I am the Biggest Loser

Today really feels like a Thursday. It's unfair that it's only Wednesday. I feel like Angela Chase in "My So Called Life" right now. Mainly because Buffalo Tom just came on my iTunes and I am feeling a little melancholy and contemplative. And when was Angela anything but? She was forever resting her head in hands, looking off into the distance and sighing. Oh, Angela!

In morning gym news, I tried my luck with Bravo's random AM programming again. This time I got some weird special version of "The Biggest Loser." It's kind of funny watching a show like "The Biggest Loser" when you're at the gym. I used to watch "Celebrity Fit Club" occasionally and had the same feeling, like: "Hey! I'm already working out! I'm ahead of the game!" What the hell is that supposed to mean? I have no idea. But I was feeling smug at 7:30 on a Wednesday, okay? Not to say that I am not a sucker for those shows. I am always amazed at the hard work they put in and the amazing transformations they make. Recently, my roommate had it on and the contestants got all dolled up and had a moment in front of a three way mirror. Maybe this was the first time they got to look in a mirror or something, because they were so emotional looking at themselves. But the clincher was that the mirror was actually a door which whisked open to reveal the contestant's significant other who had seen them 50 pounds ago. So more tears ensued and sweet nothings were whispered. I felt bad for one girl who just had a random older woman friend on the other side. Not even a mom or sibling. Just Sally, probably her co-worker who's always there to lend an ear over a mug of office coffee. There weren't many tears when that door opened. Sorry, Sally.

I also saw "Atonement" which I will dub "A Mole Through the Ages."

Sincerely,
Bridget

This Morning in a Doctor's Office Far, Far Away

I had to go to the doctor this morning to get the second portion of the chicken pox vaccine. I know it seems improbable that I, being the ripe age of 27, have never had the chicken pox, but I haven't! And when a co-worker came down with the pox (at 33!) and had been interacting with me quite a bit, I was sent into a panic imagining myself having shingles for the rest of my life. I don't think I was even fully aware there was a chicken pox vaccine available. From what I understand, it became prevalent in the US in the mid nineties and I was too busy checking my pager to care.

Needless to say, I trudged to the doctor after my mild panic attack and got my first dose of the varicella. It did not hurt, but it was curious that the injection site became extremely HOT for days afterward and started to itch. It was like I had one giant pock. (pock? )

So anyway, that was then. I am not sure if I'll have another pock. But more interesting things happened while I was waiting for the doctor. There are many physicians at this office, and there is a large pediatric component. So there are always a lot of kids around. Today, as I settled in to await my single pock injection, I could hear the soothing sounds of a mother reading a story to her very attentive children. I heard "The intergalactic enterprise thwarted..." WHAT!?!? This woman, in her dulcet tones, went on to talk of the Battle of Endor and their trip to Tatooine. She also explained how Han Solo had lost the Millennium Falcon in a high stakes game of cards.

Okay, so this lady was reading some sort of kids' picture book version of the "Star Wars" saga. But the way in which she was reading it and the way her kids were reacting was unreal! And these were young kids, maybe 3 and 5! She talked about C3P0's copper sheen and gave them anecdotes clearly not from the book about Luke and Leia's relationship. She had things to stay about "Star Wars" and damn it, her kids were going to listen! It was hilarious. And she was such a dorky mom, too. Living in New York and being from upper middle class suburban SoCal (that sounds horrible), all I ever see is too-cute moms trying to be 26. This lady was nothing of the sort. She looked like a cross between Anthony Michael Hall in "Sixteen Candles" and Charlize Theron in "Monster." The highlight came when she started explaining that "the Storm Troopers' blasters have the capability to," she dramatically turns to her daughter "stun. But they also have the capability" she turns her head to the other side, into the wide eyes of her son, "to kill." Oh, the joys of geeky motherhood! We can't all be young, cute moms with blonde pixie cuts and purple sweatshirts!

TGIF people,
Bridge

PS: I would like to apologize to all of the Star Wars freaks if I botched some of that information. I mean, how can I be sure if it was the Empire or the Rebellion who used blasters? Right?

Boomerang

First of all, I just told my friend at work that I was going to poke the shit out of her on facebook. Everything about that statement is wrong.

Now on to the important stuff. I was at the gym yesterday, taking a much needed respite from the "Today" show and turned on Bravo. To my surprise "Boomerang" was just starting. This isn't a movie that I revere or that I watched a lot in my childhood and have nostalgic feelings about. But the soundtrack was that ubiquitous album when the movie came out. It contained the hits "End of the Road" and that PM Dawn song "I'd Die Without You" or something like that. It was on heavy rotation to say the least. Anyway, I had seen this movie once, maybe in the theaters or shortly thereafter. And I remember always identifying with the David Alan Grier character, the guy who doesn't get the girl. So throughout my pre-teen and teenage years I internally labeled myself as the David Alan Grier of the group. Except I'm not black and I'm not a guy. But I was always the sensible, romantic one who wasn't out to play the game and who never got a date...in seventh grade. I also think I just liked David Alan Grier from his funnier days on "In Living Color."

When I saw this movie again, maybe a year or so ago, I felt so sad for my twelve year old self! Who chooses to identify with DAVID ALAN GRIER? I wisely switched sides and now identified with Halle Berry. I mean, what modern day woman DOESN'T identify with Halle? She's just like us, right? Suffice to say, I got home, cued up my "End of the Road" tape single and had a good cry.

In other news, there was this story about none other than Jeff Bridges on CNN today. Leave it to CNN to post the most riveting news stories.

So now this blog is about dogs, Christmas, David Alan Grier and Jeff Bridges. Great.

Signing off,
Bridget

The Office: Special?

Okay, I have a lot to write about today. A LOT. Big weekend, guys. Well, not really.

We had our office Christmas party on Friday. It was in the office so it went like this: 6:15: send off work email. 6:17: tap the keg. In actuality, it was a really fun party that culminated in a dance party with the core of the company, including my boss and the owner, as seen below.

At one point, my friend's boyfriend said "You know, watching all of you dancing was like watching an episode of 'The Office.' You have all the characters, all the roles covered." I didn't really know how to take that. Who am I? Meredith? Ugh, I guess we're both redheads.

On an unrelated note, I caught about 5 minutes of "Tin Man." I had been dying to see this after seeing some ridiculous promos and ads all over the city. The whole concept was just so retarded to me. And I have to say, that actually seeing 5 minutes of it did not disappoint. The attempts to make "The Wizard of Oz" edgy and modern were so pathetic and laughable; from the fact that they called Dorothy "DG" to referring to Oz as the O.Z. THE O.Z.! It was pretty horrid. Alan Cumming with a zipper on his head and the cowardly lion character who looked like the Beast from the 80's TV series "Beauty and the Beast" were about all I could take.

Also, I woke up at 4AM because I was having back spasms. It wasn't my lower back and it didn't hurt, but who gets back spasms? Well, besides Aikman...

Sincerely,
Bridge

Jeff Bridget

I had a dream last night that I was hanging out in a café with Jeff Bridges. I don't really know what prompted this, but in the dream we were friends and clearly had a nice rapport. At one point I looked up at a big screen on which the restaurant was projecting "The Big Lebowski." I looked over at Jeff (who was sporting an uncharacteristically short hair cut) and said "This movie is great. You should check it out." Then my dream thought process went like this a) Wait, doesn't Jeff sometimes go by Lebowski? B) Oh shit!! Didn't Jeff PLAY Lebowski? He smirked and I apologized profusely and kept saying I was such a moron. But the worst part of the dream was that after this bit I was transported somewhere else and the first thing I wanted to tell anybody who would listen was that I had this crazy dream where I was telling Jeff Bridges to watch his own movie! How crazy is that? And then I think I moved on to another setting, in which I was telling an entirely new group of people about this nutty dream! I had even been commenting to Jeff how it must have been tough to work with the Coen Brothers because they are such meticulous and well planned filmmakers. This is never a thought I have had in my waking life. Those are usually coveted qualities, right?

Anyway, this happens to me all of the time. I dream about something, and then think I am awake and refer to the old dream over and over. By the time I wake up the thought of telling one more person about the dream is exhausting. Or sometimes I dream about a situation or something going on in my life that I may be stressed about. The worst is when the crisis/situation pans out perfectly in my dream and then I wake up and remember I have to deal with it for real. The point? Reality sux.

And in semi-related morning gym news: at the end of my yoga class my teacher likes to change the music to something really "chill" to further relax us. Today, as we're laying down, I suddenly hear what I think is the Twin Peaks theme music! AAHHHH! This does not inspire me to take rest. This inspires me to take flight from a long haired man named Bob who tormented my ten year old dreams! Where was Jeff Bridges THEN?

And for your viewing pleasure, I wanted to find a proper picture of Lebowski, but I found this picture of Jeff Bridges' character in "Surf's Up."

The most annoying thing about typing this post is that every time I go to write Jeff Bridges, I instinctively type Jeff Bridget. Old habits die hard.

TGIF,
Bridget, or Bridges. Whatever.

Have a Holly, Jolly...

I have been assigned the task of putting together a playlist for our office Christmas party. It's a task I don't take lightly. Okay, that's a lie. To be perfectly honest, I am using it as an excuse to put off the other things I should actually be accomplishing. But it's tough. My office is comprised of a bunch of youngish people, but we're inviting clients and freelancers so it will be a mix. I'm not sure if the road trip CDs or mixes I made while on poster tour are going to cut it. If I busted out "Lighters Up" or Fastball's "The Way," this group would not appreciate it.

There's also the issue of Christmas music. I have compiled two (now legendary) Christmas mixes. But I have been coming up against people who abhor Christmas music! I know we can all get burned out on the holidays and all the shit that goes with it, from Amy Grant's rendition of "Grown Up Christmas List" to seeing decorations show up 2 hours after Halloween. But who can deny the awesomeness that is "Do They Know It's Christmas" or "Christmas Wrapping"? Or "Fairytale for New York"? Anyway, I can go on and on, but I am going to try to accommodate everyone. So while I will be playing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," I will not include "Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum." Fair enough?

Now this blog is all about Christmas and dogs. Gross.

Sincerely,
Bridget

ps: I only included the "Rocking Around" link for the "Home Alone" part. Please enjoy.

Introducing Ruby

This is Ruby. She is 1 of 2 basset hounds I see on my way to work.

Luckily I had my camera this morning. I think she is my favorite. Look at that face! Although I have to admit, I think she has a better down coat than I do.

In other news, Rory sent me this link today. If I start spending actual money on virtual uggs or beer please help me.

Sincerely,
Bridget

The Wonders of Chinatown

Every now and then I am reminded that I live in a really unique place, and I don't mean New York. I mean Chinatown. This morning, on my walk to work, I saw this Chinese man on the corner with a cart, like you would see in the kitchen of a restaurant. The cart was covered by old boxes with various kinds of seafood labeled on there. And these weren't new boxes. They were the kind of boxes I find in the hallway of my building when it's snowing and they don't want you to slip on the tiles. The light changed and the man started across the street with his cart. That's when I saw that hanging in the cart were about a dozen fully cooked ducks, probably about to go hang up in the window of some restaurant. Maybe it's just me, but I don't need my Peking duck to cross Canal street, or ANY street, covered by a bunch of sick old seafood boxes. But that's just me. Maybe Chinatown is like Mordor. One kitchen to rule them all? I'll have to ask Rory about that one. She spent approximately 13 hours in Middle Earth once.

In other walk to work news: it's freezing.

Sincerely,
Bridget

SNOW!

I woke up this morning to see this outside of my window!

Well I actually woke up because I heard Kelly leave and then I heard someone stomping around on the roof. Kelly was excited. She said she'd never seen snow fall before (well unless you count "Snow Falling on Cedars." Decent flick. Come on! If I can't get my puns in here, where can I?)

So we decided to check out the snow. Kelly put on long underwear which prompted me to as well. I don't have proper long underwear, but I have these thermal type pants I wear when I go snowboarding. I am really stubborn and usually think I don't need such things but it was amazing. I was so warm! It's a testament to my stepmom, Lucy. If it's below 50 she doesn't leave the house without 100% wool long underwear, a full wool undershirt, a down skirt, a floor length shearling coat, a hand knit 3 meter long wool scarf and a wool hat. This might be an exaggeration, but if it is it's a slight one.

We ended up pretty much taking a tour of lower Manhattan.


Here's the Jeff Koons sculpture outside WTC 7. I'm a fan. I also liked his balloon in the Macy's Parade.
There's a Koons sculpture near my dad's place in Venice. It's a balloon animal dog. My dad jokingly said something to his students one day that someone should make a balloon animal turd and put it underneath the dog. His students accepted the challenge. Here's a link to the blog they made. It's all in Italian, but there are pictures of their mission:
http://lookmypoo.blogspot.com/

For the record, I don't usually use the word "turd."

Anyway, I really love being in New York around the holidays. I have rarely had a white Christmas, being in California for most of them so it's nice to have some snow for the lead up.

Sincerely, Bridget

PS: There's a movie on the Hallmark channel right now called "A Boyfriend for Christmas." Santa, I hope you're watching! Also, "The Parent Trap" is on. Paging Nadine!

Hello there!

So I started a blog!

Check back when I have something to say. Bye!

Just kidding. But I do feel a certain amount of pressure to make my inaugural post a good one, but who am I kidding? It's freezing outside. I am reading while my roommate watches "Guys and Dolls." Brando's singing voice intermittently interrupts my book and all I can think is that he sounds like Billy Crystal doing an impression, probably of Brando. I am not really a fan of the big musicals from the 50s and 60s, like "My Fair Lady" or even "West Side Story." Sorry Kel, but "Guys and Dolls" is no exception. But I do, on average, like musicals.

Kelly is now chatting with a long lost friend who just found me on facebook, looking for her. I signed up for facebook maybe 72 hours ago. I felt pressured because suddenly all of my friends signed up at the exact same time, even though it's been around for years and I thought they were all loyal myspace users. I had vowed not to sign up. I've been an ardent myspacer for almost four years. Making the switch from Friendster was a pain in itself, so why would I change it again?

And I was completely unprepared for what facebook had to offer. What's with all these "applications" and functions? I can't even figure out something simple like inviting friends. My sister signed up right after me and she was already sending me "Christmas Presents" and dedicating songs to me. It's pretty hideous, but yet another fabulous time waster. And everyone swears that facebook is better than myspace. I was getting exhausted with it all and decided to just start a blog!

Not that I won't be on the 'book in 20 minutes confirming that I met this long lost friend through Kelly and walking her through setting up her own profile while Brian nominates me for a superlative. Hey, at least I have a virtual social life, right guys? RIGHT?!?!?

The cool thing is that my cousins from Australia are on there. That's a plus!