Bootcamp: Day 12 (End of Week 3)*

Three weeks down, three more to go!

I definitely felt something click between yesterday and today. I've certainly got a way to go, but I walked out of that gym today and finally didn't feel completely brain dead.

Not that the workout didn't destroy me.

While stretching at the beginning of the class, I spied this poor soul/overachiever doing the dreaded bear crawl with a tire on her butt. I figured either she had done something really terrible (like get water when it wasn't time for a water break) or the Drill Instructors were feeling creative. Attempting to avert this horrid fate, I desperately tried to cajole a group of ladies to hide all the tires with me.

No takers. Probably a good thing. I'm sure the guys would have noticed.

Class began as usual, running laps around the gym, stretching, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, star jumpers and push-ups. We did like ten billion of each. Seriously.

Then on to the obstacles. Hurdles to the walls back to the hurdles. That's about 24 hurdles and 3 walls of different heights. Then partner sit-ups-- feet in a tire, passing a weight bar back and forth between us. 100. My partner and I decided if we could get to 50, we would take a tiny break. On like #47, I notice that Alex, one of the instructors, is standing over us.

"Ok, let's get to 60."

60 rolls up. He's still there.

75.

Still there. Fuck.

85.

Not moving. Doesn't he have anyplace else to be?!

Finally we just suck it up and bang 'em out. Better to just get through it than to get caught stopping and have to start from the beginning. Yeah, sometimes I try to cheat. Sue me.

But once I saw the next trick, I thought it might just be easier to do 500 sit-ups!

Ever heard of a "walking push-up"? Yeah, me neither. I think they made this one us just to watch my face contort in severe confusion.

Standing straight up, you bend forward and touch your toes, walk your hands out to a push-up position, do a push-up, walk your hands back, touch your toes, repeat. No standing up. We did them with partners, and while one of us performed this hellish treat, the other ran laps around the gym. When it was my turn to run, I could have sworn I was sprinting, yet one of the two guys in the class kept passing me. Legs like lead, I tell you. But it takes a while to complete a set of twenty hell push-ups, so I figured I was in no rush. We did three sets like that. Ouch.

Then on to the bear crawl. I think this is the unanimous Least Favorite Exercise. Again with a partner, one doing the bear crawl, the other doing a squat thrust and jumping up on a 24" box in between each. I was first up on the bear crawl, and by the time I completed my second lap it was time to hit the Rock Wall to finish with Group Sit-Ups.

And thus ends Week 3. Tomorrow, sleeping late is no longer just a dream!

*All apologies for the late post. It is nearly impossible to find WiFi in Manhattan. Can you believe it? I had to go to a BAR, no less, and am soothing my nerves with an I-Don't-Have-To-Wake-Up-In-The-Morning Glass of Wine.

Bootcamp: Day 11

Today left me nearly brain dead, so I'll keep this brief.

Pull-ups. Never done one in my life. We did them with a partner, thankfully. I grabbed the bar and "rested" my feet on my partner's legs. By "rested" I mean "stood on". Three sets of ten with a lap around the gym in between.

That was toward the end of the hour. For the bulk of the time, the boys had us competing with ourselves: how many squat-thrusts can you do in 1 minute (28), how many push-ups (a measly 15), laps around the gym (nearly 4!) and so on. And of course, my favorites: tire squat/presses, lunges with a weight bar and the bear crawl. I so wish that bears had evolved to walk upright because I Hate The Bear Crawl.

I woke up exhausted today, even though I was in bed by 10pm, so it really nearly killed me. Like to the point where when we had a water break, I didn't want anything but air and standing-stillness.

There were two girls today who were on their last day. I wondered how it was that I passed one of them on our timed run. Sheesh, if it was my last day I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry either!

Bootcamp: Day 10

I'm posting this on the later side today because it's Tuesday. And Tuesday is Abs Day. And Abs Day kills me.

Seriously, I hope that in the next few weeks I can get a grip on the Monkey Bars, but if I can get through one of these monstrous-destructo Ab Workouts, it'll be a huge achievement.

The fact that I did not look like this lady to the left by 8:30 this morning baffles me.

I've realized the one thing that sets this apart from other workouts. I've worked out with a Personal Trainer in the past. One on One. But the Instructors at Boot Camp do not let up! My trainer at my old gym was a pretty serious dude with biceps bigger than my thighs, but compared to these guys he was a soft and fuzzy lamb. Compared to the workout at Boot Camp, my workouts with my trainer were more like brunch on Sundays.

Just when you think you're gonna get a break in between sets, you're running a lap. Just when you think it's time for a glug of water, you're doing one billion squat thrusts. And don't get me started on the tires. Oh, those damned tires!

My favorite quote of the day, during the Ab Death Series:

"REED! You don't look like you're in enough pain. You're must not be lifting high enough!!!"

The funny part is that I thought I was lifting my whole entire body off the ground. I was shocked, yes shocked to learn that I was not.

The same way I was shocked when I looked in the mirror when I got home and didn't look like the muscle lady in the photo!

Bootcamp: Day 9

Monday is Boxing Day!

No, it's not December 26th in England. Today at the Boot Camp, we put on gloves and punched each other silly!

Punching, jabbing, gut-kneeing all interspersed with running laps around the gym. And all that interspersed with the usual battery of squat-thrusts, star jumpers and push-ups. I punched while my partner held the padding. I thought when we switched and it was my turn to hold the padding it would be like a little break.

I was wrong. My partner, Horrigan (whose first name I still don't know after two weeks-- they call us all by our last name), is really friggin' strong.

Speaking of strong, my friend Sari is back after her injury. I figured oh, great, we can like chat and run at the same pace or what-have-you.

Again, I was wrong. She was partnered with the Best Girl in the Class. And she totally kept up with her! Sari is the friend of mine who mistakenly thought I was "athletic" going into this. Turns out, she's like Captain of the Boot Camp Squad. Even after an injured week off. It's a good thing I'm too afraid to be competitive or I'd totally throw down a challenge. (Sari- I seriously DO NOT feel competitive-- you run fast as you want and I'll catch up to you later!)

Thus begins Week 3.

Actually, Week 3 began for me with a very strange dream where I, in the dream, was sleeping and woke up (in the dream) panicked that I had slept through Boot Camp. Sure enough, it was 7:20 (in the dream). I shot out of bed, searched for my phone and my shirt on which the phone number is printed. I called the receptionist, explained myself and asked if it would be ok for me to do Tuesday-Friday this week. She said that would be fine, and I happily went back to bed and slept until ten.

Next thing I know, my alarm sounds off (for real). 6:16am. Damn. And off to Boot Camp I went.

Now on StoryBoard: Henry

My partner Eric produced a great story from his pal David Fraiberg that is now up on StoryBoard.

If you've ever had any sort of clash with the evils of Corporate Consumer Culture, this might warm your cold, jaded heart.

And we're still looking for submissions, so email us with your stories!

Angst & Burlesque

I went to go check out my good friend The Bitter Poet last night at his show with the awesome Howling Vic (aka The Beautiful Downtown Performance Artist) at Dixon Place.

Seriously, it's some of the most fun you can have in under an hour. If you check out the Bitter Poet's MySpace Page, you can get an idea of some of his, well, bitter poetry. But nothing compares to this live show which mixes his very funny comedy/musical stylings with the twisted-yet-hilarious-yet-naughty burlesque striptease of Howling Vic.

They have another show at Dixon Place next Wednesday at 8. Check it out! And laugh your ass off!

Bootcamp: Day 8 (End of Week 2)

I'm in a post-workout daze and I've been home for hours. Today was a tough day. Jeez, really, every day is tough! (But the good news is: although the photo to the left here is not actually me, I have lost a notch on my belt. Baby steps. But steps!)

Today there were a lot of people in class, so we paired up for exercises. But we didn't just do the exercises two-at-a-time, oh no. While one partner did a set of squat thrust/push ups/star jumpers, the other had to do laps around the gym with a weight bar. Then switch. Two sets.

Then another set of two partner exercises involving one partner doing lunges around the gym with weight bar-infused bicep curls while the other partner did... I forget what they called it, but the name involved the word "ninja", where you start seated then roll back as if to do a back somersault, propel yourself to your feet then jump down into a squat thrust and return to the seated position. I think this one would have hurt like hell if I wasn't so focused on how confused I was doing it!

We also did a chunk of the obstacle course like seven hundred times. I find some of those things now actually fun, but doing them after blasting your muscles out is totally a challenge.

Then we ended the hour as we end every hour, 25 sit-ups at the Rock Wall, the whole class hip to hip with arms linked. It's like one last little blast of pain, but the teamwork aspect is totally encouraging.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes Week 2. Nobody call me before 10am tomorrow.

Teeny, Tiny AWESOME on Wheels!

I SO fell in love with the Smart Car when we were in Italy. And now they're here, making parking problems a woeful thing of the past!

read The Smart Car Has Arrived, via Gothamist

Bootcamp: Day 7 -- The "Oh, My Nose!" Episode

Today was the toughest day yet, seeing as I didn't get to bed until nearly midnight after seeing Fiona Shaw in Happy Days at BAM (highly recommended, more on that later).

It started with the usual bunch of warm-ups, but the boys decided to get creative today and group things together. Painful things. Together. For example, a squat-thrust followed by a lunge with each leg followed by the dreaded Star Jumper (a leap vertically into the air preceded and followed by a squat). Another awful blend was the squat-press with tires (squat with the tire overhead, then stand up pressing the tire up high). If I never see another tire again, it'll be too soon. Then a bunch of laps around the gym, pushups, mountain climbers, general chaos.

Then we broke off into groups. I was in the group that was doing squats with a weight bar. And it went horribly awry. At one point, amid a transfer of the bar from behind my head to in front of my head, I totally BIFFED myself in the nose with the bar. As soon as I realized that it wasn't that bad (no blood, thank god those things are padded!), it was pretty funny.

Maybe if I played up the pain factor, I could have gotten out of the next round of stunts, including hurdles and wall squats (back against the wall, squat as if sitting in a chair) and laps around the gym holding water canteens up in the air. Water canteens. Killed me.

And then I came home and slept the sleep of the dead until nearly noon.

If my nose doesn't instantaneously blow up tonight, tomorrow will be the end of week 2. Fingers crossed!

Bootcamp: Day 6

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means! That's right: Ab Day!

See the little man over there to the right. I bet you can do what he's doing, right? Doesn't look too hard, does it? I mean, he's basically just hanging out. Watching the game or something.

Well, do that after 100 sit ups with a 15lb bar overhead, 20 push-ups then a lap around the gym, 18 push-ups then a lap around the gym, 16 push-ups, etc. Then "bear crawl" around the gym twice (that entails walking on all fours, hands and feet-- WAY harder than it sounds-- possibly my least favorite thing to do besides monkey bars).

This little man is doing a Side Plank, which is a common exercise in Pilates and is also often done in Yoga. Today we did regular plank, with forearms on the ground, then two side planks, one to each side. It is a good exercise for your stomach, as you are really forced to hold it all in, but man-oh-man were my arms shaking!

But that's just the weakness leaving my body. Yeah, they actually say that. And mean it. If the shakiness of my arms were in direct proportion to said weakness exit, then there is a boatload of weakness floating around that place.

Hurts. To. Type. But today, unlike yesterday, the stairs at the subway were not a problem.

Small miracles.

Bootcamp: Day 5

Week 2 begins.

Since today is a holiday, there were only four of us in Bootcamp today. In most cases, individualized attention is a bonus. But here, it instilled a distinct FEAR in me. And mixed with the fact that I didn't get to bed until after 11pm (gasp!) last night, I was not a happy camper when 6:30am rolled around.

But I am happy to say that I made it!

Todays' fun included doing the whole obstacle course, obstacle by obstacle, with Fun-with-Tires in between. After each obstacle, we did 25 squats and tire presses (squat holding the tire and press it up above your head when you stand). That was probably about 150 squats, all told. I'm making progress on the obstacles-- I made it further around the Rock Wall than ever before. The Monkey Bars are still my arch-nemesis, but I'm working on it.

After all that, it was more squats and lunges, this time with a weighted bar instead of the beloved tire. Yes. The beloved tire. I'm learning to love it. Slowly.

The hour is still passing fairly quickly, thankfully, and I was surprised at how little I hurt upon my exit. That is, until I got off the subway back here in Brooklyn and tried to make it up the station stairs. All those lunges. Ouch.

Just Reviewed on NYTheatre.com: Under the Radar Festival

I saw two shows at the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival this week:

Regurgitophagy

The gimmick is set up as the show is beginning: the machine they've devised "captures responses from the audience and turns them into electric discharges into the actor's body. Please turn off your cell phones."

Michel Melamed enters, dressed in black clothes that walk an odd line between high couture and the discarded gear of some strange brethren of monks. He is instantly likeable even with the severe intensity coursing across his face. He is adorned with strange jewelry. On his wrists and ankles he wears metal clamps, onto which he attaches cables akin to those with which you would jump-start a car. These cables are attached to boxes that are attached to pulleys that run up to the grid. I looked, but couldn't quite tell if they were plugged in or not.

That was my first question: is he for real? He started speaking and the first time anyone in the audience made a peep, be it a laugh or a cough, a bare bulb upstage left lit up and Melamed twitched from the charge that supposedly surged forth into his wrists and ankles.

Read the rest of the review here.

and Disinformation:

Reggie Watts is one cool cat. The man, the voice, the Afro—a total package. Charming, funny, and compulsively watchable, he is one of the most distinctive performers to come down the pike in a while. And blending his vocals and grounded-then-out-there-then-grounded-again style of storytelling with live-mixed sound makes for a a highly entertaining evening.

In fact, my companions, avid theatergoers, said it was the best show they've seen in a while. I agreed, in that it is not like anything I've seen recently on the current New York theater scene, because it is so many things all at once.

Read the rest of the review here.

Both shows run through Sunday the 20th.

The New Thin Macbook Indimidation Machine

Will turned me on to this very funny video. But seriously, a 3 lb laptop? Awesome.

Bootcamp: Day 4 (I Survived Week One!)

Abbye 'Pudgy' Stockton
The First Lady of Iron

I did it! I made it through a week of Bootcamp and I didn't die!

I still hurt, but I feel a huge sense of accomplishment, especially considering my lack of working out over the last, um... chunk of time. My friend Sari, who is also in the class, is under the impression that I came to this game already "athletic", but unless she thinks of drinking wine as sport, she's misinformed. (love you, Sari! Hope the, um, injury is healing!)

Part of what makes this... well, I don't want to say easier because in no way is this easy, but not-entirely-hell is that the other Bootcampers are incredibly supportive and encouraging. I'm not generally a hi-fiver, but it's amazing how one little slap of the hands can pull ten more sit-ups out of me!

Today's events included 150 jumping jacks and a full run of the obstacle course. Except for totally faceplanting in the Mesh Ropey Thing From Hell, I did ok. Though monkey bars are my arch-nemesis, I'm making headway on the Rock Wall. Maybe the Rock Wall would be easier if I didn't have giant clown feet.

Then came the tires. Yep. Steel Radials. Probably weigh a good six tons each. 125 sit-ups with feet in the tire. Overhead presses with the tire (I must have done 6,000). Push-ups on the tire. These exercises were all done with a partner-- while one did that, the other was doing lunges and other kill-your-quads exercises over a 24" box with a 15lb bar on the shoulders. The "best" ones in class (the two dudes) had to do squat thrusts and press the tire above their heads each time. Luckily, I was spared from this one. I'm usually a fairly competitive person, but not here. Not. At. All.

Then it was one more time through the obstacle course. It's not easier at the end of the hour. And that's all I'll say.

Three days off. Tomorrow, I sleep in. I can't wait.

Upcoming Voiceover Work

I recorded a couple new promo gigs for HGTV this week-- for Color Splash, Divine Design and for Color Correction.

I got mildly addicted to a show called Design Star while on the plane back from our friend's wedding. The winner of the first season of Design Star is now the host of Color Splash. Wouldn't it be great if every TV show I liked hired me to do their promos?

Anyone out there in casting for The Wire? Weeds? Entourage? Lost? Heroes? Anyone? Step right up! I also would not shy away from you animation folk-- come on, Cartoon Network! Nick! Anyone?

Bootcamp: Day 3, or Christ, I Wish We Lived on the Ground Floor

Oh, it all hurts. Hurts bad. Like, the part of your ribcage near the armpit. You don't often feel that part of your body, do you? Well, for me today, it's like I have no other parts of my body. That part, we'll call it the ribpit, is screaming in pain.

And what do I do to the poor thing? Back to Boot Camp. Hurt it more.

That's right.

Let me give you a short written re-enactment of what my day was like today, 7:30am-8:30am.

Run laps. 100 jumping jacks. Run again. More jumping jacks. Then the delightful "Mountain Climbers", where you're in a push-up position with your arms while you run with your legs. Then the sweet-sounding-but-oh-so-painful "Star Jumpers", where you start in a low squat then spring into the air, hands above the head, then return to a squat.

Now. How about you take that there tire and lift it above your head 25 times while doing squats? How does that feel? You're still ok? PUSH-UPS! I almost forgot-- do ten push-ups, then a lap around the gym, then nine push-ups and a lap around the gym, then eight and so on... Wait! You're not going all the way down to the floor on those push-ups, Reed! Here. Let me help. I'll stack these three 1-inch little death blocks up-- touch your chest to those. That way you'll know when you're low enough.

Gee, thanks.

Grab a bar and a tire. Hold the bar above your head (Ow! My poor ribpits!) and squat down so your butt touches the tire on the floor. 25x. Go do some hurdles and climb the walls. Up and over. Another 25 bar/tire death squats. Still not dead yet? More hurdles then the mesh-ropey Thing of Death. Flip over the top of it. How does that feel? Good? Another round of bastard squats and hit the rock wall.

Kill. Me. Now.

Ok, so why, you ask, am I putting myself through this? Well, aside from the intense screamning pain and walking like I've been riding a horse for the last twenty years, I feel pretty great. It's sort of silly, the Phys. Ed.-ness of it all. And the yelling and being called by the last name thing. But I'm more well rested than I've been in years-- in bed by 10 to be up by 6:15am. I love walking to the subway when the sun is just barely starting to come up and nobody is on the streets (except these crazies doing all the jogging) . I love having my workout for the day done before most people are even thinking about heading to work. And... well, that's all I can come up with for now because the typing is starting to hurt the ribpits.

Day 4 tomorrow. End of Week 1. But don't let me get ahead of myself. Epsom Salts Bath NOW.

Bootcamp: Day 2

Abs Day.

Don't make me laugh. Seriously, it hurts.

And when I try to describe where it hurts, all around my stomach and ribs, my arms cramp up from the pointing and lifting.

Yeah, and don't make me inhale or exhale too deeply, because that hurts, too.

There was a new girl in class today. On my second day, I am no longer "new". I was asked (ordered/told I would) demonstrate the Squat Thrust for her.

I managed that ok, and 23 more to go with it in a minute. He gave us a minute to do as many as we could and then we all had to yell out, individually, how many we did. 23, not counting my shining example. Not bad, I thought, for this sore girl on Day 2.

The toughest girl in the class did 38. That's less than 2 seconds per squat thrust. I asked her yesterday when she started.

Her reply?

May.

Eight months she's been doing this! I don't know right now if I've got more than these six weeks in me. Hell, it was really hard to get out of bed today! But, on this steady diet of oatmeal and ibuprofen, I think I can make it.

At least I hope so...

Today I also met Lauren, the owner/creator of PPBC. She ran our abs workout. She is really nice, but No Joke. If you looked at any of the videos on their website, she's the lady with the abs to die for. So I'm inclined to do whatever the hell she says with regard to these exercises.

She told us to ask her if we had any questions at the end of the hour. I told her I got a cramp in my hip during a certain exercise. She said that I needed to build up strength in that area and that I could do that by doing this series of abdominal exercises every day after class.

Right. Tack exercises onto the end of class. Ooof. I've had a tough time these past two days even just walking to the train at the end of class, so ... well, hell.

Bootcamp: Day 1

This is the first time I've written here about my new workout regime, mainly because I wasn't entirely sure it wouldn't kill me.

But I am proud to say that I survived my first day at Pure Power Boot Camp.

What is it?

The setup comes straight from the U.S. Marine Basic Training. And it kicked my ass.

Why on earth would I want to do this?

A couple of friends did it and didn't die. My friend Sari is actually still in the class and was there with me today. At one point during our laps around the room, she asked "What made you do this?"

"Fany's triceps" I replied.

Fany had some impressive triceps when she finished the six-week series, and I'm shooting for the same. Sari also looked pretty jacked, a word I would have never used to describe her pre-bootcamp.

But it is no joke. I went in at 730 and by the time I got home around 9 all I could do was pop some ibuprofen, chow a little oatmeal and go back to bed.

When was the last time you did squat thrusts? Well, I did about 25 of them today while most of you were still sleeping.

Also on today's menu were push-ups (they let girls do the girly ones in the beginning), running, more push-ups, about 200 jumping jacks, squats, sit-ups (the all-the-way-up kind) and the obstacle course which includes hurdles, wall climbs (hoist yourself up and over walls of different heights, up to 6'), rope climb, monkey bars, the bear crawl, a rock wall and some rope mesh climby thing I'm convinced was created in the center of Hell itself. The people who have been there longer did some boxing/sparring thing, but I was still being tested on the obstacle course.

It's hard. Really hard. Makes me realize I should have paid more attention in elementary school gym class. No joke.

I'll be back tomorrow. Apparently Tuesday is "Ab Day".

Introducing: StoryBoard

StoryBoard is a new venture, spearheaded by myself and my dear friend Eric Winick. We found that we both share a deep love for the style of storytelling you hear on This American Life or Radiolab and the smooth-yet-in-depth interview stylings by Terry Gross of Fresh Air.

In other words, I found as big an NPR nerd as myself and we've decided to join forces to bring to you the very best stories we can find. We've cast our net to friends and family and are in the midst of sifting through proposals. In case "friends and family" includes you but you did not receive the email, fret not. I've pasted the text here for you.

Dear Friends:

In order to indulge our near-obsessive love of public radio and desire to fill the universe with the best stories out there, we are announcing the formation of a new online venture: Storyboard.

Having educated ourselves in the ways of digital audio recording and digital sound editing, we are looking for a few good stories to edit into listener-friendly podcasts or streaming audio, and then to post them for public consumption on a new website.

What does this require? Why, your participation, of course.

What does my participation require? Your willingness to tell a story, of course.

How does it work? For starters, decide if you have a story about something that happened to you that changed your outlook on... something. Yourself, your life, your career, your political views, whatever. The story should be about a person, place, or event that had an impact on you. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It can be funny, heartbreaking, or just fascinating. The more personal, the better. Preferably it should take somewhere between 5-15 minutes to tell. And it goes without saying that you need to be willing to share this story with the world. Because once we commit it to "tape," it will be out there for all to hear. Though we would prefer to identify all storytellers by their actual names, you may choose to have your piece credited to an assumed name.

Sound interesting? Here are the next steps.

• Email info@storyboardaudio.com. Send us a summary of your story in 1-3 paragraphs. It doesn't have to be well-written -- just give us a sense of the story's content and structure. What is its beginning, middle, and end?

• One of us will respond to you. We will say one of the following: (a) Yes, let's set up a time to record that. (b) It might be a great story, we just need a little more information before we can make a decision (it may be too long or short, or missing certain elements) (c) In our subjective opinion, we don't think it's right for this project (i.e. it's just not the right piece for this venue).

• If your story is selected and recorded, it will be featured on the main page of StoryBoard, then eventually moved to the archives. We'll also give you a CD and a link to the story's home in our archives.

Want to hear a sample of what we're planning? Check out StoryBoardAudio.com to hear our inaugural story, a piece Eric recorded a couple years ago, a hilarious and terrifying story of poor college students crashing a high-end party, with disastrous results. (P.S. Not all stories have to feature celebrities)

So that's it. StoryBoard in a nutshell. We are excited about this project and hope you'll share your stories with us. Or ask us questions. Have a friend or friends you think might groove on the idea? Feel free to forward this e-mail to her/him/them.

Yours in auditory solidarity,

Robin Reed and Eric Winick

So. There it is. If you've got a story that you'd like to tell on StoryBoard, please get in touch!

The End of an Era (R.I.P. 273)

Back on New Year's Eve, we finally moved everything out of the apartment on East 3rd Street, my first and longest home in New York City, where I lived for over eight years.

It was all at once sad and a relief. I live now in a place where there is light from every window (on 3rd St, the windows in the living room, dining room and kitchen all faced a brick wall which stood about 18" away), and the noise from the street below is now mainly from children playing and not from crackheads doing whatever it is crackheads do on the street.

Here are some action shots from the Official Moving Day. Sadly, we had no takers for the Red Velvet Extravaganza, so I guess the crackheads had this luxurious boudoir on which to do their business for a while...

(l to r) Eric Cyphers, Carrie Haugh and me, lounging curbside

Carrie gets very excited about these sorts of things...


Roomie Matt popping open a bottle of celebration (What I wouldn't do for appliances that clean!),


and pouring some for Carrie. That apartment always looked so nice in pictures!

Will also has a post about this.

I Wish I'd Written This Song Myself!

I'd never heard of Katy Perry until I stumbled upon this post from the Ephemerist today, but on first listen of "Ur So Gay", I feel like she's the sister I never had.

Catchy tune, hilarious-but-sad-but-true in that we've-been-there-or-know-someone-who-has lyrics way. But all that aside, she's got a great voice and sweet-ass rhythm. And the incorporation of horns as what sound like Atari 2600 SFX is always a crowd pleaser from where I stand.

(from Popwatch via the Ephemerist)

Priorities, Volume 2, or A Gift for the Feminist Who Has Everything

I don't think I need to comment.

(viaPopgadget -- yes, a blog about tech gadgets for women. Eeesh.)

Priorities

Caucus, Schmaucus. What about Britney?! She may be at the final stages of her freefall! Check out this stellar up-to-the-minute reporting from Fox News!

Elect the damned president already, we've got more important things to worry about.

Hunting the Elusive North American Wii

As I mentioned, Will got Guitar Hero for xmas. Apparently, this was a big gift this season-- it's a monstrously fun game, and it sold out FAST.

Only snag is that we STILL don't have a Wii on which to Rock!

Will just texted me from the monster line at the Nintendo Store near Rockefeller Center saying that there was a monster line. (this text came at 9:49 am, 49 minutes after the store opened and probably four hours after the line for Wii started forming)

When we were in Binghamton just after xmas, we popped into Target and Circuit City just to see if maybe they got shipments in. It's funny, sort of putting your future into the hands of the pimply, 16-year-old suburbanite techno-geeks that work at these stores. The joy that seems to take them over when they tell you 'no' and sneer at you for even thinking it possible is palpable. The same goes for the guy at the Toys-R-Us in Elizabeth NJ who just fielded my phone call. Dick.

So here we are, over a week post-holiday, Wii-less. I told Will maybe he should just stay at the store and start the line for tomorrow.

Catching up on the Caucuses

Just watching the speeches from the caucuses I slept through last night. Obama is a great speaker-- always gives me some level of goosebump. Exciting to see someone who at the very least changes his tone, unlike Stutter McSpecialEd.

As much as Obama is mesmerizing in his speak, I just don't feel like I'm able to get roused about talk of Hope and Destiny and fighting for the American Dream. Yet. It would be lovely to get to a point where that feels like more than jibber-jabber, but right now this country is not a dreamland.

But then there's Mike Huckabee. Scary, especially with the pearly whites of Chuck Norris beaming out from behind him. Scary, with his hypnotic near-monotone and sad, unfunny jokes. Not quite as scary as Romney. Since when did half of our country become so enchanted by these guys that come off like game show hosts? All I can say is that I had long since moved from Massachusetts by the time Mr. Romney became governor. What? No Kennedys were of age during that election? Eeesh.

Ok, so before I go too far into talking politics (which my days of bartending taught me never to do in mixed company, what with all the fighting that ensues), I'll go start my day.

Piano lessons. Now that's dreamy.

I Forgot One!

We also watched The King of Kong yesterday. Now I may be biased because I date a compu-nerd (love you, Will!), but this was a damned good movie!

If you didn't catch it in the theaters, it's a documentary about the fight for the world record top score in Donkey Kong. It was a little bit like watching middle school lunchroom politics, replete with the most amazing man-mullet EVER, but you can never get enough of that, right?

New Year's Day = Catch Up on Movies & TV

The Jews celebrate Christmas with movies and Chinese Food. This gentile saves that fun for the First Day of the Year.

Yesterday Will and I watched I Am Legend (I really like Will Smith, and he carries basically the whole film in what may be the longest monologue ever), The Simpsons Movie (oh, they're just so good-- note to self: get more animation work!) and Eastern Promises (Viggo Mortensen is just phenomenal as a Russian Mobster/Spy in London-- gory, gory but great) together. I also finally got down to seeing what all the buzz is about Quarterlife (definitely got the My So Called Life angst vibe, but in bite-sized internet TV chunks) and somehow got sucked into the madness that is Vh1's Celebrity Rehab (I definitely lost IQ points for that one, but I thoroughly enjoy Dr. Drew-- listened to LoveLine, his radio show with Adam Carolla religiously in college).

I also started on my quest to learn how to play the piano. Will is learning to play his guitar. Who knows? Maybe we'll start a little Partridge Family-style thing... Can't you just imagine Will and me in matching outfits?

As I said, BIG PLANS for 2008!