the sun will come out, tomorrow

it's a weird thing not seeing daylight every day. i get up and go to work when it's dark and then go home when it's dark. during the day i don't leave the building and there are no windows in our offices. it definitely messes with how i perceive time. each morning when i open the door to my office i swear that i just left about 15 minutes ago. but maybe that's because i've only spent about two WAKING hours away. that's not much. but, all that being said, i like my job and like making movies.

MUCH has happened since my last post. i could tell you about how excited i am for stacey and kevin and their engagement but words wouldn't do it justice. i could tell you about the sweet "congrats stevin" cake we got them but a picture would be better.

i could tell you about the weekend in big bear and the ferocious trivial pursuit game and the illegal "cigarettes" and the ten pounds of brownies and potato chips. oh and of course i would include big bear's oktoberfest with the chicken dance, log sawing contest, and worst churro in the world, but i'm too lazy to type it all out.

i could tell you about our new hippie neighbors and how they are very "spiritual" and how they have a feng-shui consultant coming to the apartment and how they are so incredibly friendly that everytime i run into them they keep me there for 30 minutes. but you'll totally meet them eventually and GIL and LORRAINE can tell you how they pride themselves on their "integrity".

i could totally tell you about this cast read thru i ran for the movie i'm on, but i don't want to be fired. as SWEET as my b.b.t. story is, even i'm not dumb enough to broadcast it over the internet.

i could tell you how our dear friend ken is moving back to texas and how sad it is when people start getting older and moving away and starting their own lives, but that's a bit heavy for a blog that's favorite topic is red carpet fashion.

i guess i could talk about a lot of stuff but i'm not going to. instead i'll just say, happy tuesday.

a steamy eden

this post is a day late but yesterday i had a shower for the first time in a long time. it was hot. it was long. it was glorious. don't ever take your shower for granted people. that's my lesson for today.

the blues

i wish i could say i just have the babysittin' blues but sadly it's more than that.

lately a good number of my friends have been dealing with some tough issues and i feel so bad that all of these people i love have to tackle such sad things. it seems that tough times come in waves though and sadly i'm feeling the wave. these past weeks have been trying in one way or another and it seems like each day brings more..well, crap, for lack of a better word. it's not eloquent but it's true. today we're approaching 3 weeks without a shower and while our landlord PROMISED it would be done yesterday so that we could have a shower today, she lied. or the workman lied. either way, our shower is not done and i don't know when it will be. then there's the fact that after a VERY shitty work day on wednesday, all i wanted to do is come home and watch "lost". i walk in the door, turn on the tv, and guess what? our brand new tv is broken. won't turn on. the lamp has burned out. every big screen rear projection tv has a lamp that is supposed to last about 3 years. how long did ours last you ask? that would be about 40 days. so when you're whole existence during the week revolves around the 2 waking hours you spend at home in front of the tv, a LACK of tv is quite disruptive. and, yes, it's only tv, but when it's what you do and where you eat and how you socialize, it sucks and makes you want to cry. that's right, cry.

but after missing my favorite show and having a broken tv and shower, what else could go wrong? hmmm...that's when God or whoever stepped in and decided to kill john's car. while he was driving of course. yep, just driving down the road in traffic for his shitty job that he hates and bam! he hears a sound and his car just dies. that's it. right on 3rd. that's funny, considering we just spent $2300 at the auto mechanic so they could update all of the major parts. or did they? i guess not if his car just died. so, the quote to repair it is another $1500. good times. not much you can do though, right? gotta pay it because you need a car in los angeles.

so, all in all, a great couple of weeks. add in the fact that the tv can't be fixed for over a week, the car can't be fixed for a few days, the husband has jury duty on monday, loses his job a week from monday, and, in general, despises this whole city, and you've got yourself a party! happy friday.

day 12 sans shower

i'm dirty. i'm tired. i'm grumpy. my hair has been in a ponytail for over a week. this is what happens when i don't have a shower. sure i've had my nightly bath, but it is NOT the same. in fact, it's horrible and i don't feel clean afterwards. do you know what it's like for a grown woman to try to wash her hair under a shallow bathtub faucet? it's not pretty. last week, well, approximately 12 days ago, our downstairs neighbors heard a thud and this time it wasn't john pounding on the floor. the ceiling of their shower had collapsed. the cause? our shower tile had been leaking for about 20 years and the ceiling finally disintergrated. nice. this means that a plumber has been at our house 7 days a week starting at 8 am. now the whole house stinks and everything is covered in dirt and dust. including the bathtub which we have to bathe in every night. that means scrubbing the bathtub every night before we get in it. man, i hate it!! there's a reason adults don't use a bathtub when there is a purpose and goal of cleanliness. it's not very effective. i don't know how much longer i can go own like this. the shower's date of completion is apparently friday morning. i'm just not sure i believe it. if only john and i belonged to a gym so we could steal their showers.... though nothing is really worth a gym membership.

early wakeup call

the doorbell rang around 6am this morning. it was pitch black and the rain was coming down pretty hard. my first thought was "what the hell?!" my second thought was "oh god, what's wrong?" and my third thought, voiced out loud, was "john, you get it." so he stumbles out and walks toward the door. before he can answer it i hear that whoever is out there has started pounding on the door and yelling 'is anyone in there?' hmm...odd.

so john opens the door and finds two cops. i am groggy but manage to hear muffled sounds about a 911 call from our house and then the cop asking him if anyone else is in the house. then i hear john say "NO". hmmm, i thought, that's weird. because i'm pretty sure i'm here. so the guy says he just has to inspect the rooms and this big dude comes down the hall and comes in the bedroom with his flashlight a'blazing. and, let me tell you, if you've never been greeted by a thousand watt mag light in your face, you've never lived.

turns out that sometimes when it rains, the phone lines get messed up. how they get so messed up that they call 911, i'll never know. but it happened.

Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree...

ahh, the smell of pine, the glow of lights...i love it. i love christmas trees. and i am so happy that i finally have one of my own.



please note the old school big lights, rather than the little twinkle lights. i have been given props by our neighbors for these. and i am proud to say that i carry on the durso tradition of big ass ghetto lights.

more christmas pictures to come....

date of birth

birthdays are funny things. they mean cool new dolls when you're 5, cool trips to disneyland when you're 12, and cool slumber parties with pizza and bad videos when you're 15. but when you're 25, they mean something completely different. the gifts are very few and far between and often come in the form of a little paper slip with an amount written on it. birthdays used to be so fun but now they can border on depressing. it didn't happen to me yesterday. i'm not saying that. i'm just saying how different it is. and i guess in some ways how similar it is. you still get up that morning and take an extra minute or two to pick what you're going to wear (because everyone will be looking at you). you still get excited when you get a present or a birthday card in the mail. and you still get frightfully embarassed when people bring you a cake and start singing happy birthday. but it's just a little sad to have one or two less friends remember your birthday every year. and there's something sad about having to do the same crappy job on your birthday and getting treated in the same crappy manner. you want to scream "but it's my birthday and i deserve special treatment dammit!" but i guess that's not how the world works. after having to stay late at work for a lame reason ...after getting put on hold by my phone company and the nice lady machine voice telling me the approximate wait time was "99 minutes"...and after waiting in line at the pharmacy for 30 minutes only to have the dumb lady tell me that my prescription isn't ready even though it was supposed to be ready an hour ago.... you realize that maybe your birthday isn't that special. not anymore anyways.

but then you have an awesome fiance who takes you to buy a christmas tree and you stay up late decorating it and filling the whole house with a christmas tree smell. then you realize that birthdays can still put a smile on your face.

how i spent my summer vacation...er..i mean, weekend

john and i threw a little housewarming soiree over the weekend and a big THANK YOU to our friends who attended. it was great seeing you there. and a big F*&^ YOU to those of you who didn't make it. (just kidding carolyn! i know it's an expensive flight!)
i learned a few things after this little party was all said and done. and i thought i'd share on this wonderful monday...wonderful because it's a short week!

1. baking cookies while listening to christmas music really ranks up there as far as all time favorite activities. the cookie dough just tastes that much sweeter with bing crosby singing "white christmas".

2. i can't drink any more. at all. i mixed one glass of wine with only three rum and cokes and i was dizzy, nauseous, and cranky when i went to bed.
2a. i get hangovers now. i NEVER used to get hangovers. but sunday morning i felt like ass and it took me all day to recover.

3. target really does make everything. including lube. or "lubricated jelly" as the box said. half the price of KY apparently.

4. tea lights last about one party length...or about 5 hours.

5. now that we're "adults", people will bring you things for your housewarming. how lovely.

and you thought i was fairly normal....

in a grand illustration of the severity of my indecisiveness, john and i have decided to switch apartments. we had signed a lease for the lower floor of the duplex and we've switched to the top. my future landlord must think we're crazy. i believe her words were "we thought the top was always a better fit for you." you see, they haven't been able to find tenants for upstairs because most people have one or two huge dogs and they knew that would bother me and john. so, after thinking about it, john and i decided to switch. sure, it's more money. but, hey, we're both about to get laid off after one monster corporation swallows another, so what's a few more hundred dollars? actually, i decided i didn't want perverts looking into our house on a daily basis. and you know that totally happens.

so now we're upstairs. we've got a rad blue dining room, a nice light yellow breakfast nook, and a very very weird mustard-colored family room. i'll have to get used to that one. but, hey, at least now i get to carry all of my worldly possessions up a flight of stairs in three weeks.

apartment hunting

apartment hunting is not fun. apartment hunting in L.A. is really not fun. john and i have looked at some real crap holes. and these were all renting for the bargain price of $1800 or $2000. what a steal. the problem was...we were picky. very picky. well, after living in a virtual palace for 3 1/2 years, john was spoiled. and while my apartment is no great shakes, it's not too bad. so we had some high standards. and we wanted a duplex. and two bedrooms. and a washer/dryer. etc. etc. you get the drill.

as we looked at these apartments, john and i came up with a secret signal. if i really liked the place, i was supposed to take his hand and squeeze it. that way he would know to make an offer after that little house tour. sad to say, we saw many apartments and i never got to use the secret signal.

then i saw this little puppy on craigslist one day. granted, because it was cheaper, i was looking at the same listing for the downstairs unit of this building. the exact same but not upstairs. and no stove and fridge. but still! sounded pretty rad. sounded like the equivalent of duplexes that i was seeing for $1800 and $2000. i was sure it was too good to be true.

when we visited the apartment we first walked thru the upstairs because it was finished (the downstairs is being totally renovated). the minute i walked thru the door, i grabbed john's hand and squeezed it. but he didn't squeeze back. so later on during the tour, i squeezed his hand in the bedroom too. nothing. but he must be liking the apartment because it's so rad! when we finally walk thru the downstairs unit, i think i'm squeezing as hard as i can. probably almost broke john's hand. but i think he was finally getting the point. at the end of the tour when the woman said we could think about it, john said, 'no, we want it.'

and we got it. luckily she liked us best out of the tons of people she met. she just 'had a good feeling about us.' fifty emails later, the landlord is like my new best friend. she just got married so we've been talking florists, photographers, and honeymoons. AND she loves me so much that when i asked her if it'd be possible to put carpet in the bedrooms, she said 'what color?'

oakhurst drive

sometimes there's really no place like home. and, trust me, my apartment's not that great. but, really, sometimes all you want to do after work is go home and change into your p.j.'s at the embarassing early hour of 7:30pm. and you're really looking forward to watching bad television and using the groceries you bought over the weekend to make your own dinner. maybe it's just me though. maybe that's what happens when you've lived out of an overnight bag for the past 3 and a half years. but i'm not complaining. i love john's house and love hanging out there. what's not to love? it's huge and a mere short walk away from some of my favorite places. but still, sometimes it's nice to head home. read the magazines that have been waiting for me for a week. be surprised by the dvd's of 'parent trap 3' and 'parent trap 4: hawaiian honeymoon'. (note the incredibly intelligent use of the colon in the title of the 4th installment. excellent.) and sometimes, though rarely, it's nice to climb into bed at 9:45pm and fall asleep to the delicious sounds of mark ruffalo in 'you can count on me' on the oxygen network.

houseguest - the sequel

so the aforementioned houseguest has left my apartment and i'm again free to roam around in whatever clothes (or lack thereof) that i like. BUT then i heard a story today which just pissed me off and i would like to think i'm justified. so "houseguest" has a brother who lives in san diego. somehow this brother got my parent's home phone number (probably from "houseguest") and called them up. keep in mind that Brother has met my parents exactly once. so he calls up and asks if he can stay at my parents house because his roommate is having visitors. what the hell?!! you call up strangers and ask to stay at their house during thanksgiving week!? and take MY guest bedroom! who are these people who just don't understand etiquette and protocol? i've been hearing a lot of crazy rude roommate stories lately (hi ken) and i don't know what's happening to our society. i'm angry. that's all. thanks for listening to me vent.

houseguest

have you ever had an awful houseguest who won't go away? yeah, it's awful. but it's even MORE awful if it's not your houseguest but your roommate's. my sister's friend is staying at our apartment and she is nice enough but just the worst guest. she leaves her shit strewn all around the apartment. she has eaten most of my food in the refrigerator. she attempts to do her dishes but then i have to re-do them because she puts them away with giant chunks of food still on them. CHUNKS OF FOOD! hello? don't you notice? the worst is that i'm unemployed so stuck at home with her while my sister is waitressing and then sleeping at her boyfriend's! dammit. now i'm pissed. the worst news that i just got is that her stay is 'indefinite'. maybe until thanksgiving! somebody kill me please.