Addiction, Three-Day Weekends, and Equilibrium

I should quit coffee cold turkey. I have traded the kiddie cartons of milk for mocha lattes. My sixth grade math teacher with the horrible coffee breath would be so proud. I have had two coffee drinks today to keep me going, a bowl of pasta for lunch (yes, the white flour kind). So...refined white flour, caffeine, and sugar.
My addiction has materialized so tomorrow, November 13th, I will go on without a cup o' joe.
Vamos a ver.

Three-Day Weekends.
Glorious. Truly and incredibly, glorious. I've forgotten what holidays feel like - what a day off feels like. It's nice to be reminded.
America, we need more holidays - sure, we're a younger country than others, but we have plenty to celebrate - let's throw in a few Festival Days, Bank Holidays, Let's Not Think About The Economy Day or National Day of Chillaxation?
But until then, will have to return to the task at hand...finding quick little great escapes from L.A. ...

Equilibrium
I feel like the Heroes story composition - I've traded one set of problems for a new one. Breaking even, 'a la Jerry in that one Seinfeld episode where he lost twenty bucks that Elaine threw out the window of his apartment building and then he found a twenty spot in his coat pocket.
i.e. the apartment and roommate living situation, the family bugging me to being surprisingly harmonious, the overcharged initiative sparking friend to the apathetic exhausted one.

BTW, Heroes is getting a critical beat-ing if you haven't noticed. We all know the numbers are down, but what are the writers thinking? Not from a media standpoint, but as a fan - the show's focus feels shattered, storylines convoluted, and characters, well, just plain acting out of character. Heroes, you're our breakout friend we met that was a hit at that party, a couple of parties, and all of a sudden, we have no idea who you are trying to be anymore, since, you have no idea who you are anymore. Take the tried-and-true advice to the core: just be yourself.

14 days until Thanksgiving weekend...

Bring it, '08

It's been awhile since my last post - there have been a few setbacks in these past few weeks; specifically, my laptop withering after three faithful years. After trying to call during Central Mountain Time operating hours and a considerable wait time, I got through to a customer service representative at the conglomerate consumer computer giant known as DELL. Apparently they charge for service repairs - to even get your computer looked at - there is a $199 cost up front, and then of course, the cost of your repairs. I wince at the news. Struggling temps cannot shell out this kind of cash without batting an eye. $100 quite possibly may always be a large sum of money to me.

Academia
I have been resorting to visiting my neighborhood library and taking a number to use the 55-minutes-or-less-in-duration computers on hard-backed, wooden, un-cushioned, do-not-fall-asleep-in-here chairs. If I am lucky, I get a computer wedged in between the loud breather on my left and the we-can-all-hear-the-music-playing-with-his-headphones-on-guy to my right. Hopefully it won't happen again.

These local biblioteca visits remind me that I do enjoy libraries. Quiet. An escape from the noise of life. The thirst for knowledge. All things scholastic and studious. Intelligence. A wave of nostalgia, of those undergraduate years on the fifth floor of the Gelman in D.C.

Holiday in LA
So I've begun breaking up my sedentary lifestyle. It has been a painstakingly slow process. (I'm fighting my desire to hibernate in the cold, windy season in Los Angeles.) Especially when there's no heater in the bedroom or bathroom of our apartment. Honestly, heat is a basic human need. Los Angeles homebuilders of yore, what were you thinking?! This isn't Jamaica, mon. Yup, I said it.

Also - there isn't enough decent Christmas music to put up on the airwaves. Play something we know, guys. Some recent Christmas pop albums. I'm sure there's something audibly delectable from Josh Groban. Ne-yo's falsetto-infused singles just don't get me in the holiday spirit. Pretty damn catchy, though. (I have also been fighting the uber-adhesive quality of the musical stylings of Rihanna. I have since given in to the notion. Gah.)

Oh, jobs
Been out interviewing more lately, before Christmas week, but nothing too spectacular has emerged. I think this year I'm thankful I've survived this year, strike and uncertainty of life and all. Maybe I really should sell all my stuff and work for some sort of travel abroad organization. Or at a Catalunyan gastropub. Or join an Unemployed Anonymous group. Thoughts?

Peeves: Sleepers in public places
These locales include: bookstores, libraries, airport lounges, buses (who in Los Angeles rides buses?), shopping malls, church pews.

Anxiously Awaiting
New eps of Heroes. And who knows when that's going to happen?
Permanent Employment. Well - who really wants anything to be completely permanent? The phrase drips with demasiado finality.

This Year's Lessons & Reminders

I am not my job. The "what do you do?" question plagues us all.

Never take calls from telemarketers if you can help it. Take that, LA Times. I wonder if all canceled account holders get removed from your calling list. I hope to never get a phone call from you ever again. Also - is Toluca Lake the LAST stop on your route? Sometimes I got the paper before 7am. Sometimes not until after 8:30am. What's that about? But don't call me to answer that question. My desire for the answer is not greater than my desire to never hear from you again.

MTV does not play music. Stop checking to update yourself on music videos only to find none there. How much more of The Hills and Newport Harbor does America really need? The mainstream public disappoints me.

Visiting the Grove is a double-edged sword. The pseudo-quaint-inner-city-modeled shopping complex is enclosed, walkable, and immerses me in abnormally attractive yuppie crowds. Yeah, it's nice. Just don't let me forget to get parking validation.

Pieces of a Day

Happy Friday, world. Life always seems better on a Friday.

The Work Thing
Stop effing popping popcorn! The buttery smell permeates the entire open-air confines of the office, traveling to the heart of every single cubicle, which is part of a layout of the largest cube that is the entire office on the first floor. Bleh. Buttery butteryness.

The shipping/delivery guy is here. He wears a green t-shirt with a huge graphic screenprint on the back that says, “Who’s Your Crawdaddy?”

Creepy guys. How many of you are there? Or the ones with the beady eyes? You’re a tool, you’re a tool. You’re a big, fat tool.

Stop wearing cologne at work! If you shower, you’re good – do the universe a favor and just pop the Altoids.

“Do not ship liquids, blood or diagnostics in this packaging.” WHO IS SHIPPING LIQUIDS, BLOOD, OR DIAGNOSTICS through FedEx packaging? Honestly.

Heroes this week
How creepy is Zachary Quinto as Sylar?
I can’t stop staring at Milo Ventimiglia’s lip and the weird angle at which it hangs.
And FINALLY the characters on Heroes share scenes together again. Can’t wait to see what happens with Hiro and Peter Petrelli. Nice cliffhanger, peacock. Hopefully there won’t be too much layover time between the writer’s strike-induced gap between eps. Don’t want last year’s fizzling steam to déjà vu.

On personal gastronomics:
Lately a hankering for pie. And today one for cheese popcorn. Yes, the kind that gets all over your fingers. The Smartfood brand is also quite satisfying. Maybe I should strike up a deal with Herr’s, Tastykake, and Smartfood. You know, when I’m loaded. Starving writers like food.

COTW: Extraordinarily attractive people work ordinary jobs.
It’s the daily grind – work, errands, food, sleep. I pick up my cup ‘o joe at the cafe near my office (at least for the time being). No, our eyes do not meet. But he does take my order for a smoky-flavored mocha. I do a double take. He’s broad-shouldered with clear skin and dark hair. The face is easy on the eyes. What are you doing working here? Shouldn’t you be modeling or something? He could be – and this barista gig is his day job. Or maybe he’s decided he doesn’t want to model and isn’t into the industry. But seriously – it’s amazing to see people at menial jobs that seem like they would clearly excel in other areas. Wow.

the candy monster works out

Attention All Overdressed Gym Rats: If you're working up a sweat, and feeling a little faint on that treadmill, maybe you should take off one of the many long-sleeved layers you have on. It would be much more comfortable for you, in addition to taking you out of the running (yes pun intended) for hyperthermia. Dude, you're just an eyesore.

Here's the lowdown: wearing four sweatshirts doesn't make you sweat more. You don't burn more calories. Your body overheats since you're not wearing breathable clothing, so it feeling like you're sweating more is only because the perspiration can't dry as quickly under those layers. Thus discomfort and you looking like an idiot. I guess you were ATD in sixth grade health class. Yep, ATD. That's what I'm calling it.

ATD: Absent That Day. This is how I've come to terms with life's asinine moments. How I justify that no, there can't be that many morons in this world that all want to cross paths with me. You must have been ATD in school. Stay in school, kids. Why? So you won't grow up to be a giant moron.

What. You want more? Not now. Heroes is on. I'm out of buttery popcorn-flavored Jelly Belly beans.

[Heroes SPOILER ALERT if you didn't see tonight's episode]

Ok back. Gahh! Sylar's alive?! Okay, so Zachary Quinto doesn't need to look for a new gig anytime soon. All these new characters. The Mexican siblings trying to cross the border (haven't we seen enough of this?). Monica, the cousin of tech-y wiz kid Micah. Claire's love interest and gravity-defying schoolmate, West. Takezo Kensei, the legendary Japanese (yet British) hero that Hiro struggles to help fulfill history.

Granted, with such an ensemble cast, you're bound to skip out on a couple characters here and there in each episode. I mean, developing storylines at the kickoff of a brand spankin' new season is understandable. But nixing out Hiro, Niki, and Peter?

Well, at least there's something else to look forward to. I still have mounting anticipation of Veronica Mars herself, Miss Kristen Bell. Oh, the CW. What were you thinking?!