Fluffernutter

I was just thinking about fluffernutter sandwiches. You just don't see them around anymore. Peanut butter and marshmallow spread anchored between two pieces of carb-loaded bread. Mmm, comfort food. I guess I'll put that on the cheat list, along with designer cupcakes, mocha lattes, and hot-off-the-line doughnuts. For a zip code that worships six-pack abs and celebrities, there sure are a lot of doughnut shops and fast food joints packed in this town.

More on the job hunting front: if you're going to ask me to put in a full day of work, "learning the ropes" with one of your own, and call it an "interview," you'd better be able to cough up the money for my time. The things corps get away with. Ciao, Papa.

I lost my Burt's Bees lip balm. I bought another one. Why is it that you can't buy these things in bulk? Marketing ploy, Burt? Then I found my old one later that day.

Million-dollar business idea:
SILENT leaf-blowers. I loathe you, you 8am-on-a-Saturday-morning gardeners.

Lines that steal

"You matter to me, Betty Gonzalez." - Amanda Tannen, Ugly Betty, 'Zero Worship' ep.

"Stripping's like riding a bike. Once you ride that bike, you always got the skill." - Big, Rob and Big, season two ep 205.
These bosom buddies - I hate reality television, but they're just so damn likable. Ridiculous outings, overgrown immaturity and all - and I just can't look away. Their typical misadventures include visits to the nutritionist, hypnotherapist, and stripper dance lessons. But you gotta throw in a kooky phone call to a guy who hooked them up with a time machine. Yeah, I know. Can't change the channel.

Oh, consumerism

I heart chocolate chip bagels. Also, as I enjoy this can of Diet Pepsi Lime, I wonder what the future holds. How about chocolate flavored water? Somebody do some beverage manufacturing, find a B-list celeb whose career needs reviving, and sell that shit. Any questions about merchandising? Ask George Foreman.

Coffee. Oh, Priscilla's Ole. So hot, so reliable, so hits the spot. If only your ticket time had some sort of consistency to it.

As an out-of-work entertainment assistant struggling to pay the bills, I explain that these are the mere reflections of a dark and tortured existence. Thus, some of the more trivial things in life that I enjoy (hey, my favorite academic experience was writing an undergraduate paper on the product placement industry) I may express, but with the absence of a steady 9-to-6, its quite possible that they take up more of my interest.

It's a cruel, harsh world, baby. I don't drink away my problems; I just coat them in dark chocolate.

A couple more signs

The 101 North to the 405 South freeways. Sometimes it's smooth sailing. Others? Why God. Why.

The relentless osmosis of reality television. You're putting writers out of work, you unscripted pop culture whore.

On a completely unrelated note...words I keep forgetting the meanings of..help me, webster.com.

aplomb. noun. complete and confident composure or self-assurance: poise.

ersatz. adjective. being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation.

hokily is a word! Now I'll switch word usage so that I won't have to use its adjective cousin.

hullabaloo is also a word. Wow - my vernacular has gone noticeably downhill since the war on books.

Signs

There are certain events in life that stand out to me - things that remind me of the fact that I have very little power in this world, but someone up there hasn't forgotten about me. Sure, faith is personal, and I don't know if most people's beliefs in atheism, the supernatural, or modern world religions come into play, but for me, nothing happens in complete futility.

The specifics

Hot water pressure: the hot water pressure problem has been plaguing my roommate and I ever since we moved into our apartment. Nonexistent hot water pressure - resulting in more of a trickle-down effect of water in the shower, which sometimes isn't even that hot. Also, the water takes a couple minutes to warm up - shower, sink, and kitchen.

I killed a spider in my room. It was on my bed.

Our evil neighbors blocked my car in this morning and left a scratch on my bumper.

Our evil neighbors.

There is no heat in our bedrooms.

Any parking ticket issued in the greater Los Angeles area.

Paying for parking anywhere.
Alright, I'm noticing that this is becoming more of a list of cons about L.A., so let me return the focus to more relevant events.

The ongoing strike. This goes hand-in-hand with...

The neverending job search in this industry.

Temping gigs are also super-quiet these days.

There's no love in LA. Anyone else notice the heavy marketing efforts of Singles Awareness Day?

What's a struggling assistant, I mean temp, to think, say, do? It's been a tumultuous ride these past several months. I have gained a level of understanding with other friends that have experienced extended searches for jobs (six months to a year or longer). All of these educated, intelligent, well-spoken adults with plenty of ambition and maturity, yet they're in the job market for months. I think it's a miracle that anyone survives the months of self-deprecation, disappointment, and debt.
So I'm wondering if it's not the time for me. All these things add up and my heightened awareness of these signs are what trouble me of late. There's only so much a struggling assistant can take. Either my west coast experience is ending and I should take heed of another calling, or I should stick, and keep on keepin' on.
Ah, decisions. Don't you love those character-building years of your twenties?

Besides, those $3.50 designer cupcakes won't pay for themselves. (Sidenote: I wonder what the typical assistant salary affords in Los Angeles and how this lifestyle survives, on average. More on this later.)

COTW

Malibu con piña. Ok, anything with Malibu.

That guy at my neighborhood gym who looks kind of like Dane Cook. Except with an earring and tattooed.

People who treat you for stuff without you mentioning the fact that you're unemployed.

On the bright side

Reruns of Seinfeld.

Catching up on season three's eps of Veronica Mars. I'm still hurt, CW.

Finally got around to reading a few books I've been putting off.

Thank God for television, Blockbuster Online, and my roommate's kind offer to use her laptop.

Trader Joe's. Cheese plates and all.

More nights at the salsa club. Hopefully there will be more marketable twentysomething gentlemen there. Whom also love Jason Mraz, dark chocolate, and skiing. To start.

New Year's haze

Beware the rainstorms of Los Angeles. I'm still a bit groggy from the passing of another year.
What did I eat the past couple of days? Not feeling so hot in LALA land. Nausea coupled with an escalating migraine, a couple of Advils, and I'm conked out before Access Hollywood is over. A single glass of champagne couldn't cause nausea 48 hours later, right? Hmm.

COTW
Since it's been awhile since I've kept up with these entries, I'll have to make up for lost time in the next couple weeks.

A certain guest star on 30 Rock, Episode 207, "Cougars."

Guys in striped hoodies. Okay, it IS from the same 30 Rock ep, but you know you love it. Despite, well, its striped hoodie-ness.

Colorblock striped scarves (but not in the Harry Potter colors). Adds just the slightest dash of tangy to the regular joe. Like Heinz 57.

The babydoll top (for us). Long live the babydoll top. Summer, fall, winter, spring. And summer.

Repellent of the Week - ROTW. The opposite of COTW.

Lee Pace's brows on Pushing Daisies. A little plucking, a little waxing. Please! Somebody thread those babies down. Sidenote: boo you for triggering my hankering for pie.

Scene-Stealers

"When will death come?" Liz Lemon, 30 Rock.

"Happiness, borne of passion, is always short-lived." Pushing Daisies.

Homes.

It was nice to be recuperating from the flu while in my parents' house, in my old bedroom (with orange marmalade-painted walls - I know, delicioso, no?) in the chilly Northeast which I grew up in. The gripes here, then, would be the weather, of course, and the fact that its me, living in my parents house for the week.

There's something about it - being in a house, with family, that has this undeniably genuine feeling of home to it - which LA has never quite created. The dime-a-dozen apartments in LA - well, it was nice to be in a home, and not in a setting which can't help but feel like a few kids thrown together in a vague post-college haze.

Pardon me. My tastebuds are abuzz from an OD of Herr's Salt & Vinegar potato chips. If you know what I'm talking about, you know. Comes in a white bag. And if you're lucky enough, you too may experience how 'America runs on Dunkin'.'. Thank God for Terminal B, PHL.