Look what I did! Just like Joshua in War Games, I’m learning.
Can you believe this woman is 34? That’s what US Magazine told me last night. 34. What?
Oh, shoot. That didn’t really work. Go to the second picture in the gallery.
Ok, and whoah.
Archive for May, 2008
I biked into work today on my little 3-speed bike. Only it’s not little and I think the cute basket alone adds 10 minutes to my ride when there’s a strong head-wind. And by strong I mean any sort of breeze. Basically, I need to get in better shape. I almost didn’t wear my helmet this morning because I was so upset by our union meeting last night, but I caved at the last minute because if there’s one thing I learned from AmeriCrap, it’s safety first.
Union meeting. Ugh. As some of you know, I’ve been actively annoyed with our union situation as of late. It’s so hard to talk about without feeling like I sound really greedy, but getting a raise once in awhile would be nice. With our union, the basic problem is that the top folks (over 50% of our union) move further away from us at the bottom (under 20% of our union). This is too boring and frustrating to talk about here.
But guess what? It happened again! I had an interview two Saturdays ago for a server position at Vin Santo, a really great, small Italian family-run restaurant in Middleton. I thought it went really well — we laughed a lot, talked about all sorts of stuff, she gave me a menu to take home, blah blah. She called me about five days later to tell me that she’d hired someone else, but would give me a call if that didn’t work out. I was fine with it because, truthfully, I don’t want to make a second career out of waiting tables and she made it clear that they want someone long term. I didn’t really know how I should handle it had I been offered the job because while I wanted it, I didn’t want to screw them over by leaving when we got a raise here (which, of course, isn’t really going to happen given the Union debacle — isn’t this such a symbiotic post?). At Sundance, or a corporate place like that, I don’t feel that guilt. But at a smally, family-owned restaurant where none of the chairs match and look like they may have been salvaged from Ogg Hall before the wrecking balls came, I feel more responsibility. Ok, so my point is, when she called to tell me they went with someone else, I was mostly relieved.
And then today I checked Craig’s List and, guess what, Vin Santo is looking for a server.
I had my first tennis match of the season last night, having not picked up a racket since last summer. One of my teammates was complaining she hadn’t played in two weeks. The thing is, I am the youngest person by at least twenty years on my team, which isn’t a problem, but me not playing a lot probably is. I thought I could win my match anyway, but it didn’t work out that way. I lost 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. I thought I put up a good fight and probably should have won, but it turns out there’s a level of fitness required in tennis and two hours was a bit much for me. Embarrasing. I’m hoping I can turn this around.
On the way home, though, Sister Christian came on Charlie and I felt ok about things for a bit. It took me back to a time when Kristin, Heather and sometimes Ben and I would head out to the Wisco for cheap beers, grilled cheese, yahtzee and jukebox. Simple times. Good times (at least when they wouldn’t unplug the jukebox on us, and ok when they did as long as they gave Heather her quarters back). Post-AmeriHell, pre law school. Pre real world, really. We had a cute apartment (esp since we didn’t discover the mice for a good year, though the raccoon was a bit creepy) and I had probably my best roommates ever. We all had silly jobs — Heather at Victor’s working nutty morning hours; Kristin working with cokeheads at Mickey’s, coming home with more change than I’ve ever seen; and me at Luigi’s, telling folks they can’t smoke on our outdoor patio even when they’re the only ones on it. But we made enough money to pay for our cheap, sunny apartment and enough to go to the Wisco several nights a week and enough to have a party now and then. That was a fun summer.
I think Sarayu lives in the Valley. I don’t exactly know what that means (ok, yes I know what a valley is), but I’m told it’s not cool. Since Sarayu and not cool go together like oil and water, I find it hard to believe, but lots of things in LA seem backward to me. Like that $25 soup Sarayu was talking about. Anyway, I assume that the Hills are somewhere near the Valley, making it the Valley, but much, much cooler. Who saw last night’s season finale and wasn’t disappointed? I need this show to step it up and spend less time on long shots with no one talking…Heidi staring blankly at Spencer, Lauren staring blankly at Audrina, Whitney staring in wonder at everyone’s drama…Step it up and dance already! Ok, not dance, but something. If they follow these kids around as much as they seem to, I expect a little more in an episode. That aside, let’s talk about the little substance the show contained. Lo is the most obnoxious person on the planet and I have no idea why Lauren likes her at all. She’s boring, whiny, manipulative, fake and really not funny. “This soup is yummy!” “I’m hungry!” “Our puppy has two mommies!” SO ANNOYING. Why Lauren, who seems to have pretty decent instincts, doesn’t kick this one to the curb, I do not understand. Maybe Lo is paying the whole rent on those awesome new digs the gals are sharing. How amazing is that place? Anyway, Lo is awful and I love that Audrina FINALLY called Lauren out about it. That was way too long in coming. On another note, why during the intermittent Aussie coverage of the show did that woman keep insisting we all want to see Lauren and Stephen together? I don’t want to see them together. I think their friendship is fine but I feel like they have about zero chemistry. I feel like Stephen exudes zeroness. He seems like one of those made-up celebrities that are manufactured by a studio that teenage girls are told is super cute and adorable. Only he’s really pretty average and normal. This is only amplified by having him stand next to Lauren. Jason radiated sex appeal. Stephen looks like he might be able to sell you a good retirement plan.
Obviously, I am ignoring the elephant in the room: Heidi. What in the &^%$#@*^% is going on with her? Why she even has this job is beyond my comprehension, but then to walk out on it when Spencer saunters in and humiliates her? Why oh why? Heidi goes to Colorado, saying she wants space and to clear her head. Spencer shows up and she flips out about it, saying he doesn’t respect her and it’s always all about him. He leaves. They do nothing but fight and not see each other for the entire season. Heidi tells Stephanie that she needs to go to Vegas for work because it’s a great opportunity, she wants to move up in the company and she needs to clear her head. Putting aside the obvious — why this airhead needs to clear her head makes no sense and why she has this job at all is AGAIN mystifying — fine, go to Vegas, Heidi. She tells Steph not to tell Spencer. Stephanie tells Spencer; he “makes” her go with him to Vegas; he shows up at a “drinking meeting” with Heidi and Bosses, saying that he needs to talk to her outside; Heidi gets very angry; Heidi leaves him, citing the importance of her job, goes back to the table with Bosses; everyone leaves; she hangs her head. Cut. Heidi doesn’t show up for work the next day and doesn’t answer her phone. Shot of her heading down a very long escalator with Stephanie, Spencer and suitcases. What in the hell is going on? I know she wants more attention from the Hills so maybe Spencer just explained that moving to Vegas isn’t going to get her there, but this is damn ridiculous. Get this girl her own show so she can get off of my Hills.
Maybe. At least to me it is. I am so furious about this whole Brittany Zimmerman/911 debacle that my head is about to explode. This tragedy has been made only worse by the County’s reaction to the possibility that they may have really screwed up. How hard is it to admit wrongdoing? Why is everyone so afraid of it? I am so angry with Kathleen Falk for not firing John Norwick that I will not vote for her again. Well, we all know I probably wouldn’t have anyway, given what she did to Peg and the people of Wisconsin. But this is really it. As in most grand-scale debacles, it’s not the actual mistake that has me so angry (that has me incredibly sad), but it’s the cover-up. How dare he say that no apology is necessary? And how dare he act as if the police couldn’t have done anything with the information in the phone call? And what about this whole sending the police on a wild goose chase while they pursued the callers who called the 911 center after Brittany? This is really a royal mess and I just wish someone would stand up and take some responsibility for it.
And the thing is, this is so damn common. If Clinton had just admitted to the affair, there would have been no impeachment. I’m not sure the same can be said for the whole Watergate fiasco, but it was certainly escalated in its severity due to the cover-up. And Sarayu, you know how I feel about your cover-ups. Geesh, folks, let’s just learn from this and, when caught, admit what we’ve done.
On another note, how insulting is it that Otto’s keeps posting for a server position several times over months now when they pretended they were going to hire me and didn’t?
life and puppies 