The Road Trip

Ah, the joyous roadtrip is here. Actually, It's halfway over, but this is the first time I'm writing about it so...

Well, right now Danit and I are in Atlanta and it's fab. Even though it's barely warmer than the frigid Northeast. On the agenda for today is saying happy 6th birthday to Danit's cousin, working out the horribly painful kink in my neck, visiting the Da Vinci exhibit at the Atlanta art museum, and driving up to Asheville, NC for the next step in our road trip.

I mean, I know you've never heard of Asheville (probably), but I'm actually super excited for it. We even cut out our trip to Nashville justttt to spend extra time in Asheville. Mostly because our Asheville hotel is frickin amazing.

Yeah, I have more to say but I'm not sure where this post is going and my neck hurts, so I'm just going to stop writing.

Free Hugs

You know that website, My Life Is Average? EB introduced me to it a few months ago when she read some story about a guy who got down on one knee and sang "Love Story" to some random girl. It made her think of me. Clearly.

So I was reading that website today and I realized I had a total MLIA moment yesterday. Granted, I have these MLIA moments every day, but this one makes a better story.

My friend Angel and I were walking around Times Square yesterday (after her totally amazing stand-up performance) when we saw a group of those people giving out free hugs. Now normally I ignore them, because it's weird to hug strangers (except sometimes at parties). But this time, I glanced at the huggers and realized that a couple of the guys were like, kinda cute. So I went up to them and opened up my arms. And hugged. And kept hugging.

Now for all those hugging skeptics, the free hugs I got yesterday made me feel so warm and fuzzy that I was almost tempted to stand on the street and offer my own free hugs. Until I realized that I was in New York and could easily contract a disease that way.

On that note: My Life is Average

Olden Days

I was just looking through my blog posts from May and I noticed the extreme changes that dear blog has gone through. I wrote one entry about how I hadn't written in my blog in a while (fine, I write those entries all the time), after I hadn't written in 6 days. In another entry, I wrote about how I missed the days when I was able to write every single day. After the month of May, my monthly posts averaged about 3. Big changes, right?

Granted, I work allll the time, so you can't really blame me for not writing daily, but it's not like I have zero time. It's also not like I have nothing to say. I know it seems pointless to write yet another one of these "why don't I write more" entries, but this is the first time that I realized quite how much change Blog has gone through.

Fun fact of the day: I am currently reading the book Youth in Revolt. It's super sexual and mildly disturbing. It's also really long. I might not be able to finish it by the time the movie, starring Michael Cera comes out.

Andy vs. Billy

A few months ago, I bought first season of Ally McBeal. I was really into it when I was younger, because I had a crush on Robert Downey Jr., but he didn't show up until a few years into the show. I missed like 4 seasons of it, and that is totally unacceptable in SandyLand. So yeah, got first season, watched it all, loved it. I actually just got second season on Netflix, so...cool.

Anyway, Ally has this cute ex-boyfriend named Billy. I knew I had seen him somewhere before, so I went to my trusty friend, IMDb, and searched Gil Bellows. Turns out that he was Tommy in The Shawshank Redemption! I thought that was crazy cool since I love that movie, love his character, and that movie is currently #1 on the IMDb Top 250. After I found that out, I became very invested in Billy, even though he wasn't on it back when I watched all those years ago.

My piqued interest in Billy made something glaringly obvious to me. He is Andy Trudeau. For those of you who didn't have a crazy obsession with the early seasons of Charmed, Andy Trudeau was a detective who sometimes dated Prue in first season. I have come up with a list of all of the ways that Andy and Billy are exactly the same person. Even though they really have different looks.

• The History: Both Billy and Andy dated the main characters on their shows from the times they were young children. First kisses, first sex, first everything. I think they met around the time they were like 4. You could make the same argument for Cory and Topanga, but I swear it's different.
• The Name: A lot of boys use the cutesy ending with a y names when they are younger, but give them up around puberty. I went to elementary school with boys named Robbie, Joey, Teddy, etc, but around high school, they became Rob, Joe, Ted. All those older versions of their names. It makes sense that Ally and Prue would call Billy and Andy by their cutesy names, but they aren't the only ones. Everyone calls them Billy and Andy. No Bills or Andrews.
• The Unrequited Love: Ally and Billy broke up because he left her to go to law school in a different part of the country. Prue and Andy broke up because they left for college and it just made sense. When their paths crossed again about 10 years later (this applies to both plotlines), the feelings flared up again. Prue and Andy tried a relationship, but it didn't seem to work. Ally found out that Billy was now married, so that didn't really work either. In both situations, the couples were still totally in love, but unable to be together.
• The Friendship: Because the couple doesn't really work, both sets decide to forge a meaningful friendship. They rely on each other for guidance, support, and companionship. Sometimes the whole romance thing arises again, but they try to suppress it.
• The Untimely Death: Okay, so since I only just started second season of Ally McBeal, Billy is still alive and well, but he wasn't around during my Robert Downey Jr. days, so I know he didn't turn out well. Somehow I found out that he dies around the end of second or third season. Not exactly sure how. I do know how Andy died though. Season 1 finale- Andy died over and over again and Prue could do nothing to stop it. The deaths leave both women free to fall in love with new romantic prospects, without giving them the Mr. Big Problem, yet leave them heartbroken because their first, and maybe ultimate loves are gone.

Now seriously, tell me that those are not the same two characters. Now I know that Billy has a good sense of humor and Andy seems like he has a wedgie, but that's understandable considering their perspective women (Ally is a nutjob and Prue is sort of mean and always serious). But despite the personality differences, both men serve the shows the exact same purpose. To show that the women are capable of true love.

The 90s really did wonders for tv.

Babysitter Kit

A few weeks ago, I mentioned reading the Karen books and Sweet Valley Kids when I was younger. I never really got into their older counterparts; Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High, but I was always interested in the characters, so I read them sporadically (trivia, where did I learn that word?). The Babysitters Club books focused on Karen's step-sister, Kristy, and her friends. They were all members of a club that provided high-quality babysitters for the local families.

Now I'm living at home and trying to make money, so I'm trying to mimic those fab little babysitters and provide the same high-quality service that they did. Starting with the babysitter kit. Claudia, Dawn, Kristy, MaryAnn, Stacy, and whoever else used to put together little kits with crafts, games, snacks, and lots of other fun things to use when they babysat. It seemed to work, so I stole their idea. I now pack bags with Candy Land, puzzles, cookies, and my favorite PG movies to bring on my babysitting gigs. And it's totally working. Score, best babysitter ever! Thanks Babysitters Club!

It's Here!

In my last post I said that my Greekap would be coming very soon. I guess very soon meant two weeks this time, because two weeks after the season finale of Greek, the Greekap has arrived!

I guess it's pretty crucial to mention the amazingness of the previous episode, when Cappie told Casey that he wants to be with her and they kissed and will be together forever, yay!

But this is really about the finale episode. A lot happened, so I'm going to ignore all of the boring Rusty, sciencey stuff. This time, it's all about Cappie and Casey, Songfest, and the Omega Chi/Kappa Tau rivalry. Oh yeah, and I took notes during the episode, to make sure I captured all the best lines.

Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. So Casey was in bed with Cappie, very reminiscent of the last time they slept together, in the pilot episode. She was all sneakily climbing out of his bed and pulling her pants on. But then he woke up and they cuddled and it was too adorable to even explain. Unfortunately, the whole scene, all I could think about was the inevitable morning breath that they both must have. Neither seemed to mind, but it plagued my mind.

Instead of complaining about morning breath though, they complained about telling people about their fab new/old relationship. They have to hide it of course, until they tell Evan about them. Casey kept it a secret from Ashleigh by saying that the reason for her hanger in the mouth smile was because she was thinking about the rise and fall of Mischa Barton. I'm not entirely sure she was lying.

Ashleigh finds out in the next scene, when the girls are all practicing for some dance. Ashleigh is singing some song I don't know, but she is amazing. Note Kelsey from High School Musical in the background. Is she a legit character now? Stupid Beth starts yelling at the girls for doing the dance wrong, which makes me laugh a lot, because she is so stupid and nice. Then Casey tells Ashleigh, who is weirdly unconcerned by the fact that this epic romance is in full force. She only cares about the dance, which is cool and all, but care about your best friend too! I mean, she announces it to the whole house, but other than that, doesn't have the reaction I expected.

Oh also, since all the ZBZs and the Kappa Taus now all know (Casey and Cappie accidentally made out in front of the KTs), it's time to tell Evvypoo. Cappie is beyond awkward and Evan thinks Cappie is firing him or something. Because seriously, nothing he says is making any sense. He actually responds to Evan asking about getting fired with, "let's think of this as bringing another member into our team." Um, what? Yeah. He then equates the three of them (Cappie, Casey, and Evan) to Harry Potter, "and the other two." Which I gotta say, pisses me off a little. Cappie would totally be a Harry Potter junkie. RON AND HERMIONE. Duhhh.

Calvin and his douchey bf have a little tiff about Evan. I seriously want Calvin to get rid of that turd, Grant. He is cute, but I cannot stand him anymore.

Switch to the KT house, where a banner splaying "Bong Voyage Heath" is on display. Ha. Now I know I said I wouldn't mention the boring Rusty stuff, but I really liked when Cappie said that Dale didn't mention anything about the Rusty/Dale problems ay Krav Maga. They're friendship kills me. I mean, picture Cappie and Dale doing Krav Maga right now. If you watch this show and know who Cappie and Dale are.

Then the crickets come. It's gross. I want to throw up a little. Omega Chis dumped all these crickets into the KT house. Apparently Beaver hates crickets, "ever since Pinocchio. They're too bossy." I gotta agree with Beaver. Jiminy is a bossy one. Cappie isn't loving the crickets either. He tells Evan that they are in every crack of the house. Then cricket squeak, butt crack slap, "see."

The next notable, and potentially greatest part of the episode comes after Courtney from Dorm-lIfe tells the ZBZs that they can't use Beth's routine. They don't know what to do, blah blah blah, when annoying Abby (Kelsey from HSM) pops up and announces that she can help, because she choreographed three of her high school musicals. One was their senior year. Now I love that she mentioned this, so I don't want to nitpick, but... Ryan choreographed. Kelsey composed. Okay whoosh, got that off my chest. Casey took the joke a little too far by saying "we're all in this together," come on, we all got the reference. She even said the movie title. But I still liked the recognition. It was very OC, which they have done before with Kostos, Frasier, and Cameron from Ferris Bueller. Much appreciated.

So Kelsey choreographs this awesome dance to "Good Girls Gone Bad", even though Blair isn't on this show to sing it. She is actually on another show in this time slot. Uh oh. Instead Ashleigh sings it and she is great. Casey is acually an awesome dancer. I though Ashleigh was bsing when she said Casey was one of the best in the house, but it's true. Cappie cheered for her the whole time, which I loved.

Then the KT/OX prank. Omega Chis back out. I'm as crushed as that golf cart. My dear Wade got expelled! I never really knew Ferret, so I don't care about him, and Jeremy was just a weirdo, but Wade?! So Cappie and Evan end the friendship. Cappie is super sad, because he "lost four of his best friends today," but he has Casey to lean on. And because of the weird sorority rules involving boys, Casey has to sleep over at the KT house. For some reason, she has no qualms about the crickets.

Just a Moment

Greekap coming very soon!