Can I love television without being obsessed?

I just wrote out a laborious post about watching "As Time Goes By" this weekend (British TV series with Judi Dench about a middle-age couple falling in love) and being somewhat ashamed about it. After further reflection, I realized I wasn't ashamed at all, and I truly love that show, and I can't wait until next weekend when I have some time to finish watching all of it. So there. Thanks Mom, for introducing me to the greatness that is British humour. Yes, I spelled that with a 'u'. Yes, I've been thinking in "British-speak" to myself for the past two days. And yes, schemes have crossed my mind as to how I could move to London and develop an English accent, even though I've lived in America for the first 20 years of my life.

This leads to another thought I've had recently. I don't feel like I watch that much TV. I watch "30 Rock" regularly, but that's about it. I've been watching earlier seasons of "Scrubs", but have kind of fallen off that bandwagon. And now I've watched 7.5 of 9 seasons of "As Time Goes By" this weekend, but that's about it. Not to say I don't just veg out sometimes, watch a lot of HGTV and "Mythbusters", occasional sporting events, but I always categorized "heavy" TV watchers as someone with two or more shows that they would die before missing on Thursday night, or whenever. Oh, can't forget that my guilty pleasure is Rob Dyrdek's "Fantasy Factory" but it's not in season right now. Again though, in my defense, I watch those online a few days later, it doesn't really dictate my life.

Despite all of that, in everyday conversation, I bring up TV often enough to make me look like a couch potato. Perhaps I just relate things in life to abstract sources really well? Perhaps I like the shows I do because they relate so much to real life? (I really don't believe that one...) I personally think it's because I only tolerate TV I find funny or genuinely interesting (so I'm not sure why I watch HGTV...subconsciously want to be a designer? I'm not sure) and you can always inject funny or interesting comments into conversation. Or so I thought. The more it happens, the more I realize how silly it makes me sound. It's like talking about Facebook in real life, something that has become fairly common place, but I still try to hide it by saying "Someone emailed me" instead of "Someone wrote on my wall/sent me a message". Perhaps it's not as taboo as I think it is, but it's always true that it's never as funny during the second retelling. "Mythbusters" came in handy in my physics class actually, we were discussing pressure so after class I emailed my teacher a link to the episode where a scuba diver's air line gets cut and his whole body is compounded into his helmet because of the water pressure. Great stuff.

All in all, I'm not really sure. I've been making a conscience effort to not talk about TV too much, and an even harder effort to not let it become any sort of importance in my life, but what can I say? I've always been a big fan of music playing in the background, hilarious set-ups, and wrapping up problems in 22 minutes.

A shadow of the older me

I feel like the subject of my post is a) usually a rant from women older than myself, so I hope this doesn't exasperate anyone and b) is written at 9:30pm on a Friday night, so yeah, I guess I am behaving like 20 going on 45, but whatever.

I'm in the double digits now, of cashiers that call me "ma'm". Really, folks, really? This doesn't bother me, I'm not offended, just confused. This wouldn't even warrant a post if it were in regular places, like Best Buy, or the grocery store. In fact, I'm sure I've been called "ma'm" at those places many times, but that's just polite customer service, so it isn't even memorable. No, what really puzzles me is that I am called "ma'm" at the BYU Cougareat (pronouned: cougar-eat).

For those that don't know, the Cougareat is the small collection of fast food places that have set up shop in the student center on campus. There's a particular favorite of mine if I had to skip lunch and feel like a large dinner and am stuck on campus, called Tomassitos. It pretends to be Italian, about as much as the Olive Garden, but it's filling, as cheap (expensive) as every other place, so why the heck not. Plus, I can get broccoli there, so I feel a little bit better about the whole experience. Not to mention, they are one of two places that have Fresca at their fountain drink machine, which also makes me feel better about myself...I know, I'm sick.

So what's wrong with calling me "ma'm" at the Cougareat? All cashiers at the Cougareat are students, i.e. the same general age group as myself, and I'm pretty sure they are aware that 95% of their clientèle is students. There are non-student (i.e. adult) workers in the Cougareat, but they are managers, that aren't dishing me up and charging my card. I mention Tomassitos because they are the greatest perpetrators of this "ma'm" business. I don't think it's ever happened at Taco Bell, probably never at the burger place, maybe once or twice at the wrap place, probably never at Subway, and those are pretty much the only places I eat there.

As I write this out, perhaps this is a distinction of classier eateries within the Cougareat. Perhaps these cashiers are trained specifically, "we're classier than Taco Bell and Subway, so you better call all polite customers ma'm!" Which also makes sense in relation to the wrap place because they're classier than Taco Bell and Subway too. That leads to the conundrum, can you call anywhere in the Cougareat classy? Probably not, but I've lost sight of those true standards, dining on mainly fast food for the past three years. And really, the wrap place is the classiest (whatever that means) and they call me "ma'm" less than Tomassitos. Maybe they're trying to appeal to a younger crowd because wraps are hip now...I have no idea, I'm getting lost in a world of Cougareat classification theory.

Anyway, to wrap this up (bah!), Tomassitos, what the hay? I'm 20 years old, and am probably younger than all of your employees, really.

Sincerely,

Puzzled in Provo

Freedoooooom, freedooooom, FREEDOOOOOOM!

Note: The subject of this post must be sung.

Well, while watching "Step Up" for the second time (in a row) in my empty apartment, I figure I could write a little diddly on here. The thought that came to me as I began was obviously about my freedom for the past two weeks, being with family and most importantly, not school. ...No offense to my family...that came out calloused.

To celebrate my freedom last week, I laid around with my family and it was fantastic. Not much sleeping in, but since every day was so leisurely, that was flexible. This week, I have to holla fo' a dolla and came back to go to work Monday through Wednesday. But, after 5 pm every day, I'm essentially still free. I've chosen to indulge in movie watching, TV watching, and guitar playing, but this freedom is a little lackluster compared to last weeks. It's becoming apparent that freedom is not as poignant unless there are at least two (hopefully more) appreciating it in the same vicinity. Unfortunately, it appears that I am the only person in Provo, at least my apartment complex (that is literally true).

Now how to prove that this post wasn't really written in depression, just boredom...Ah ha!




I can't be the only one who laughs out loud at this picture.

Whoa ho, you're getting spoiled

Two posts, in such (relatively) quick succession? I must be bored! The following thoughts occurred to me, after I analyzed my repetitious behavior for the past week or so.

I am addicted to chocolate milk. Thankfully not the Hershey's syrup, or else I'm sure I'd be a whale, but the Nesquik variety. I inherited three large plastic cups from my last place of residence, and come home every night to do the same thing. Fill one large plastic cup to the brim with milk, then pour in 3 heaping tablespoons of Nesquik powder, stir vigorously, and down in about a minute and thirty seconds. What can I say? This led me to think of other addicting behaviors I have.

I am addicted to 30 Rock, on NBC. More specifically, I'm addicted to Tina Fey. There isn't much to say about this. I've never been one to sit down and watch a show when it airs, I usually go back and catch up online. Even more, I've never really been one to watch an entire season (let alone multiple seasons) of a TV show. 30 Rock is the exception to the second rule (very little supersedes the first). It's just hilarious, and Tina Fey is hilarious, and that's all there is to it.

Those were really the first two thoughts that came to mind. Of course I'm addicted to the internet in general, Twitter and Facebook specifically, but I figure that's pretty much applicable to anyone in America now, so...All in all, a boring post, but I just had to share my love of chocolate milk, and do some more advertising for 30 Rock. Cheers!

I haven't started my paper due tomorrow

I've fallen to the wayside of all other single, twenty-something bloggers I know, by never posting on this, and I apologize. In my defense, this has been a ridiculous semester, but alas, I know that won't satisfy my word hungry readers. In other news, I have been officially accepted to study abroad in Nanjing, China in Spring 2010, and pending financial and academic roadblocks, I'm very excited to attend. I'll keep you posted.

Some of you might have heard of the internet sensation, a project called PostSecret. I believe I've mentioned it in a previous post on here, but they recently came out with a viral video (the first they've ever done) as seen at this link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=190260477694&ref=mf

I'm not going to lie to you, this video made me cry. I suppose that's a small secret of my own (or one of them) to share with all of you. Not blubbering all the way through it, just when it got serious towards the middle/end. There's nothing I love more than this idea, that we're all connected, that we're all more similar than we are different, that if you sit down and talk to someone and genuinely listen, you'll probably hear a lot of yourself in their voice. Am I very good at this? No, as a matter of fact, I'm terrible at meeting new people. But, I do love to do it, I think I've just forgotten how. Isn't that why we're so scared to branch out? Because we're worried we won't be accepted, we won't be like them enough to be considered a friend? Maybe I'm shooting into the dark, but when I think about it, those are some of my anxieties. Why worry about trying to meet new people if nothing will come of it?

I'm not sure I really have an answer, because for all of my e-preaching, like I said, I'm at square one. I started this post intending to resolve this all to some action related answer, but the more I think about it, the more I can't decide what to write. I suppose every day I'll just start with a goal to be more open, with one person in my life, to foster a stronger relationship and mutual trust. Who knows, maybe that one person in my life is someone I'm sitting next to in a lab, or my coworker, or my neighbor. Because really, we're all connected.

Adventure! Intrigue! Get it today for the low price of $99.99!

I had to think of a catchy title to entice my readers to forgive my prolonged absence and pick their way across my disheveled thoughts. In my defense, I hate school, so I spend a lot of time procrastinating but trying to really start doing schoolwork, then the rest of my time actually doing schoolwork, working furiously before the deadline. But I digress, alas the real reason for this post.

I have a scheme, that this spring, I will learn about globalization in the engineering and technology field, in Nanjing, China. This application process required obtaining a passport which I had never obtained before. It seems to me that the majority of the populous runs a lot of errands on Saturdays, but apparently not enough of the populous does to make the post office passport services stay open for longer than two hours of the day. Regardless, a mailing of a birth certificate, photos taken, two weeks of waiting, and one Saturday line later, I have this little puppy. I didn't think much of it, but I got it in the mail today and now that this little scheme is tangible, I can't help but be a little excited. And, in reality, I probably won't get enough money to go, but now I have a passport, so that's pretty cool, right?

Dusting off the keyboard

When you feel the need to post, but have nothing profound to say, what do you write? This post will be a smörgåsbord of happy things, because who couldn't do with a little more happy in their life?

1) I just watched one of my favorite movies for the umpteenth, "Chocolat". Nope, didn't forget the 'e', it's the title of a book, by Joann Harris (which I have yet to read) made into a movie, starring Alfred Molina, Judi Dench, and Juliette Binoche. I won't bore you with the details, I will be content to say that you should rent it, that it is a feel good movie, that there is one naughty scene, no questionable language, and it's a chick flick in a very subtle sort of way. Why bring it up? For the sermon in the last five minutes of the movie, from the village's greenhorn priest, on Easter Sunday.

"I'm not sure what the theme of my homily today ought to be. Do I want to speak of the miracle of our Lord's divine transformation? Not really, no. I don't want to talk about His divinity. I'd rather talk about His humanity. I mean, you know, how he lived his life here on Earth. His kindness. His tolerance. Listen, here's what I think. I think we can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include."

Whether you're Christian, Hindu, Atheist, or unsure, you can't deny. That is some dang good advice.

2) The happiest song I heard for the first time this week is called "Dental Care" by a band called Owl City. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Y1FLp-zlg I don't think they have a music video for it, so here's just a non-obnoxious video behind the music (a rare thing on YouTube). Lyrics, a little silly, whole song concept, a little weird, but overall, a happy go lucky kind of song. When you sing about having a smile on your face, you know it's happy times. Just spreadin' the love!

3) I've started a project. I suppose it should have a title, like a proper project, but instead I'll just explain the details. I've noticed one of the best feelings, universal to the few folks I've talked to, is when a stranger gives a sincere compliment on something about you. Whether, your outfit, your hair, or your smile, you can't help but feel better, even if you were already feeling good. Then comes the kicker: if the compliment comes and you were having a bad day. Your day just 180'd, am I right? In the spirit of "paying it forward", I've tried to give at least one stranger a compliment, everyday. Most of them, probably think I'm weird, but who knows, maybe one person really appreciates it, maybe I just 180'd somebody. It's easier for me, I'm on campus, around strangers everyday. Then again, why does it have to be a stranger? Point is, random compliments can go a long way, give it a shot.

4) Sometimes these are sad, but sometimes these are ridiculously inspiring. Makesmethink.com brightens my day, give it shot!