent talking to him, were some of the most entertaining in a while. Man, if and when I ever get married, this Uncle is going to be tossing some major birdseed.