Play Ball!

A sheer avalanche of happy things have happened. A quick overview:

• Thursday, due to sheer luck, I got to attend an intimate acoustic performance by Counting Crows at the Apple Store in Soho. They had the full band, all on acoustic instruments. They played some old stuff and most of the 2nd half of the new album. I was standing 30 feet from one of my favorite bands ever. It was really special and I feel so lucky I got to go.
• After Counting Crows, I decided what the hell and went to Schocholautte's gig at Niagara. They were ON FIRE. For serious, I know I'm dating one of the band members, but holy shit these guys are good. They played longer than they were supposed to. They had new people in the audience and fans from a previous gig. They made some cash off of "donations." And for those of you who know this song, "Oh, My Dear!" was out of its fucking MIND. Michael threw his guitar on the floor and started pelting it with random items. These guys just keep getting better and I am so happy for them.
• Friday, the office was almost empty and the work was mercifully scarce. I got to go home early and catch a nap. Because I'm old.
• I was not sick this weekend for the first time in 3 weeks, huzzah.
• Saturday night, I got to go out and have fun for once. Ryn had a Bag Party, giving away cool free samples from her job. I scored a great new bag for work that fits my laptop and a bunch of other crap, plus some cute little bags too. But more than that, it was great to get to go hang out with a bunch of girls and hang and have fun. Even if, as the boys predicted, we did spend part of the night talking about babies and marriage and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And bangs and tiaras and shoes. Oh fuck you. :)
• Yesterday, Kris and I finally ordered our new bed!!!! It will be delivered Wednesday morning. Tomorrow night is the last night I will spend in that crappy terrible bed (which is good because I slept like SHIT last night). While we were waiting for a salesman, we laid down in the sample of the model we ordered. Oh my God, everything just feels like it's going to be all right when you are laying in this bed. Sigh.
• Kris and I are going to have a niece! Jessica found out today that her baby is a girl! This renews my baby enthusiasm. I'm so happy for Jess because she really wants a girl. YAY!
• Even if they haven't started playing yet in Yankee Stadium, IT'S OPENING DAY!

Good in Bed

This was one of those great nights, you get every once in a while that you just can't plan. 

• Got out of work early for sheer lack of anything else to do.
• Came home and seduced my man (2 nights in a row, woohoo!)
• Laughed and talked for a while, no stress or problems, just fun
• Went out for a casual dinner, that was slightly indulgent, but not too bad (keep in mind, my definition of slightly indulgent is "I ate 2 mozzarella sticks.")
• Hit up Linens N Things where we picked up the comforter and sheets from this set
• Stupid cashier rang up one of our coupons twice so we got a supremely good deal

Overall, it was just one of those things. Many nights, I spend my time worrying about things that needs to get done, things that I need money for, or things that I fear just aren't as they should be because I'm somehow screwing up. Tonight there was none of that. Just two people who love each other enjoying each other's company, picking out nice new stuff for their home and giving themselves a break from cooking and cleaning. Pretty awesome, really. Close to the definition of perfect.

(The actual definition of perfect would entail some of the features of the daydream Kris told me about wherein he won $25 million and we both got everything we wanted and then gave a bunch of it to people we love.)

Minor Damage

There are days when "it could have been a lot worse" is just not helpful to hear. There are other days when it is the best news in the world. This is one of those latter days. 

Today's Happy Thought: Good news! I can actually AFFORD the rapin' by the government this year. It will mean surrendering ALL of my Christmas bonus AND the check I'll be getting thanks to the Economic Stimulus Act, but if I give up both of those things, I will be DONE with this whole mess. I can start the frick OVER and not worry about all this ugliness any more. It will not hang over my head. I'm so thrilled that I actually returned my accountant's message from this morning on the same day to give her some info on a deduction I had forgotten about. Bingo! Go me! AND I spoke to our company financial planner about rolling over my old 401k. 

Look at me all financially responsible and whatnot. Will someone please reward me with a present? I like shoes!

Cheer Up Edition

It's been one of those days when I really need my happy thoughts. There's been the catching a cold twice in ten days. There's the being bored to death by checking an index at work for the last several days (yes, checking the accuracy of an index in a textbook. This is what I think of when I am making small talk with someone and I tell them what I do and they go "oh neat!" No it's not. Stop it, people.) Then last night there was being frightened that the man who stopped by yesterday trying to get me to sign up for Verizon FiOS may actually just have been casing my house for a later robbery, causing me to stay up in terror until Kris got home from band practice, because I really am a big ol girly girl. And then there's tonight's dreaded visit to the accountant. 

There is no way my tax situation can possibly be worse than last year. Last year I got a big ol unfriendly present from the government that I am still attempting to pay my parents back from bailing me out of. So naturally, tax time holds a negative connotation for me. And it's not just the fear of owing thousands of dollars, it's the fear that I have, once again, fucked up. Even though my accountant is the official Nicest Lady on the Planet who assures me that there's no shame in making mistakes on your taxes, that's why people pay other people to do them after all, I still beat the hell out of myself if I perceive any small way that me doing things differently could have made the situation better, even if I don't know what that something I could have done differently was. And then there is, of course, the idea that I have taken my Christmas bonus, which was to have bought me a fabulous, relaxing Caribbean vacation that I quite richly deserve, and put it in the bank for just this moment, where I will have to hand over almost half of it to this woman for her services and if I owe a substantial amount, guess where the rest of said bonus is going. 

So yeah. I need me some happy thoughts.

• I am going to stop bitching about it and just get a haircut. Once you've gotten a style that works for you and found a stylist you trust and can afford, you're an idiot not to just get the haircut when you need it. I'm just not used to maintaining a hairstyle, is all.
• Maybe, if Kris sees how great my hair looks, he will get a much-needed haircut too?
• Tonight I will lay my hands on both the long overdue Counting Crows album Saturday Nights/Sunday Mornings and the long awaited first early mixes of one of the first of 3 songs on the Schocholautte single. 
• If there is any money left from my bonus when all is said and done, I am going to go shoe shopping and buy a fabulous pair of shoes. Said shoes will provide the present to myself that I feel a bonus should go towards and shopping for them will allow me an experience I've mostly had to deny myself lately, in favor of paying down debt. Any further money after shoes will be used practically to help with said debts and/or pay for things I need, like car repairs and computer memory. We'll see how much the government wants first. All this makes me feel good.
• Once this accountant meeting is over, at least I will know and at least I will be done with it. I will be able to move on and be able to accomplish more rewarding grownup tasks like visiting doctors with my fancy new insurance. And I will not have to live in dread of whatever the outcome might be. 

Haircut and new shoes and new music and accomplishment. That and a latte will have to be enough to get me through the rest of this day. Your additional words of support are much appreciated.

Recovery

Lord. I just wrote a whole post but then accidentally erased it. I don't have the energy to reconstruct it but here's the gist:

Cousin and baby doing well. Easter brunch = yummy. Sick all weekend, but didn't miss anything important, spent whole time on couch with movies/napping. Somewhat better now. Easter Peep Gallery.

When Happy Thoughts Are Important

It seems there's quite a bit of medical trouble in my family this week. God's phone is ringing off the hook with calls from my relatives. I'm worried to varying degrees and though I'm not a pray-er, I am trying to send positive energy where its needed and if you have a minute, it would be nice if you could too.

My cousin-in-law's mother is having a bad reaction to her chemo and had to be hospitalized for fluid in her lungs. It would seem she is on the mend but not out of the woods. This really worries me because CIL is very close to her mother and this must be hard on her. Also she has 2 young kids, both adopted, one who's not been in the country for a full year. They are also very close to their grandma and I worry for them.

Another cousin is having complications with her pregnancy. Something to do with high-blood pressure and I'm not really sure what else. The point is, they will probably have to deliver the baby this week. Technically, she is within the neonatal window, but seriously, I think this kid is not due for another 3 months. For the poor kid to have to come out so early and spend 3 months in a NICU, struggling to live, it breaks my heart and makes me very very scared. Especially since my cousin has wanted to be a mom for so long and I can't even bear to think what would happen if her child didn't make it.

The fact that both of these situations have improved since I heard of them makes me feel better. But if you can send prayers/good vibes/positive energy/whatever toward Vivian and Karen, and Lori and Will, I'm sure it would help.

UPDATE: Apparently my cousin will be delivering tonight. Please continue to send all good thoughts her way.

Comedic Interlude

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The Return Of

Lots of things are coming back and they all make me happy.

Happy Thoughts:

• Top Chef: Chicago premieres tonight. Tune in to meet the new crop of chefs and see the husband of a woman I used to work for. So excited for this.
• My ability to do hard things and get hard things done has come back. Today I called my accountant to set up an appointment for my taxes. Last night I finished messing with the Schocholautte footage that's been on my desk for a while. It's not perfect, it's actually kind of sucky, but I dealt with what I had and turned out a finished product at least.
• Speaking of Schocholautte, they return to gigging tomorrow night at Hank's Saloon at 11 pm. I won't be able to be there, but, like I said on myspace, how cool would it be for you to say that you were at a Schocholautte show that I wasn't at?
• That feature film I worked on returns to my life, allowing me to finally see the product of the weeks of hard labor done by me and many people I like. And congrats to the filmmakers for doing what they've done with this little story. I may not love it but I admire what they've accomplished.

Blast from the Past

Wow. So a couple of years ago, I decided that the path to the movies for me went through being a P.A. It worked for a little bit, I did a few jobs, made a few connections, even got paid and got to work on a real TV show that people had heard of. One of the connections I made then got me a job on a real actual movie as a Talent Coordinator. What the hell even is that? I still don't know. But I moved down to the Jersey Shore for a month and I worked my ass off and spent some of the time bored as hell. I had a lot of fun at sometimes and other times I cried and cried and cried. A little because it was a low-budget indie where things were always crazy and sometimes some people didn't have any idea what they were doing but mostly because that's just how movies are. Anyway, it was after working on this movie that I decided to give up on being a PA. I felt I was just taking abuse and not getting anywhere useful. I thought, I just need to write and make my own movies, not waste my energy on someone else's. And that's what I've been trying to do, ever since.

I've often thought about that movie. I wondered what ever happened to it and if it would ever see the light of day. And as it turns out, it looks like it will.

Happy Thoughts:

• That self-same film, the first I'd ever worked on from start to finish, will be screened next month at the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park. April 5th, 8:15 pm. I don't know about you, but I'm going. Partly to see how the torturous shoot turned out and partly to see my name in the credits of someone else's movie. Wanna come? I'm not thinking it'll be Scorcese or anything, but...it'll be cool.
• If you want to watch something shorter from the comfort of your own home, try this. This video is dedicated to Mandazzo.
• Vote in the poll to pick the best Spitzer headline.
• Oh yeah! OMG! I have business cards. I feel like Steve Martin in The Jerk. I'm SOMEBODY.

Tired Old Bastard Edition

I. Am. Exhausted. Beat. Not only am I tired, but my body feels like crap. Kris was giving me a backrub last night and I had to ask him to stop because parts of my back felt bruised (evidence that we must make getting our new bed a much higher priority, so that the few hours of sleep I do get do not cause my knees to crack every morning and my back to feel like that of an abuse victim). But let us rewind and look back on the happy events that caused me to get to this place.

Happy Thoughts

• Friday night we got out to see Eddie Izzard do standup. I am not super familiar with his routines and Kris had never seen any standup live before. So on top of being naturally hilarious, it was kind of a new thing for both of us. It's hard to tell you what was so funny (other than one of my favorites, the title of Charles Darwin's book, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey, Monkey, YOU!), but nonetheless it was a laugh out loud good time. And the way the plan worked out, I even got a nice disco nap in beforehand.
• Saturday brought the long-awaited Sarah's Mystery Birthday Party. It wasn't exactly a surprise but all she knew was that something was happening. I took her to see Matthew McConaghey Has No Shirt (or whatever the hell that movie's actually called) and we went shopping at Loehmann's and got great deals on jeans. And then I delivered her to her actual party, where 10 other of her nearest and dearest gathered to celebrate her and eat really good food. (Best. Cannoli. Ever.) The best thing about it was that Sarah was so happy. Making my friends happy means the world to me and it really does make me feel better.
• Sunday morning brought The Walk. I do an annual charity walk to benefit colon cancer prevention. This year my mother and sister were unable to participate with me. And it was on the first morning of daylight savings time. And it was the morning after 2 pretty late nights. And it was in Central Park. And it was about 25 degrees out. And there were 20-30 mph winds. And no one would ever have known if I had just skipped it. Which I guess it part of why it felt really good to be there. I bore down and powered through the damn thing and just felt really healthy and happy and proud of myself. 

I am now damn useless. I have to get through work today, class tonight, and work tomorrow and then I can sit on my ass and recover from all of this joyousness. And in the meantime, watch stuff like this to keep myself awake.

You folks don't mess around!

My mood has rollercoastered around today and had most recently settled at piss poor. 

Then I decided to hop on my laptop, for lack of anything else to do, and pop up my email. The site for the charity walk I'm doing sends notifications when I get a donation and I had just such an email awaiting me. So I popped over to see who kicked in and how much so I can add them to my thankyou list.

Holy hell, you guys. Last time I checked, I had raised $361 of my intended $500. The total now stands at $731. I am Blown. Away. Apparently, I was not getting my notifications for the past few days or I would have seen this coming. But even if I had seen it coming, it would still be amazing to me.

I can never thank enough all of you who have donated. Your generosity brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. It truly warms my heart. I rarely say this, but God bless you.

If you want to join in the joyousness, click on over. At this point, I don't even have the right to ask for more, so I'll just provide the opportunity. Thank you.

Counteracting Un-naps, Lost Train Tickets, and the Hellmouth

This is one of those days where I really miss freelancing. Because if I was freelancing, and I was as tired and stressed as I am, I would lay on the couch and take a nap for an hour. (Couch naps are better than bed naps. Unless bed naps are with another person and they turn into Post Nap Sex.) And I would feel better. And even though I technically have a lunch hour, I can't imagine what I could do with it that would be as rejuvenating (and free) as a nap is (or as Post Nap Sex is, come to that). 

Also if I were freelancing, I would not have spent $150 twice in 6 days because I would not need a monthly train pass in the first place and therefore would not have it to lose 3 fricking working days into the month and have to replace it with my Amex in the second place. (The string of fucks that came out of my mouth upon realizing I must have left it in the little ticket-holding slot on the seat in the morning was quite impressive, mind you).

It is on these days that I need my Happy Thoughts most.

Happy Thoughts

• This made me smile.
• Kris read my rewrite of my Office spec and told me all my changes were spot on and that some of the jokes I added nearly made him fall off his chair laughing.
• The person whom I find most annoying in my office (her cloying cheerfulness, her insistence on being right, and her tendency to mother me despite my 28 years and the existence of my biological mother) is not here today. Tomorrow she will not be here either, for she has been called for Grand Jury duty. And if she's picked (and she's totally the type to get picked) she will not be here every Friday for a good long while. 

(Note for karma's sake: I don't revel in the suffering she'll surely endure serving weekly jury duty, I'm just glad that once a week, I will be able to walk in with my normal, cranky, stormy, I-hate-mornings, disposition and keep it that way until I get some coffee and read a few amusing web items, without some Mary Freaking Sunshine assuming my cat got run over or something just because I'm not as chipper as she is, which is because immediately before seeing her everyday, I deal with Penn Station, which sucks away any ability any person has to be decent to their fellow man. I'm serious, that place is the fucking Hellmouth.)

Happy Thoughts: The Week That Wouldn't End

This  is starting to be a really long week. The beginning contained a massive amount of obnoxious little details that refused to straighten themselves out without a maximum amount of annoyance to me. That combined with an extremely boring project at work and so much Good to look forward to as the end of the week nears, has made it hard to bear. The fact that that is about over, tops the list.

Happy Thoughts:

• The Week That Wouldn't End is now more over than not and from tonight to this Sunday is stuffed with goodness, including a stand-up comedy show, the annual charity walk, a visit from family, and lots of good times with good friends.
• Helping me make my way through the week that wouldn't end is this little gem, particularly nice for Lost fans.
• Dinner with Lauryn tonight. Dinner out + best friend = YAY
• Per my earlier very excited IM to Sarah, who could not give a crap about Project Runway but was also excited when I told her this: OMG POSH IS THE GUEST JUDGE ON THE PROJECT RUNWAY FINALE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!
• Brisco County Jr. Kris and I have turned to this, after having finished Doctor Who Series 2. He bought the entire series outright, despite having not seen it since it originally aired. Good. Call. It is still the delightful cheesy gem it was when it was unjustly cancelled. It's not that it's good, per se. It's just entertaining. You can figure out every plot point 5 steps ahead of where it's revealed, to the point where the only reason Brisco walks into the incredibly obvious traps is because it's in the script. But Bruce Campbell is a tremendously entertaining anti-hero. Professor Wickwire is a brilliant portrayal of a loony sidekick scientist. It's awesome to watch Julius Carry ham it up as Brisco's rival bounty hunter Bowler. All in all, it's just a fun show and watching it with Kris makes him happy which makes me even happier.

Kermit the Blog

Maybe you saw Ellen Page's mono-blog on SNL last week. No? Here. I'll wait. 

Whether or not you thought it was funny (I did) I think it's kind of brilliant. They're not really making fun of Diablo Cody. (OK, maybe they are a little bit. No offense, but Andy Samberg in drag makes for a pretty horsey lady.) I think they were satirizing what Diablo Cody's Juno script was painfully aware of.

People today speak a completely different language. No, no one actually says "What the blog are you blogging about, Sonic the Hedgeblog?" That's what's called exaggeration for comedic effect and on that note will everyone please get off Diablo Cody's back? But she really hit the nail on the head with the fact that anyone over the age of...(have to be careful as I'm getting up there myself) say, 40, wouldn't get it. It's accurate. It's real. And that's why I love her and I hope she has a lot more success in Hollywood.

Also, I have become obsessed with this.

Kris tells me I am just lucky that I didn't discover this when I was in school. It's a career-ruining kind of game. AND I  CAN'T STOP PLAYING.

Happy Thoughts: Talented Couple Edition

So, I presented my script in class last night. When I say present, the procedure is, you bring copies in for the class, they do a table read of 7-8 pages, and then everyone critiques you and you're supposed to shut up but no one does.

They laughed. As people were reading the script out loud, they laughed. Out loud. Several times. Mind you, not as many times per page as are supposed to happen, but definite, genuine laughs. Sometimes when we read these things, it can be an absolute graveyard. I even found myself laughing. Not at my own jokes, but laughing with happiness and even tearing up that other people who are not my best friend or boyfriend liking what I wrote, being entertained by it. Priceless.

Also I got some feedback and suggestions to help me break through the block I've been having. Each week my teacher's only recommendation is "punch it up." Thanks, dude. HOW?  We went over "punching up" in class last week and I sat down and tried and succeeded in some places but it still needs a lot more, by tv standards. Bless my classmates who suggested changes that might make putting in more laughs easier. My teacher, FWIW, seemed to agree with these suggestions, giving them creedence, but if they were such easy and obvious solutions, WHY DIDN'T HE TELL ME THIS THREE WEEKS AGO? Argh. Anyway, the happy side is that I should be able to push through the block I've had on this script and make it better.

And it's official. Schocholautte has lain down tracks for their first single, Mercedes Benz. I am so happy for them and so proud of them and I cannot wait to have professional quality recordings to listen to and to play for others. Woohoo! 

A friend was just telling me an anecdote about how a local radio station played one of his songs off of his band's myspace and he was surprised to hear himself on the radio. Then in the drugstore, his girlfriend kept announcing that he'd just been on the radio. He was slightly embarrassed by this. My response?

"yeah but if and when that happens with Schocholautte, I am going to be out on 6th Ave with a megaphone with that shit."

Always, ALWAYS be proud of your accomplishments. Today I am for both of us.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Thirty years ago today, the best person I know came into the world. Thank God for that. If you don't know Sarah, go check out her blog and leave her a happy birthday comment while you're there. She's awesome. 

One of the many examples of Sarah's awesomeness? This clip, she linked on one of her many brilliant weekly roundups. 

And as a gift to her (and to all of you) in return, I give you this.

Happy Birthday, Best Friend.

Now, if you all wouldn't mind, please send Happy Thoughts my way. Tonight I present my spec script in class and hope that everyone thinks it's brilliant and funny and one of them wants to give me a job writing funny stuff with a salary of infinity. 

If you would like to read it and tell me what you think the chances of that are, hit me up and I'll send it to you. It's only 22 pages.

ETA: Oh yeah! Today's other Happy Thought! Schocholautte started recording today. Before long, the world will be blessed with a 3-song maxi-single and if all goes well with that, they begin recording a full length album next month. Soon the world shall know the full power of their awesomeness!