Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Oscars Shmoscars

Oh, hello. I'm back. In the middle of midterms yet again. With two month long terms, I am in the middle of midterms or finals pretty much always. I have three papers due this week... and then finals in a week or two. But then I have spring break. Woohoo! One of the great things about being back to school!

One of my three papers was due yesterday. I spent all weekend working on it. It took up a lot of my time (here's a hint-- when going to a cafe to do work, while free refills on coffee seem like a good idea-- it may not be). I planned on finishing my paper in time to watch the Oscars. But did I? Of course not. Thus, while the Oscars happened on the other coast, I was in Baltimore writing a paper... a paper about media, no less. It was a existential crisis-evoking moment. What had I become? Where was the old me? The me who organized Oscar pools, had seen all of the movies, and thrown Oscar-watching parties? That me was writing a paper about the effects of television on eating habits. That's what had become of her!

As a break, I turned on the Oscars. It was a few hours in and they were only at Best Supporting Actress. I caught it just in time to watch five previous winner honor this year's nominees with ass-kissing, poorly written speeches. Blech. My existential crisis was over. According to reports, the Oscars sucked this year. But do they ever not suck? Not really. Then I realized the best part of the Oscars was coming in to work the next day and discussing it with co-workers who no doubt had watched the whole thing, red carpet entrance to finish and had seen all of the movies. I tried talking about the bit of the Oscars that I had seen with some classmates, to no avail. Everyone else was writing papers that night, too. Maybe it's not that I miss working in TV... maybe it's just that I miss working. Although, seriously. I miss working? I took a nap at 3:30 PM yesterday on my couch. I have a Spring Break. I really should appreciate this school thing a little longer. Nap time is almost over.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Do you know who I am?!

Hello all you jacktoschool readers! I just returned from a lovely weekend in NYC and now am procrastinating by blogging when I should be writing a paper about I have no idea what. It's for my Research Design class. It's a required class. I don't really like it. I don't really like it because I don't really need it. I have no plans to design research. I had the option of taking this class or an evaluation class. I think I picked the wrong one. Oops. It's not easy writing about something you do not care about. But, I just ordered Chinese food so that may help matters. Plus, I just have to get through four more weeks of school, then I'm off to sunny California. Then... one more term of classes. Then, I'm done! Well, done with the classes part. Suh-weet.

On Friday, bf and I took the Chinatown bus from Baltimore to NYC. The one we bought tickets for was running an hour late. Then, it got a flat tire. So, we were moved to the bus two hours later. Good old reliable Chinatown. Anyway, we had two hours to kill and no car to kill it with, so we walked to a pizza place a few blocks away called Joe Squared. The bf had been before. It's in a totally random, sketchy part of Baltimore, but surprise, surprise, it was awesome. There was live music, which, again, was actually good. Good pizza (and square, too). Good wine and beer and cool local art on the walls. And from the restaurant, we could see our bus coming. Early, this time. We ran and made it, but got stuck in the back between the bathroom and a snoring guy. Not awesome.

One of the plans for NYC was to go to the Rejected book party/show. So, we left dinner on V-Day early and got to the show an hour late. The douchebag behind the ticket counter at UCB was thrilled to pick a fight as soon as I opened my mouth. "We're sold out. We're at capacity. No, you can't come in." "Would it help if I told you I have a piece in the book and I'm in from out of town?" "No. I don't care." Moments later, we were thrilled to see two people leave the show. "So, now you're not filled to capacity, so can we go in?" "No! The ticket office is closed." "What?" "I can't let you in. Where were you an hour ago? You can't come in. It's a fire hazard. Go away. What's wrong with you. I said no. Go away." That's when I said, "Whatever issues you're having, please don't take them out on me, dude." Then I asked for his name. It's Peter (or Pat) Baer if you want to send hate mail. He claims to be the manager. (And he's probably the narcissistic comedy type who googles himself regularly, so if you're reading this Pat-- you're ugly.) Anyway, what I should have said was, "I'm sorry you fat douchebag prick, that it's Saturday night/ Valentine's Day and you're here selling tickets and you haven't gotten laid in years, if ever, and no, just because you hang out at UCB doesn't mean you're going to be on SNL and doesn't make you in the least bit funny. You're just like everyone else here who thinks they're special because they're so angsty and ironic, but are really just a clone of the next guy, you fat, greasy, goatee wearing comedian wannabe, whose only pleasure in life is wielding the ounce of power you were given with your pathetic ticket selling job, which is all you've got going for you anyway. I'd feel so sorry for you if you weren't such an asshole." But, unfortunately, I didn't say that. I left and got a drink and felt much better. And then I realized, I was just rejected from the Rejected show for the Rejected book. Perfect. Stay tuned for a story there somewhere.

The rest of the weekend was, as I said, utterly lovely. But, utterly lovely does not a good story make.

Okay, where's my Chinese food? I'm hungry. Love, Jackie

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Pleasant

Hello from sunny Baltimore! It's a beautiful day. Even the hallway in my apartment building smelled like spring when I walked outside. So what am I doing inside blogging when I could be enjoying this weather? The answer is not that exciting. For one, I just got back from a brunch/networking meeting and so I'm letting my food digest. And for two, yesterday I play frisbee for the first time in months and pulled my hamstring with the first lunge. Awesome. And ouch. But I must give a shout-out to my favorite over-the-counter drug, Aleve. This morning I woke up with a headache (hangover) and throbbing leg. One pill of Aleve, back to sleep for an hour, and on the second try of waking up, I was healed. It's a miracle. Aleve may in fact be the answer to all of life's ills. Malaria? Aleve. AIDS? Aleve. Cancer? Aleve. If only. But pulled muscle and too much wine last night? Aleve, indeed!

What, you may ask, was I doing last night that caused me to wake up with a headache? Duh, I was drinking. But, I was doing it at an event that was yet another pleasant Baltimore surprise. It was a benefit for El Rancho Grande, a weird arts collective/music space, a place and concept that can only be described as "so Baltimore." It's basically a hole in the wall joint owned by a former banker/aging hippie who lets local artists come in and play. Everything's free. Including the coffee. The benefit was at an art gallery, not at the Ranch. About 10 musical acts performed. You know when you go see a random, or friend's, band and you expect them to suck? Well, I didn't expect much from this show. But holy shit, I was surprised. Act after act, I was impressed. I can't remember the last time I saw a musician randomly, or not intentionally, who I actually liked and was inspired by to buy the album. Thumbs up for Baltimore's music scene (I think Rolling Stone rated Bmore as the best music city of last year, or something). Basically all of the Baltimore indie/alt-county/folk/rock scene was there last night and although they were all incredible talented, it was a very friendly intimate vibe. Nothing like I've experienced in NYC or LA. Very cool indeed.

Okay, that's enough of that. Time to get outside and enjoy this weather before it disappears.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

An Early Start

By now you've all bought, read and then bought again for a friend the hilarious book Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped and Canceled. Did you like it? Good. Glad to hear it.

In the excitement of being published, I forgot that I also had school work to do. I was in Philly this past weekend and decided not to do any homework. It was lovely. I watched tennis, played tennis (and am incredibly sore from an hour of tennis-- sad), half-heartedly watched the Super Bowl, and ate. The plan was to start my paper due yesterday (Monday) on Sunday night when I got back to Baltimore. (Actually Plan A was to start and finish the whole thing last week, but that was just laughable). Getting back at midnight was not conducive for starting a paper. So, instead I decided to get up at 6:30 am on Monday and start and finish it before my 9:30 class. Fortunately the paper was a "Media Autobiography,"-- an essay about some form of media that affected us when we were children for my Media, Children and Health class. (I wrote about Saturday Night Live). Somehow I managed to write 3/4 of it before class and the remaining 1/4 in between my morning and afternoon class. It was due at 5 pm. I got it in at 3:30 pm. I am, in fact, amazing. Procrastinator? Not me. I must say, I thought the essay was actually pretty good. But we shall see what the professor thinks when I get it back.

Last Thursday was the second session of my favorite class, Environment Health. I think I like it so much because it's what I imagine to be a rocks-for-jocks-(or English majors)-type class. In college, I fulfilled my science requirements and then some with classes that kicked my ass in preparation for med school. But now I realize what I was missing. This environmental health class is actually fun. It's making me way paranoid of all the chemicals and germs we come in contact with everyday, but I'm learning cool little factoids that will be great for cocktail parties. For example, in humid areas (like China) peanuts grow some kind of fungus (don't ask me what) that can cause liver cancer. But, broccoli reverses those effects, which is why in Chinese food with peanuts, you'll often find broccoli. Brilliant! This class is also making me aware of how important it is to cut down on my consumption. Especially on cheap, disposable goods, like H&M clothes. Seriously. Thanks to Walmart, H&M, Target, et. al. things are so cheap that we feel it's okay to buy lots of them. But why not buy one quality thing that may be more expensive, but will last? I'm going to make an effort. And you should, too. And there's my environmental pitch for the day.

Okay. Seriously. My forearms are killing me from an hour of tennis and I must save my strength for actual work that I have to do later. Later...