Blah Blah Blog

Some days it's easy for me to come up with an idea for a post. Some days it's like pulling a rabbit out of my...well, you know where. Trying to decide what will be interesting to you, Loyal Readers, without being too "Dear Diary, I met the cutest boy today..." I get the most views when I post embarrassing stories or pictures of myself (dominatrix anyone?) or put celebrity names in my post labels. My life isn't really all that interesting yet tens of people read my blog every day. (And readership is actually growing, although the why still escapes me.) I'd love to hear from you as to the topics that you would like me to expound upon.

For today, in the interest of giving people what they seem to want, I'm going to tell you ten embarrassing things about myself and list ten celebrities.

1. I have never seen the movie "E.T." I don't want to see it. I'm sure it's wonderful but I couldn't be less interested. Sorry, Mr. Spielberg.

2. My nickname in high school was "Chez Moi." Because everyone was taking French (wasn't that smart of us?) and "Chez" is pronounced like my name. Only when they called me "Chez Moi" (which means "my house") they pronounced it 'shezzzz'. Fortunately, this nickname was given to me by Giovanna Sardelli and she graduated my sophomore year and everyone forgot it after that. And it wasn't as bad as this guy I knew, Brian Hess, whose nickname was "Squid".

3. I didn't learn to drive until after I graduated from high school. I might never have learned if my mother hadn't gotten tired of driving me to work and she sure as hell wasn't going to drive me to college every day. I was a really timid driver and would panic whenever I stalled the car and traffic would back up and people would start honking at me. (My mom once flipped a guy off when he did that. And she's not the flipping off kind of woman.) What's funny to me now is that I'm a really good (and fairly assertive) driver - all those years of driving in Los Angeles - while my mom, who taught me, is really timid and won't drive unfamiliar routes or make left hand turns.

4. The only macaroni and cheese I like comes out of a blue box. I know, I'm a gourmet cook, so I should like some fancy truffled mac or something. But only the blue box (made with extra powdered cheese) tastes like I think it should. But it must be eaten as soon as it's made. Let it sit and it's gross. Reheating does not work. And while I'm admitting to junk food likes, I should also disclose that I love Spaghetti-o's and Chef Boyardee Ravioli too.

5. My father once told me, when I was about fifteen years old, that I was the biggest disappointment in his life. He was referring to the fact that I was fat. It took me many years to finally realize that his problem with my weight was just that, HIS problem. And the worst part, for me, was that it wasn't the cruelest thing he ever said to me. I'm an adult now and I can forgive him. I loved my father, and in his mind he was trying to help me. But the scars remain.

6. I failed college algebra. Twice (well, it would have been twice but I wised up and dropped the class before I could fail again.) I had to give up and take something else. I can do math, honestly, I'm actually pretty good at normal math but algebra and my brain do not mix. And I'm actually okay with basic algebraic equations until it gets to the graphing part and signs and cosigns and then at that point all I hear is the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons "Wa Wa Wa Wa Wahhhh". My friend Traci (hi Traci!) is a math genius (and I mean genius in the literal sense) and I was always so jealous of her math ability. I still am.

7. I cut my toenails wrong. I cut them round instead of straight across. No one told me when I was a kid to cut straight across so I always just followed the curve of the nail. The problem is, that leads to ingrown toenails. A lot of ingrown toenails. So you have to keep cutting them round and very, very short. I hate getting pedicures because the pedicurist always yells at me. And I have to get a pedicure for the wedding. Ugh.

8. I was once a phone sex operator. For about a day. See, I have a really good voice on the phone. Random wrong numbers will actually hit on me over the phone ('cuz that's the kind of guy I'm looking for, one who can't even dial correctly.) And I needed a second job. So I applied for a 'phone actress' job in the paper when I was nineteen. I was hired immediately during my phone interview. Then the woman gave me 'training'. I slowly began freaking out. By the time she got to how to handle clients who were into bestiality, I was in full blown panic. I took one call, hung up on the man about half way through and never did it again (okay, maybe once or twice with a boyfriend who traveled a lot, but that was different.)

9. I have a tattoo. It's very small and well concealed. I'm not a 'tat' kind of girl. But they are permanent. That's all I'm saying.

10. I haven't had a date in over 15 months. You do the math.

Okay, end of embarrassing. On to celebrities. Here is the list of ten celebrities I would have sex with (my 'free' list, as it were.) Don't judge.

1. Ben Affleck
2. Dane Cook
3. Colin Firth
4. Owen Wilson
5. Robert Redford (I said don't judge!)
6. Tyler Florence
7. Gerard Butler
8. Christopher Meloni
9. Ryan Reynolds
10. A threesome with Will Farrell and Paul Rudd (I can feel you judging, but it's not like it could happen.)

Are You Supposed To Be Tired After A Holiday Weekend?

Okay, it was a lovely holiday weekend but I think I'm more tired than I was before!

Friday was a lovely barbecue - I made slider sized hamburgers, potato salad, homemade baked beans, corn on the cob and a blueberry pie that stuck to the pan terribly (which is probably why the recipe said to use parchment paper but I didn't have any so I used foil but it definitely needed the parchment) but the pie, once scraped into a bowl with some vanilla ice cream was still delicious. We then played Wii. I rented some games and we loved "Carnival Games" which was all those midway game you see at fairs. It was fun. And we rented "Smarty Pants", which is a trivia game. My brother really like that one, probably because he beat me, two games to one. I'll be honest, I usually kick butt in trivia (hey, I was on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" after all) but he was on fire. After Will and Val left I went outside to watch the fireworks around the neighborhood. I was amazed at all the aerial fireworks. (are those legal? They never had those when I was a kid!) The fireworks scared my dog, Java. It was kind of funny, in the house she was all brave and barky but when we went outside she got all scared and wanted to be held.

Saturday I had a meeting at Smidgits where I got assigned by "Captain Kelly" to start handling promotions on a couple of Internet channels. We have a script read through tomorrow. There is a lot of work and I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Sunday Will and Val came over and we ordered pizza (N.Y. Pizza and Pasta, they are delicious!) and played more Wii. This time it was "Beach Sports". There are several games on it too and we played Bocce (Will won, but once again my mom picked it up so fast, she was like some Bocce queen) and Disc Golf (like Frisbee Golf). It was funny to be playing games that are played outdoors but indoors. It was better than playing in 108+ degree heat. (The heat just sucks the energy right out of me.)

Then I watched the movies "Semi-Pro" with Will Farrell and "Vantage Point" with Dennis Quaid. I really liked "Vantage Point", it was an interesting way to tell the story, even though I had some parts figured out ahead of time. It was definitely a thriller and it kept me thinking the whole time so I give it a "rent this" rating. I wasn't as impressed with "Semi-Pro" (gulp, now I bring down the wrath of the Farrell-ites). It seemed that the movie couldn't decided what it wanted to be, a raunchy comedy or an underdog sports movie. It ended up being neither very well. The whole story line with Woody Harrelson was completely lost (or so badly underwritten that it came across as really pointless). I think the writers tried to re-write "Major League" into a basketball movie then added the "Will Farrell" tone to it. Trust me when I say it, "Major League" did it much better. There was one funny line, when Will Farrell's character says "It's just like the Titanic, but it's full of bears." It's the only line that made me laugh.

So when I read back, it seems like all I did was have fun this weekend. But I'm tired. Who knew having all that fun could be more tiring than working?