If Julie Fell

I like to think of myself as a free-thinker. I attended a liberal college in a town where May Day riots and legalizing marajuana parades are frequent and not really seen as odd. I’ve owned birkenstocks and while I can’t allow myself to go more than a day without a shower I do have a pretty laid back go with the flow view on some aspects of my life. All this is thrown by the way side when I enter a book store.

Disclaimer: This over-arching revelation of my life extends beyond book stores to Target, Best Buy, well really most stores…but books are the prime example for simplifying this in this blog. Go with it.

The Sox Fan is a consumer whore. He’s open about it. For example, we were watching television and he was sucked into the Pasta Hut commercials. The man feels an urge to test out Pizza Hut’s new menu expansion because their commercial shows hidden cameras capturing pleased customers eating Pasta Hut food in a nice Italian restaurant setting and not knowing the difference. He is aware of his ability to be sucked into consumerism and he’s okay with it.

I feel like I should be morally opposed or should feel some sort of angst when marketers attempt to suck me into their products (granted this may or may not have been the field I studied in college and may or may not have something to do with how I make my lively hood) but I realized this weekend while at the book store I’ve been sucked into the vortex. I know how it started, it’s those damn “Buy 2 get one free” tables. I always find one book I’ve seen around or heard a lot about that I want to buy. Then I feel like, hell, I should take advantage of the deal and I pick out another book. Then I need to pick out one to be discounted…and so the cycle continues.

Plus, I’ve created this habit where I like reading the books before I see the movie. Totally geeky I know, but there truly is a difference and I have to admit often times the books are better (or make more sense) for when the movie leaves gaps a.k.a. Into the Wild.

These tables of multi-book offers also lead me to find authors I like and then suddenly I need to buy all their books just because I enjoy them. Being in a book club also is not helping this situation for me either…more books to buy.

Some people might say use the library, curb your spending. Well here’s the real root of the issue, I rarely have a list of books I want - in the most consumer way possible I’ve become reliant on the book store to supply me with displays and specialty tables to identify books I might end up reading. And in the final real seal the deal clincher I compulsively not only go to the book store but I always buy something. Always.

Today I tried to break the spending mold. For the last few trips to the book store I’ve seen books I wanted that were not on these glorious discounted tables and I took the time to write down their titles and today I successfully sought them out on a discounted book seller site. I did this because I noticed that with a certain monetary level of purchases there was free shipping. Free shipping and cheaper books, I’m sold.

The only issue to contend with than was my need for instant gratification. Well guess what friends, when you’ve got a stack of 10 books in your kitchen that have accumulated over the last handful of trips to the book store you can mentally wait out the 3-5 business days for the shipment of 3 new books to arrive.

I know I am a geek, but look at it this way, my addiction could be to something illegal or painful to those around me - and if this addiction leads to people calling me a geek but no bodily injury or fear of being hauled off to jail well, I think I’ve got a good thing going.

Except for that whole consumer dependency compulsive A.D.D….

As I’ve previously mentioned I really appreciate my DVR. In combination with acquiring aforementioned DVR and the writer’s strike that took my stand by shows off the air I’ve become much more open to trying out new shows. Hell, there are times when I record shows unsure of what they are but just so on lazy Saturday mornings I can have something ready and waiting for me to view.

Well after the crazy Vegas trip last weekend and the busy work week I was fairly excited about the idea of sweatpants, my couch and DVR occupying my day. I caught up on my stand by reality programs and then ventured into shows I am testing out, followed by new programs. On the new programs list was Quarterlife.

After seeing a couple ads I thought this might be right up my alley - I loved Singles and Reality Bites and well seeing as how I am rapidly approaching that quarter life point in my life along with my new found blog writing it just seemed like it would be a fit. I’ve heard this show has been on MySpace for a year - well I guess I’m not that hip when it comes to the MySpace series but NBC tends to have a knack for picking programing so it was deemed a recordable program.

WOW. I don’t know if this will be a program that is picked up on by the masses - it’s definitely not a mainstream show with a 30 minute crisis that is solved right along with a recorded laugh track. And maybe it’s that I loved Singles and Reality Bites but Dylan (the dark haired video blogger) and I seem to have too much in common. Dark hair, sarcastic, observant, unable to tell people our feelings, confused about boys, etc.

Maybe I’m feeling extra angst-ridden after my afternoon yesterday - this could surely have some impact on why I am now questioning what exactly I am doing with my life and whether or not my current course of action is the right thing for me. Maybe I just am drawing these parallels because it seems convenient to not feel like I’m out on a solo mission trying to make sense of all the various friendships, relationships and overall pathways my life is going down right now. It’s really hard to say - but I’ve found a new show and for the time being that will suffice.

So in closing - Quarterlife, I look forward to new episodes and discovering whether this pilot debut was a one time fling or if my fond feelings of you will be sustained.

I have some great friends - seriously, my friends are better than yours. (Note: I think the only people who read my blog are my friends so I’m not talking directly to you - more to the world in general). So take that. I am really lucky to have aforementioned great friends and while they cover a wide array of groupings they match me perfectly and make life that much more interesting.

For instance, I have my bestie - yeah I think that is a term 14 year old girls use but I like it better than BFF today. Anywho, Blondie has been my friend since 7th grade and at this point I can’t (and don’t want to) imagine what would ever come in between our friendship. She’s the perfect blend of fun, wacky, crazy times and serious understanding with logical advice. I love my RFL.  Through her I’ve met some great girls - the BD’s. 

One of these fabulous BD’s who I’ve become good friends with is The Hot Wife (she’s not actually married - it’s more of a term from Borat that has carried over) and it just happened to be her birthday celebration last night. Lately I’ve been in the midst of a fuzzy period which was only compounded by the Inopportune Reappearance situation so what could be better after a really stressful work week than throwing back some drinks and dancing - uh, answer - nothing.

Blondie, My Life Crush (Note: she is a lady and basically we have crushes on one another because we are awesome she’s also by far one of my favorite new comer friends) and I had some Tic-Tacs (the kamikazi of 200 and before you could say Go Blazers we were doing the robot, flinging our hair around and dancing like total dorks. Normally I would read that statement and judge myself for being such a weirdo but you have to understand it’s different when there is a VIP area of cute ladies acting like dorks - plus, really - I don’t care about what other people think.

Last night was a great deal of fun, even though I drank vodka (no mistakes were made) and took a picture with Yao Ming (yeah, you read that correctly) I had a fantastic time. I may or may not have been in a rare mood that included telling a gentleman who was bundled in a peacoat and scarf (in the middle of the bar where girls are wearing nothing more than a yard of clothing) that he could relax, the winter weather wouldn’t get to him since he was indoors.

I also shared a little bit of insight with another gentleman bar patron, we don’t really need to get to know one another, this isn’t the place where I am going to meet my future husband. FACT (I hope).

I’ve digressed a little but the basic premise is this, I love that I have a wide array of friends. I appreciate what each of my friends has to offer me and I’m thankful for them - and nights that leave me smiling the next morning (and not hung over - BONUS)!  

It’s Sunday night and all I can think is “Damn, I wish I had tomorrow off.” Not just because BJD is going under the knife (see previous post about Bubba) but also because I’ve barely slept, I’m like chronically dehydrated and I just want to chill out and catch up on my shows.The later part of last week flew by, between my 4 hour happy hour date with The Plastics (yeah, 4 hours…judge us), a cold night of Flag Football and late happy hour eats (no booze this time) and work, Friday night was suddenly upon me and it was all downhill from there.

Friday Night: The V party at a certain downtown night spot that may or may not have been the site of most of my drunken debauchery in 2007…and there was A LOT of debauchery. So of course it was only fitting that my date to this event be one of my two partners in crime, The Sox Fan. I think I can speak for both of us when I say being there at 8pm is weird. But besides that, the people who are there on dates is equally if not MORE bizarre. Any man that tries to take me on a dinner date there will be written off immediately, but I digress.

When we arrived the party was underway and The Sox Fan was able to finally put names to faces with my co-workers. Yes, we were the only two people drinking Jack Daniels there, and yes they opened a new bottle when we went in for Round 1. Many a co-worker or co-worker date mentioned how funny they thought The Sox Fan was, so if there was a Funniest Duo Award for the night I would have to say with 95% certainty that we would have that on lock down. *I left the extra margin for polling margin discrepancies.

Friday Night = Success.

Saturday: After a night out on the town it should always seem like a good idea to get up, face the day, pack a bag and head up to a mountain lodge for a wedding. Wait, what? Well that was what I had on tap. Drinking + Stress + How LOUD my apartment is (and I’m not talking about fire alarms being pulled and late night cigarette convos on the balcony - I’m talking about structural creaks and rain on metal outside my window)…well let’s just say there was little sleep being had.

After a small chocolate milk chugging (best way to cure any post drinking stomach acidity) I was meeting up with my girls and piling in the car for conversations that start with “I don’t mean to be gossipy…BUT…” as we climbed up Mt. Hood.We arrived safely and without having to stop to put chains on (wahoo!) we unloaded ourselves from the car we checked into our chalet room at the lodge. Basically Timberline’s room versions of European hostel housing. We made our way around the lodge to get our sense of direction established and I plotted the best places to take my Shining reenactment photos.

We were all there to attend the wedding of our pledge class sorority sister (yes, it’s wedding time for our class) and I had a great time. Between the hysterical pre-wedding crying to the slide tackling for the wedding bouquet toss, to the C-walking on the dance floor to the bar top dancing at the after party I think it’s safe to say the whole lodge knows we had a good time. *Honestly, none of the aforementioned events involved me directly. I know that shocks a number of you.

Suddenly it was Sunday AM and we were headed back to town, just in time for me to get back to my freezing cold apartment, get some laundry done and watch football championship games…do I really have to go to work tomorrow?!?