Webcam pic: zits and baseball shirts - how I look this exact moment.
You guys, I had a moment recently where someone I just met asked me what I do with my spare time, like if I have any hobbies, (and I wanted to make a good impression) and I could not think of a single thing I like to do. Blogging came into my head but it's not really something I consider a hobby...or want to tell people about, really. Anyway only nerds write blogs. I don't know. I ended up saying "I stay in a lot...read books...hang out with my dog..." and then just trailed off. So. Lame.
I guess it's because I don't really focus my energy anywhere. I dabble in this and that, just randomly choosing something to obsess over for two seconds and then drop like a hot coal. I like to do a lot of things, but I don't "do" anything. If that makes sense.
Anyway so here's what I've been doing lately.
But not "doing".
Reading:
Zeitown by David Eggers - this is a true story about a family that was living in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The trueness of the story makes it a slow read sometimes, but it is absolutely shocking what this man (and his family) had to go through.
Ru by Kim Thuy - Another true, heavy story. I've been taking the internet's recommendations for reading and it's been steering me towards some depressing shit. Not that this book was bad or anything, just a harsh tale of a little girl who immigrated to Quebec.
Island Beneath the Sea by Isabelle Allende - How did I not know about Allende before last year? I am so serious, I love everything she writes. This book was no exception. It follows the lives of both masters and slaves in Haiti during the worst time of the rebellions and the maroons. So. Good.
Fraud by David Rakoff - I love David Rakoff, he's hilarious. This is a collection of essays he's written...about himself. David Sedaris-esque, but a bit less silly and more self-depricating.
My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler - so terrible I put it down after three pages and never went back. She says anything to be "shocking" but it's so transparent. Louis C.K. can pull that shit off, Chelsea Handler, in my opinion, cannot. I just don't find her funny.
Watching:
Community...three seasons worth. Yes. I downloaded three entire seasons of Community and watched it every chance I had. On my days off I'd watch three or four episodes in a row. Cleaning the kitchen? Put Community on. Drawing a picture? Community for background noise. Nothing to do for twenty minutes? Watch Community. You get the picture.
I started watching it because both Ryan and my brother told me it's hilarious, and I trust both of their senses of humor. I found it medium funny, more of a comfort show than hilarious. Still good though.
America's Worst Tattoos. I hate tattoo shows. H. A. T. E. They stress me out, they're unrealistic, they're waaay overly dramatized and the people who watch them get really wrong ideas about how to act in a tattoo shop. But if I were to choose a tattoo show to recommend, it would be this one. The moral of the show is don't get shitty tattoos out of someone's garage. I also like it because it's not like some desperate housewife who got a tramp stamp that her husband doesn't like and now she regrets it and is being all dramatic on tv about it. It's mostly really heavily tattooed people with a good sense of humor about their stupid tattoo. And the coverups they get are pretty good too.
Evil Dead!!!!! Ryan took me to see this on a date and we held hands until we got too scared. There was no way it could be the exact same as the classics of course, but this movie was totally gross, totally suspenseful, gory as fuck and had a lot of references to the other Evil Dead movies. I made Ryan stay to the very end of the credits to see Bruce Campbell go "Groovy". There was him and I, and then a gang of five hipsters at the front who stayed for it, and when he said it we all went "yaaay!" haha
Rudy. Yeah, you know the guy from Encino man who's obsessed with getting popular? And he's a Hobbit in LOTR? Sean Astin? He stars in this football movie. Ryan seriously tried to get me to watch this for around a month, checking it out of the library over and over until finally I ran out of excuses and said fine, I'd watch the first half an hour and if I liked it I'd stay.
I stayed. It was really good. It's a true story about a guy obsessed with a certain football team, who, against all odds, gets to play on said team. It's much better than I'm making it sound. If you want your heart warmed, watch this movie.
Happy Endings. I'm telling you, watch this show if you like funny shows. It's on par with New Girl and The Mindy Project for me. Do you even like to laugh? Watch it. I think it's one of those shows you have to see the first few episodes of to "get" the characters though.
Hannibal. I'm not sure about this one. We only watched the first episode so I haven't given it a fair shake yet but from what I can see it's like a cross between Dexter and CSI. The actor who plays Hannibal is so creepy looking!
Game of Motherfucking Thrones. Need I say more? Okay I will. If you are not watching Game of Thrones then you better at least be reading the books. Or you are missing out! I don't want to give out any spoilers but omfg you guys have no idea what's coming, or maybe you do (*cough*...has to do with someone's wedding *cough*). If you do don't say anything in the comments for the suckers who have to wait and see.
Modern Family. This is a hilarious show, one of my all-time favorites.
Homeland. I really didn't think I'd be into something about the US government and terrorists bla bla bla but it's actually really suspenseful. I'm getting pretty sick of seeing Claire Danes crying in every episode though.
And coming up next: I heard first from my boss and then from the internet that the show Utopia is extremely disturbing but so good we all have to watch it right now...I think we're going to give it a shot in the next few days. I'll let you know how it goes.
Doing obsessively:
Playing Simpsons Tapped Out on my iPod and doodling in a pocket sized moleskine notebook. I can't stop until it's completely full of tiny designs. It's very relaxing.
Listening to:
GHOST!!! Their new album is just as awesome, dramatic, over-the-top, and great as the last one. They're the happiest Satan worshipers ever. lol It's on repeat for me right now for sure. They're playing in Vancouver tonight actually and I'm just kicking myself for not knowing further in advance. Grr. They'd be so good live!! Check out the second video, omg.
and
Podcasts!!!!!! I don't know if I've talked about this before but I've been listening to every single episode of This American Life in order from 1995 to ... I'm at Hurricaine Katrina now, so 2005. Wow. It's one thing to hear the news talk about things that happened in New Orleans and a whole other thing to hear it from the people who were there. Absolutely horrifying stuff was going on. Here's the transcript and seriously you should read it, or even better, follow their link and listen to it. I didn't know they did transcripts of the shows until just now...how does one get a job transcribing amazing radio shows?
So what have you been doing lately?
