TV

I'm really really happy that the Olympics finally finished and (most) of TV Land went back to its regularly scheduled programming. Recent highlights include the dependably awesome "The Amazing Race" where they snarkily subtitled a recent comment, "Human Target" which has exceptionally well choreographed and inventive fight sequences and "Undercover Boss" which is just fucking genius. I'm already loving how the bosses are having to find inspirational things to say about employees that such and have shitty attitudes.

I'd also like to take this moment to make another plug for "Friday Night Lights," the best show you're not watching. The latest season is coming on NBC soon and it will finally answer that crucial question from the first season of "The Wire."
The internet let me know about an old (1998) UK show called "Ultraviolet" (that you can watch here) that's about vampires actually being bad... and answers the important question of where Stringer Bell was before Baltimore.

Oscar report (part 2)

Glad that Star Trek won a makeup award since, as I mentioned, the eyebrows were phenomenal.
Disappointed that they gave the honorary awards on a different night. Those are often the most sentimental (ie. cry-worthy) ones. Plus, Lauren Bacall is a woman who's never missed an opportunity for a zinger (have you read her autobiography?), so robbing the global audience of her wit wasn't smart.
Why did they change back to "and the winner is"? It's significantly more crass.
WTF was going on with the sound mix, bad cams and banging sounds?!
Kristen Stewart is so awkward. Why the hell is she even in movies? I remember being annoyed by the son in Panic Room and it turns out it was her. I continue to be underwhelmed by her every action and attempt at speaking.

Oscar report (part 1)

Finally watching the first of three parts of Sunday's Oscars. I've already cried once (John Hughes -- you defined my childhood!) and laughed out loud four times (I like olde tyme jokes if they're well done). I still don't like Ben Stiller. At all. Ever.

I'm still glowing

The snow is long gone (there were up to 8 inches in some parts of town!), but I'm still basking in the memory, now featuring a lizard.

La vita è bella

Life is simultaneously wonderful and headed toward certain misery. List time!

Things that are awesome
1. My new apartment which I moved into last week.
2. Having my own bathroom which is always clean and fully stocked.
3. There was HISTORIC SNOWFALL on Monday in Barcelona.
4. I super-fucking-LOVE snow and have missed it desperately for years.
5. All my afternoon classes were canceled due to weather-related FREAKING OUT.
6. Said cancellations allowed me to snap up someone else's massage appointment.
7. Massage therapist said I was really tense and that my neck was totally out of alignment. (This somehow makes me feel bad ass.)
8. I spent the night in a hotel on the 28th to relax after the stress of moving and slept for 14 uninterrupted hours.
9. On Monday the 1st, it was 60 degrees out and I rode my bike all over town for the first time in more than a year.
10. Did I mention the GLORIOUS SNOW?!
11. The Oscars was a total Avatar shut out (technical awards don't count) and my favorite flick of the year took it all! Mwah-ha-ha!

Things which cause me concern
1. Did you catch that part about how one week it was 60° and the following it snowed? This planet it totally fucked and we're all going to die.
2. One of my new roommates snores and I'm not yet sure which one. At least they don't sound like a saw mill...unlike some people who should have to pay an extra noise pollution tax.
3. I work a lot and don't have enough time to do Me Things.
4. The internet's disappointed me by taking two whole days to upload the Oscars. I won't have time to watch until the weekend which is too sad to even mull over a little bit.

Lies

Everything is a lie. I hate having this kind of thing confirmed.

Bien Sûr

Dear Diary:

I was recently reminded of an event years ago, when I was living in New York City.

We were visiting Toronto, and were at a very nice French restaurant downtown. As we were seated, the maître d’, with a flourish, took my wife’s napkin and placed it on her lap. When repeating the effort for me, the flourish released a large cockroach hiding in the napkin!

It crawled down my leg, hit the floor, and with (what I thought was) a smooth action, I violently dispatched the critter.

Without batting an eye, the maître d’ said, “Monsieur must be from New York City.”

We received a complimentary bottle of wine!

#14

Here.

The job

Something I realized too late about my old job was that it left me feeling like I hadn't done anything at the end of the day. Working in a creative capacity is always hard, but at least musicians have songs and writers have books, etc. I always kinda wanted to be like this, but the reality of not having a tangible product wore on me.
Teaching, while nothing I ever would have thought I'd like, does give me a sense of accomplishment and is, at times, (dare I say it) rewarding. Here are some of the reasons why what I'm doing now is way more gratificante than what I was doing before:

Having a kid tell me Wednesday is her favorite day of the week because it's when I come

Introducing a 13-year old to Dirty Dancing and having her LOVE it

Seeing a "10" (equivalent to an A+) on a student's report card next to "inglés"

Getting a purple pashmina as a present from a student who went to Syria and, seeing it, thought of me.

Though it pains me to admit it, having a little kid run up to me to hug me because they haven't seen me in three months. (I still don't want one of my own.)

Realizing that the awkward, scrawny, pimply-faced 12-year-old I first met who could barely string a sentence together in English is now taller than me and a strapping young man with whom I talk about all kinds of things.

Maybe most importantly, I set my own schedule and can wake up as late as 11:30 on weekdays.